Gaithersburg, MD Rental Inspections: Inspection Programs (2026)

Chapter 18AA, Rental Housing Licensing, states its purpose in Sec. 18AA-1: to assure compliance with all laws, ordinances and regulations applicable to rental units, promote safe, healthy and habitable housing, prevent deterioration of rental property, and encourage responsible management through inspection and licensing. Sec. 18AA-7 requires an inspection for every rental housing unit in the city; for a building with more than two dwelling units, the city manager or designee can decide how many units get inspected and how often, rather than inspecting every unit every cycle.

Inspections recur on a licensing cycle: at least 90 days before a final license expires the holder must apply for renewal, triggering another inspection (Sec. 18AA-6). Applying for a rental license also constitutes the owner's continuing consent to let the city manager inspect the premises during reasonable hours (Sec. 18AA-12). If an inspection turns up a violation of any applicable law, ordinance or regulation after a license has already issued, the city manager must notify the owner in writing of the violation and the deadline to fix it; if the violation is not corrected by reinspection, or no one shows up to let the inspector in, the license can be revoked and units ordered vacated, or a reinspection can be ordered on payment of a reinspection fee set by council resolution (Sec. 18AA-8). Owners can appeal any city manager action under this chapter to the city board of appeals under Secs. 24-187 through 24-193 (Sec. 18AA-11).