How to Evict a Tenant in Maryland: Notice, Filing, and Warrant

To evict a tenant in Maryland, you serve the correct written notice for your grounds, file the matching complaint in the District Court for the county where the property sits, prove your case at a hearing, and then get a Warrant of Restitution so the sheriff can carry out the removal. Every step has to run in that order, and skipping or shortcutting any of them is the fastest way to see the case dismissed. Here is how the process actually works, from the first notice to the day the locks change.

Do Not Try to Remove the Tenant Yourself

Before anything else: Maryland prohibits self-help eviction. Changing the locks, shutting off utilities, removing doors or windows, or putting a tenant’s belongings on the curb all violate Maryland Real Property Section 8-216. A tenant who sues over any of these tactics can recover actual damages and reasonable attorney’s fees, and the statute is clear that those remedies are not exclusive.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Real Property Code 8-216 – Prohibition on Self-Help Eviction No matter how far behind the rent is or how much damage you’re looking at, the only legal path to removal runs through the District Court and the sheriff.

Identify the Correct Grounds

Maryland recognizes three common grounds for eviction, and each one uses a different notice, a different form, and a different timeline. Pick wrong and the case gets thrown out.

  • Failure to pay rent. The tenant did not pay rent when it was due.
  • Breach of lease. The tenant violated a material term of the lease, such as keeping an unauthorized pet, subletting without permission, or engaging in illegal activity on the property.
  • Tenant holding over. The lease has expired and the tenant is still in possession without your consent.

Serve the Required Written Notice

Nothing gets filed with the court until the tenant has had the proper written notice and the notice period has run.

Nonpayment of Rent: 10 Days

Serve the tenant with a Notice of Intent to File a Complaint for Summary Ejectment (Form DC-CV-115). The tenant has 10 days to pay the full amount owed. If they pay within that window, you cannot proceed. If they do not, you can file the complaint once the 10 days have passed.2Maryland Judiciary. Notice of Intent to File a Complaint for Summary Ejectment

If the property is federally backed or participates in a federally subsidized housing program, the CARES Act adds a separate 30-day notice requirement for nonpayment cases under 15 U.S.C. Section 9058(c). That requirement has no expiration date and sits on top of Maryland’s 10-day notice.

Breach of Lease: 30 Days (or 14)

For a standard lease violation, give the tenant 30 days’ written notice stating the violation and demanding possession. If the breach creates a clear and imminent danger of serious harm to people or property, the notice period drops to 14 days. The tenant must also refuse to comply before you can file suit.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Real Property 8-402.1 – Breach of Lease

Holdover: Depends on the Tenancy

  • Year-to-year tenancy: 90 days’ written notice before the current year expires.
  • Month-to-month tenancy, or a written lease for a term longer than one week: 60 days’ written notice before the tenancy expires.
  • Week-to-week tenancy with a written lease: 7 days’ written notice.
  • Week-to-week tenancy without a written lease: 21 days’ written notice.

The distinction between week-to-week tenants with and without a written lease is where landlords stumble. Serving only 7 days’ notice on a week-to-week tenant who never signed a lease will get the case dismissed.4Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Real Property 8-402 – Tenant Holding Over

File the Complaint in District Court

Once the notice period has expired and the tenant has not cured the problem or vacated, file a written complaint with the District Court in the county where the property is located. Each ground has its own form:

Every complaint requires the full names of all tenants on the lease, the property address, lease details, and the amount of rent or fees owed. You also have to certify whether the property is properly licensed (in jurisdictions that require rental licensing) and disclose whether any tenant is in active military service under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The SCRA disclosure is mandatory, and the forms include a box where you confirm the tenant’s military status, including whether you verified it through the Department of Defense website.5Maryland Courts. Maryland District Court Form DC-CV-082 – Failure to Pay Rent

For properties built before 1978, you must also certify compliance with lead paint registration and inspection requirements under Maryland’s Environment Article. Failure to register an affected property with the Maryland Department of the Environment can block the eviction entirely.

Complaints can be filed in person at the clerk’s office or electronically through Maryland Electronic Courts (MDEC). 2026 filing fees:

  • Failure to pay rent: $50 in most counties, $60 in Baltimore City.
  • Breach of lease: $56 in most counties, $66 in Baltimore City.
  • Tenant holding over: $56 in most counties, $66 in Baltimore City.

Once the complaint is filed and the fee paid, the court issues a summons to the tenant with the hearing date.7Maryland Judiciary. District Court of Maryland Cost Schedule

Prove Your Case at the Hearing

You present your case first. Bring the signed lease, a ledger showing rent payments received, copies of every notice served, and any correspondence that matters. For breach of lease cases, photographs, inspection reports, or witness testimony about the violation carry real weight. Showing up with verbal claims and nothing on paper asks the judge to take your word for it, and that rarely works.

