Maryland Protects One U.S. Flag at Any Maryland Residence

Section 14-128 is written twice over, and the redundancy is deliberate. Subsection (b) says that regardless of the terms of any covenant, declaration, bylaw, rule, or lease, a homeowner or tenant "may not be prohibited from displaying" one portable, removable U.S. flag on the premises where they are entitled to reside. Subsection (c) then addresses the documents themselves and says their terms "may not prohibit or unduly restrict" the same right. So a Maryland association cannot save a flag ban by pointing to a covenant that predates the statute, and it also cannot achieve a ban indirectly through a rule so demanding that display becomes impractical. The undue-restriction language is what a Maryland homeowner argues against a rule that, for example, confines flags to a rear patio not visible from the street.

The reach of the section is unusually broad for a community association provision. Subsection (a) lists Title 8 (landlord and tenant), Title 8A (mobile home parks), Title 11 (the Maryland Condominium Act), Title 11A (real estate time-sharing), and Title 11B (the Maryland Homeowners Association Act), plus cooperative housing corporations under Title 5, Subtitle 6B of the Corporations and Associations Article. That matters because Maryland's condominium and HOA statutes otherwise run in parallel and a right written into one does not automatically appear in the other. The flag right is written into neither; it sits in Title 14 and reaches all of them at once, along with renters whose landlord is not an association at all.

What is protected is precise: "one portable, removable flag of the United States," displayed "in a respectful manner, consistent with 4 U.S.C. §§ 4 through 10, as amended." Those federal sections are the U.S. Flag Code provisions on the pledge, the time and occasions for display, the position and manner of display, and respect for the flag. The Maryland statute does not entitle an owner to a second flag, to an oversized flag, or to a permanent in-ground flagpole. Subsection (d)(1) expressly gives the board rule-making power over "a flagpole used to display the flag of the United States," which is the drafters' signal that the pole itself is a fair subject of association regulation even though the flag is not.

The rule-making power comes with a procedural condition Maryland boards routinely miss. Under subsection (d)(2), before adopting any flag or flagpole rule, the board of directors of a condominium, homeowners association, or housing cooperative, or a landlord, must first hold an open meeting on the proposed rules so affected homeowners and tenants have an opportunity to be heard, and must give advance notice of the time and place by publishing it in a community newsletter, on a community bulletin board, by the means set out in the governing documents or the lease, or by other means reasonably calculated to inform affected residents. A flag rule adopted in a closed executive session, or slipped into a newsletter after the fact, was not adopted in the manner § 14-128(d)(2) requires.

Maryland treats political signage separately, and the two rights should not be confused. Real Property § 11B-111.2 bars an HOA from restricting a candidate sign or a ballot-question sign, while allowing restrictions in the common areas and allowing a display window as short as 30 days before and 7 days after the election where local law sets no period. A flag is not a candidate sign, and § 14-128 carries no seasonal window at all: the U.S. flag may fly year round.

There is no historic-property carve-out in § 14-128. That is worth noting because Maryland wrote such a carve-out into its neighboring provisions, exempting property on the Maryland Register of Historic Properties from both the clothesline right in § 14-130(b) and the low-impact landscaping right in § 2-125(d). The legislature left the flag right intact everywhere, including in Maryland's historic districts.

Section 14-128 creates a right rather than a penalty, so nothing happens to a resident who flies a flag: a covenant or rule that conflicts with the section simply cannot be enforced against them. The practical fight starts when an association tries to fine. 10, which requires a written cease-and-desist demand giving at least 15 days to abate, then a written notice of the right to a hearing with at least 10 days to request one and at least 10 days before the hearing itself, at which the owner may present evidence and cross-examine witnesses.

10(c) either the association or a lot owner may sue for damages or injunctive relief, with the prevailing party entitled to counsel fees set by the court. Separately, Real Property § 11B-115(c) places a violation of Title 11B within the enforcement duties and powers of the Division of Consumer Protection of the Office of the Attorney General under Title 13 of the Commercial Law Article, which is where a Maryland homeowner complains about an association that ignores the hearing procedure. 10 does not apply to the Columbia Association or the village community associations of Columbia in Howard County.