Harford County, MD Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Chapter 161, Littering, reaches beyond active dumping to the state of a vacant parcel itself. Section 161-8, Litter on vacant lots, makes it unlawful for any person to throw, place or deposit, or permit to be thrown, placed or deposited, litter of any description on a public or private lot, whether that lot is improved or sitting empty. That prohibition works alongside § 161-6, Responsibility of owner, which puts an affirmative duty on the owner or person in control of private property to maintain the premises free of litter at all times, and § 161-10, Accumulations of litter, which separately bars letting litter accumulate on a property, temporarily or permanently.

The chapter's definition of litter covers garbage, refuse, rubbish and similar debris, so an owner of an unimproved or vacant lot in unincorporated Harford County cannot rely on the property being empty as a defense; the maintenance duty attaches to the land itself. Chapter 161 exempts litter or weeds stored in private receptacles for collection or held under controlled conditions for industrial recycling processes such as scrap metal handling, per § 161-11. Enforcement runs through the county's code enforcement process rather than a private civil action, and the chapter carries its own criminal penalty separate from the Livability Code's rental-focused enforcement scheme.