The tenant then has a chance to respond and raise defenses. If you prove your case, the judge enters a Judgment for Possession, which is the court’s formal ruling that you have the right to retake the property. In a breach of lease case, the judge has to specifically find that the breach was substantial enough to warrant eviction.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Real Property 8-402.1 – Breach of Lease If the tenant does not appear, the court will typically enter a default judgment in your favor.

Expect These Tenant Defenses

A few defenses come up often enough that any landlord should plan for them.

Improper notice. By far the most common. Wrong form, wrong notice period, or filing before the clock ran out. Judges scrutinize notice compliance closely, and defective notice sinks the case regardless of how valid the underlying complaint is.

Retaliation. Maryland law prohibits evicting a tenant, raising rent, or cutting services solely because the tenant filed a good-faith complaint with you or a government agency, sued you, or participates in a tenants’ organization. A court that finds the eviction retaliatory can award the tenant damages up to three months’ rent plus attorney’s fees.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Real Property Code 8-208.1 – Retaliatory Actions The protection does not apply if the tenant has had three or more judgments for unpaid rent in the prior 12 months.

Habitability. In nonpayment cases, a tenant can argue that serious habitability problems justified withholding rent, so long as they notified you of the defect by certified mail, through a code violation notice, or where you saw the problem directly. The court can reduce the rent owed, award damages, or in severe cases terminate the lease. Tenants can also pay disputed rent into court through the rent escrow process while repairs are pending. Documentation that the condition was addressed, or that the tenant never gave proper notice, is what defeats this defense.

Know the Right of Redemption in Nonpayment Cases

Winning a Judgment for Possession in a failure-to-pay-rent case does not guarantee the tenant leaves. Maryland gives tenants a right of redemption: the tenant can stop the eviction at any point before the sheriff actually carries it out by paying the full judgment amount on the Warrant of Restitution, which includes the rent the judge found due plus court costs. If they pay in full, you have to contact the sheriff’s or constable’s office to cancel the eviction.9Maryland Judiciary. Rent Court for Tenants Part 2 – Right of Redemption and Eviction

The right can be foreclosed. If the tenant has had three judgments for unpaid rent entered against them in the preceding 12 months, the court can permanently eliminate their right of redemption. In Baltimore City, the threshold is four prior judgments. Form DC-CV-082 includes a section where you request foreclosure of redemption rights and list prior case numbers and judgment dates. For a chronically late tenant, this is the mechanism that ends the pay-and-stay cycle, so track every judgment.

The right of redemption applies only to failure-to-pay-rent cases. Tenants evicted for breach of lease or holding over do not have it.

File the Warrant of Restitution and Watch the Clock

A Judgment for Possession on its own does not authorize anyone to remove the tenant. You have to file a Petition for Warrant of Restitution, Form DC-CV-081.10Maryland Judiciary. Maryland District Court Form DC-CV-081 – Petition for Warrant of Restitution

Two separate 60-day clocks run in nonpayment cases. First, you have to request the warrant within 60 days of the judgment date, or the expiration of any court-ordered stay. Miss that and the judgment for possession is stricken. Second, once the court issues the warrant, you have to act on it within 60 days or the warrant expires and the judgment is stricken again.11Maryland General Assembly. 2025 Regular Session House Bill 767 A stricken judgment still counts toward the three-judgment threshold for foreclosing the right of redemption, but you would have to file a new case for the current unpaid rent.

Once issued, the warrant goes to the local sheriff’s or constable’s office. A sheriff’s deputy or constable is the only person legally authorized to carry out the eviction. The office schedules a date, and on that date an officer arrives to order the tenant and other occupants to leave. Only after the sheriff has completed that process can you change the locks and retake possession.10Maryland Judiciary. Maryland District Court Form DC-CV-081 – Petition for Warrant of Restitution

Appeals Have a Four-Day Window

Either side can appeal the District Court’s decision, but the deadline is four days after judgment is entered. A tenant who appeals must post a bond. Appeals go to the Circuit Court for a new trial.12Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Real Property 8-401 – Failure to Pay Rent Four days is one of the shortest appeal windows in Maryland law, so decide quickly.

Belongings Left Behind

After the sheriff executes the eviction, you will likely find property left in the unit. Maryland currently does not have a statute requiring landlords to store a former tenant’s personal property for any specific period. The Warrant of Restitution form directs the sheriff or constable to remove property from the premises, and in practice belongings are typically placed at the curb or in a designated area during the eviction. Document everything with photographs and a written inventory anyway. Throwing out clearly valuable items with no attempt to notify the former tenant invites disputes even without a formal storage period on the books. A short written notice to the tenant’s last known address offering a brief window to pick up belongings is cheap insurance against liability.