Gaithersburg, MD Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Sec. 18AA-3 requires all owners of any occupied rental housing unit to hold a valid, unrevoked license issued by the city manager under Chapter 18AA. Sec. 18AA-4 sets the application process: the owner or an authorized agent must submit an application to the city manager or designee before the unit is occupied or permitted to be occupied, along with a fee set by city council resolution. Once the city manager receives a complete application and fee, Sec. 18AA-5 requires an inspection of the premises before a license issues; the license must be posted in a conspicuous place on the property or kept by the property manager, and multi-family apartment houses get a final license on a completed application and fee alone.

Owners must apply for renewal at least 90 days before a final license expires, and if a rental property becomes owner-occupied the previous owner must tell the city manager to remove it from the city's rental stock list (Sec. 18AA-6). A license can transfer to a new owner on application and payment of a transfer fee when the property changes hands (Sec. 18AA-10). Chapter 18AA covers a broad range of housing types: single, semidetached (duplex), multiple-unit, townhouse and mobile-home dwellings, along with rooming houses, boarding houses, dormitories, hotels and hotel-apartments, so long as the use is otherwise allowed under Chapter 24 zoning.