Charles County, MD Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

To trigger an inspection, a tenant of a housing unit, or someone the tenant designates in writing, submits a written complaint to the County Department of Community Services. Section 81-1B requires the Code Enforcement Officer to conduct an on-site inspection within 20 days of that complaint arriving, then send the tenant, or the designated agent, a written response within 10 days of the inspection. That response has to set out the inspection results and list every Minimum Livability Code violation the officer finds, not just a pass/fail summary.

If the complaint concerns fire hazards rather than general livability, § 81-1C runs the same process through the Office of the State Fire Marshal: a written request triggers a 20-day inspection deadline and a 10-day written-report deadline, focused on firesafety standards under the Minimum Livability Code. Section 81-1D limits how the county can be forced to respond: neither track requires the Code Enforcement Officer or the State Fire Marshal to conduct more than 10 inspections under this section in a single month, and no housing unit has to be inspected more than once in any six-month period, even if new complaints keep coming in.

in writing to submit the complaint and receive the inspection results on the tenant's behalf, and that organization can also pursue legal action, including an injunction, if the inspection turns up a violation.