Gaithersburg, MD Rental Property Rules: Rent Increase Notice (2026)

Section 13-20(e), added to Chapter 13's tenant-rights article, sets two hard limits on rent increases: a landlord cannot impose more than one increase on a tenant in any twelve-month period, and cannot make an increase effective until 90 days after giving the tenant written notice under Maryland Code, Real Property Article Section 8-209. Every written notice must state the current monthly rent before the increase, the new monthly rent after it takes effect, the percentage increase, the effective date, the voluntary rent increase guideline issued under Montgomery County Code Section 29-53(a)-(b), and a statement telling the tenant they may ask the city's department to review any increase they consider excessive.

For any rental facility with 12 or more dwelling units, the landlord must also send a copy of that same notice to the city manager or a designee at the same time it goes to the tenant. The section opens by stating that landlords are 'encouraged to hold rent increases at the lowest level possible,' language carried over from the original 1985 ordinance, though the binding requirements are the 90-day notice period and the one-increase-per-year cap rather than any rent cap itself; Gaithersburg does not otherwise limit how much a landlord can raise the rent.