Wicomico County, MD Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

Two sections of the county's Housing Standards code work together to set the door-hardware floor for every dwelling in the unincorporated county. Section 160-38, in Article VI's minimum standards, requires every door to fit its frame so it can be opened and closed while properly and securely attached to jambs, headers or tracks, and it requires proper hardware on every door, securely attached and kept in good condition; the same section bans hasp lock assemblies outright unless the door serves a storage-only space, closing off a cheap fix landlords sometimes use in place of a real lockset.

Section 160-54, the general exterior-maintenance article, adds a parallel, occupant-facing rule: every exterior door, door hinge and door latch must be maintained in good condition, and door locks in every dwelling unit must be in good repair and capable of tightly securing the door. Read together, the two sections cover both the hardware itself, which cannot be a hasp on a habitable door, and its functional condition, which must actually secure the unit; a tenant who cannot lock a door, whose lock is broken, or whose landlord has fitted a padlock-and-hasp instead of a proper lockset has a Housing Code violation to report to the Housing Official.

The requirement sits alongside the basement-egress and fire-safety articles of the same chapter, underscoring that the county treats a securable door as both a security feature and a life-safety standard.