Charles County, MD Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Section 81-1 defines Charles County's "Minimum Livability Code" as either the Minimum Livability Code the Maryland Secretary of Housing and Community Development adopted under the former Article 83B, § 6-103(a)(2) of the Annotated Code of Maryland, or, where the County Housing Code substantially conforms to the state's Statewide Livability Code, the provisions of that County Housing Code. In practice, this makes the county's own housing standards the enforceable habitability baseline for rental units. Enforcement runs through a complaint-driven inspection process rather than routine sweeps. A tenant, or someone the tenant designates in writing, files a written complaint with the County Department of Community Services, and the Code Enforcement Officer must complete an on-site inspection within 20 days.

Within 10 days of that inspection, the officer must send the tenant a written response listing the inspection results and any Minimum Livability Code violations found. A parallel track covers fire safety: a written request to the State Fire Marshal's office triggers the same 20-day inspection and 10-day written-report timeline, focused on firesafety standards in the code. The county caps this enforcement machinery at 10 inspections per section, per month, and bars inspecting the same housing unit more than once in any six-month period. can serve as a tenant's written-designated agent, file the inspection request, and even maintain a legal action in its own name over a Minimum Livability Code violation, including seeking an injunction or other equitable relief, whether or not another legal remedy exists.