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

County Code § 17.1009, part of the landlord-tenant Subtitle 10 adopted by County Bill 20-2018, sets out the provisions every residential lease in Howard County must contain. Under § 17.1009(c)(1)(i), a lease must state that the landlord will deliver the dwelling unit and any common areas 'in a clean, habitable, and sanitary condition, free of rodents and vermin, and in compliance with all applicable laws'; for a condominium or cooperative unit, § 17.1009(c)(1)(ii) lets the landlord limit that promise to the unit itself. § 17.1009(c)(2) requires the lease to spell out the landlord's ongoing duty to maintain the rental in accordance with Howard County law, and § 17.1009(c)(3) requires the lease to incorporate by reference the Howard County Building Code, the Fire Prevention Code, the Property Maintenance Code for Rental Housing, and the Zoning Regulations, 'as an express warranty of habitability and covenant to repair.' The same section, § 17.1009(b), also requires the lease to disclose the rental-housing license and warns that if the owner lets the license lapse for 15 or more consecutive days, the tenant may terminate the lease without penalty and recover the security deposit. § 17.1009(b)(3) gives a tenant a further remedy: if the Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits issues an unabated notice of violation, or a rodent-infestation civil citation goes unheeded, the tenant may either terminate the lease without penalty or ask for a rent-escrow account to hold rent payments until the problem is fixed. § 17.1010 backs this up by voiding any lease clause that tries to waive a right or protection the subtitle grants.