How to Fill Out and Sign a Maryland Rental Agreement Form

A Maryland rental agreement form is the written lease a landlord and tenant sign to document rent, term, rules, and the legal obligations that attach to a residential tenancy in the state. To fill one out correctly, you need to cover the terms Maryland law requires, respect the caps the law places on money collected up front, attach the mandatory disclosures, strip out any clause the state prohibits, add whatever your county or city demands on top, and hand the tenant a signed copy. Everything below walks through those steps in the order you’ll hit them on the page.

Information the Form Must Capture

Start with identity. Write the full legal names of the landlord and every adult tenant who will live in the unit. Then describe what is being rented: street address, unit number, and any additional space the tenant gets, such as a parking spot, storage locker, or shared common area. Ambiguity here causes problems later, so be specific.

Next come the money and time fields, which is where most disputes start. Enter the monthly rent, the exact day it is due, and the payment methods you accept. Fill in the lease start and end dates. If the tenancy rolls into a month-to-month arrangement when the fixed term ends, say so on the form rather than leaving it implied. Spell out who pays for utilities, trash service, and any homeowner association charges that reach the tenant.

Caps on Move-In Money, Deposits, and Late Fees

Maryland limits what you can collect before the tenant takes possession. A lease cannot require more than the security deposit plus the first month’s rent to begin occupancy.¹ Any extra move-in fee, administrative fee, or similar add-on stacked on top of those two payments violates the statute, so leave those lines off the form.

The security deposit itself is capped at two months’ rent.² When you collect it, give the tenant a written receipt. The receipt has to tell the tenant two things: that they can request a written list of all existing damage within 15 days of moving in, and that they have the right to be present at the move-out inspection. A landlord who skips the receipt can forfeit the right to withhold any portion of the deposit for damages later. Hold the deposit in a Maryland financial institution.

If the form includes a late fee, it cannot exceed five percent of the unpaid rent for the delinquent period.¹ Weekly rentals are capped at three dollars per late weekly payment, up to twelve dollars per month. Only a single flat fee per late payment is allowed; daily or compounding penalties are not. Maryland also builds in a grace period before any late fee can attach, and the late fee terms must be written into the lease to be enforceable.

Disclosures to Attach Before Signing

Several documents belong in the signing package alongside the lease. Hand them to the tenant before pen hits paper.

Lead-Based Paint

If the property was built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to disclose known information about lead-based paint and lead hazards on the premises. The tenant gets a copy of the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home,” any available inspection reports, and a lead warning statement either embedded in the lease or attached to it.³ The tenant also needs time to review the materials before signing. Skipping this disclosure creates serious federal and state liability.

Property Condition

Disclose any known dangerous defects, infestations, or conditions that could affect the tenant’s health or safety. Maryland does not mandate a single statewide habitability form, but the signing package should confirm the property meets basic standards: working plumbing, heat, electricity, and structural soundness.

Clauses You Have to Delete

Form leases pulled off the internet or recycled from other states routinely contain language Maryland bans. A court will treat these clauses as void, and a landlord who tries to enforce one, or even notifies the tenant of an intent to enforce it, can be held liable for actual damages and reasonable attorney fees.¹ Scrub the following from any template before you use it:

Any blanket waiver of the tenant’s legal rights or remedies under Maryland law.
A waiver of the right to a jury trial for lease disputes.
Self-help eviction language authorizing the landlord to change locks, remove belongings, or retake possession outside the courts.
Any provision shortening notice periods Maryland law requires before termination. A longer notice period is allowed; a shorter one is not.
Exculpatory clauses that release the landlord from liability for the landlord’s own negligence.
Penalties for a tenant who calls police or emergency services, or for calls placed by someone else.
Retaliation provisions tied to joining or helping organize a tenants’ association.
Any requirement that the tenant accept rent increase notices only by email or other electronic means.
Pass-through of certain District Court filing surcharges assessed against the landlord.

Tenants who spot one of these clauses in a lease they already signed should know it carries no legal weight.

Local Add-Ons

The state rules set the floor. Two jurisdictions pile on requirements that change what the signing package looks like.

Montgomery County

Licensed landlords in Montgomery County must attach a Lease Summary to every new residential lease. The form, published by the county’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs, highlights lease duration, rent, due date, and utility responsibilities, and it points tenants to the county’s housing office.⁴ You can use the county template or your own version as long as it covers the required information.

Baltimore City

Before you can legally rent out a non-owner-occupied property in Baltimore City or collect rent on it, the property has to be registered with the city and licensed.⁵ Licensing requires a passing inspection by a state-licensed inspector registered with the city, compliance with federal, state, and city lead paint laws, no open code violations, and payment of registration fees. Renting without a current license means you cannot legally collect rent, and courts may block an eviction brought while the property was unlicensed. Line up the license before the lease is signed.

Signing and Delivering the Copy

Pen-and-ink and secure electronic signing platforms are both fine. Every adult tenant on the lease needs to sign to be bound. Landlords who offer five or more dwelling units for rent in Maryland are required to use a written lease, and those landlords must deliver a fully executed copy to the tenant.¹ Hand it over at the signing table when you can; use certified mail if the tenant is not present.

Smaller landlords should do the same. A tenant who never received a copy of the lease they signed has room to challenge the agreement later, and a court is unlikely to side with a landlord who kept the only copy. Once the signed lease and the required disclosures are in the tenant’s hands, the agreement is active and both parties are bound for the duration of the term.

1
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Real Property 8-208 – Residential Lease Agreement
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Real Property 8-203 – Security Deposits
3
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule (Section 1018 of Title X)
4
Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Publications and Forms – OLTA
5
Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development. Property Registration and Rental Licensing