Worcester County, MD Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Accessory apartments and short-term rentals meet in § ZS 1-351(b), which applies in unincorporated Worcester County, Maryland. Under subsection (b)(3)B, accessory apartments can only be rented in their entirety. They carry the same bedroom-based occupancy limits as any short-term rental, namely fifty square feet of unobstructed floor area per occupant in a bedroom with more than one person, and they are also subject to § ZS 1-338. A property used for short-term rentals is limited to a single rental contract for any overnight period, regardless of the number of sleeping rooms in the principal dwelling unit or accessory apartment. Subsection (b)(4) bars modifications that change the functionality, appearance or principal design of the structure as an individual dwelling unit, and (b)(6) requires the owner to keep lodger records and provide them to the County on request. Section ZS 1-103 counts all of an accessory apartment rented for no more than twenty-eight consecutive days as a short-term rental.

Section ZS 1-338 sets the standards for the apartment itself. Its stated intent is no more than one accessory apartment per lot of record, to meet the housing needs of people of low and moderate income and of relatives of resident families. The apartment can be in the principal dwelling or in an accessory building, but manufactured or mobile homes are not accessory apartments. The Environmental Programs Division must determine that adequate wastewater disposal capacity is available. Floor area runs from a minimum of five hundred square feet up to thirty-five percent of the dwelling's gross floor area or nine hundred square feet, whichever is less, with no more than two bedrooms. An apartment in an accessory building sits with its entire perimeter within one hundred feet of the principal building, unless a greater distance is approved under § ZS 1-117(e)(5) and the property is outside the Chesapeake or Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area. Off-street parking under § ZS 1-320 comes in addition to other parking required on the site, and only one apartment is permitted per existing single-family dwelling.

An editor's note in the code records that the former requirement that an owner occupy one of the dwelling units was repealed 11-17-2020 by Bill No. 20-8.