Short-term rentals in Annapolis, explained properly.

Section 17.44.090(B) lists what the application must include: the owner's name, residential address, phone numbers and email as listed with SDAT; the property manager's details (changes reported within five calendar days); association consent if its rules require it; and a list of the platforms to be used with an attestation of all host aliases, the matching legal names and contact information. Under 17.44.090(F) the licensee must make sure the whole premises meets building, residential maintenance, electrical and plumbing codes and smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector and lead-paint rules, and the Department inspects all rooms and units before issuing the license. The Rental Licensing Procedures page says all rentals are inspected once each year.

Section 17.44.090(B)(3)(d)(iii) and (C)(3).

Section 17.44.090(C)(6)-(9). Short-term rental licenses are not issued for bed and breakfast homes, hotels, motels or inns (17.44.090(C)(5)).

Section 17.44.090(G)(2) exempts these rentals from the license, and 17.44.090(D)(1)(c) exempts rentals during the boat shows and Commission Week from the blockface limits. The City's Short Term Rental Portal page says hosts renting only during the boat shows or Navy graduation apply for a free short-term rental registration; the Rental Licensing Procedures page describes it as a license with no fee.

Section 17.44.090(H)(1)-(2). Other grounds include a material adverse effect on public health, safety and welfare, excessive noise or traffic or unruly behavior tied to the rental, and fraud or false statements in the application. A nuisance includes a code violation that significantly affects neighbors or harms their health, safety or welfare, a City tax violation tied to the property, and three or more police or other law-enforcement responses to complaints or calls within 180 days (17.44.110). The owner or property manager must have been notified of each nuisance complaint, and the Director of Planning and Zoning decides which complaints are valid.

Section 17.44.010(B) and 17.44.090(H)(3). The fine amounts are set by resolution; this page does not show them.

Section 11-101 of the Tax-General Article defines a short-term rental as the temporary use of a short-term rental unit (a residential dwelling unit or part of one, including a house, apartment, condominium or cooperative) to provide accommodation to transient guests for lodging purposes in exchange for consideration, and lists both an accommodation (a right to occupy a room or lodgings as a transient guest) and a short-term rental as tangible personal property. Section 11-104(a) sets the general sales and use tax rate at 6 cents for each exact dollar of the taxable price. The Comptroller of Maryland's 2016 tax alert on accommodations says that individuals who rent out their homes or rooms are accommodations providers who must register with the Comptroller and collect the tax, that the tax does not apply to monthly or permanent residents, and that all rentals in resort areas for terms of 4 months or less are subject to the tax. Local room or hotel taxes are shown on each place's page.

Section 11-101 defines a short-term rental platform as an Internet-based digital entity that advertises short-term rental units and is paid for facilitating reservations or processing booking transactions for the owner, operator or manager, and lists a short-term rental platform as a vendor. Section 11-403(a)(5) says sales include a booking transaction made through a short-term rental platform, and 11-403(b) requires a vendor to collect the sales and use tax from the buyer. Under 11-101(l)(5), when a platform facilitates a stay, the taxable price is the full amount the guest pays, not counting any tax remitted to a taxing authority; a commission paid by the host after the booking is not included. The Comptroller's 2016 alert says hosting platforms that collect payments on behalf of an owner must register and collect the tax, and that an owner's duty to collect is waived only when the platform gives the owner a resale certificate. A 2025 law (Chapter 638) rewrites these definitions from July 1, 2027 so that an accommodations intermediary includes a short-term rental platform. The sources read do not say whether a host who books through a platform that collects must still file returns; check with the Comptroller.

Chapter 9 of the 2026 Laws of Maryland (House Bill 1221) added Public Safety Article sections 9-1101 to 9-1106, effective October 1, 2026. They apply only to a short-term rental unit offered for less than 30 consecutive days. The host must conspicuously post an evacuation diagram identifying all exits and a list of emergency numbers for police and fire rescue, and provide a working fire extinguisher and working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Booking services must electronically notify hosts of these requirements and require each host to provide the inspection confirmation for each unit. By July 1, 2028, each county and Baltimore City must, by local law or regulation, require annual inspections of all short-term rental units for these requirements (this does not apply to a county that prohibits short-term rentals) and may charge an inspection fee. The law does not require a county or Baltimore City to allow short-term rentals and does not preempt other local measures. In the 2026 session, House Bill 993 (local rules on short-term rentals run by tenants) passed the House; its last action shown, on April 13, 2026, was Second Reading Passed in the Senate, and it has no chapter number.