Washington County, MD Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Under Code of Public Local Laws (2019) Title 5, Subtitle 1, a keeper, owner, proprietor or employee of any junk shop or second-hand store in Washington County, Maryland may not barter, purchase, exchange, buy or accept pipe, faucets, boilers, spigots, coil, lead, solder, copper, alloys of metals, tin plate, or any other second-hand goods, wares or merchandise, without first providing and keeping the required transaction books (Sec. 5-101). The exception is for licensed plumbers or the actual property owners disposing of their own material. Section 5-102 sets the recordkeeping mechanics: the dealer must keep a book written in English recording, for every purchase, a description of the article, the name and residence of the seller, and the exact day and hour of the transaction.

That book must stay open at all times to inspection by any police or detective officer of a municipality in the county, by the Sheriff, or by any constable, and must be preserved for at least 3 years after the date of the last recorded transaction. The subtitle traces back to 1957 Code sec. 430-432 and 1941, ch. 236, and was last amended in 1995 (ch. 85). There is no separate county licensing fee schedule in this subtitle; the requirement is the recordkeeping duty itself, enforced through the inspection right and the penalty in Sec. 5-103.