Charles County, MD Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Section 297-29B(18)(k) of the Charles County zoning ordinance lists categories of business the county has determined are unsuitable to operate as a home occupation, and automobile-related work heads the list: automobile sales, repair, dismantling, storage, or body shops, alongside engine or machine repair, lawn equipment repair, funeral homes, medical or dental offices, dance studios, and restaurants. Because a home occupation permit under § 297-29B(18) is a prerequisite for any home-based business in agricultural, rural, or residential zones, naming a use as unsuitable functions as an outright bar on that use qualifying for the permit, not merely a restriction on its scale or hours.

This differs from the county's separate cottage industry category, § 297-29B(22), which allows a broader range of accessory-structure businesses on lots of five acres or more with a Zoning Officer's conditions or a special exception, but that category's own unsuitable list also excludes uses barred elsewhere in the code and does not open the door to auto repair. An owner seeking to run a repair shop from a residential property in Charles County must instead find a lot zoned for commercial or industrial automotive use and obtain the applicable business license and use permit for that zone; there is no residential-zone permit path that legalizes the activity.