Short-term rentals in Baltimore, explained properly.

Sec. 48-15(b) requires every host to maintain the dwelling unit in compliance with the Building, Fire, and Related Codes Article, the City Health Article and the Zoning Code of Baltimore City. Sec. 48-21(4) lists failing to abate within 120 days of issuance any violation notice, order or citation under those codes as a cause for denial, suspension or revocation. DHCD's page adds that the property must be free of code violations to get a license, and the FAQ says a hosted unit need not be inspected but must be maintained in compliance.

Sec. 48-15(d): during the term of any rental, the host must prominently display, in an area of the dwelling unit readily accessible to transient guests, emergency contact information for a representative of the host. The representative must reside within 15 miles of the dwelling unit and be accessible for the entire term of the rental.

Sec. 48-15(e): at all times during a short-term residential rental the host must prominently display a sign, in the form and manner required by the rules and regulations adopted under the subtitle, stating that the dwelling unit is licensed for short-term residential rentals. The Housing Commissioner adopts the rules and regulations (Sec. 48-3); the Commissioner's rules set the sign wording.

Sec. 48-15(f) requires the host to include his or her license number in any advertisement or listing of the dwelling unit on a hosting platform. Sec. 48-16(d) requires hosting platforms to include the license numbers of the hosts in any advertisement or listing of a dwelling unit available for short-term residential rentals in Baltimore City.

Sec. 48-15(c): the host must make a record of all of the host's short-term residential rentals in the form and with the information the rules and regulations require, keep it for at least the period of years the rules require, and on request make it available for inspection by the Housing Commissioner. The record-keeping period is set by the Commissioner's rules.

Sec. 48-16: a hosting platform may not advertise, list or otherwise facilitate booking transactions for a short-term residential rental in the City without first verifying with the Housing Commissioner that the host's license is valid and that the dwelling unit's address matches the license. Re-verification is needed only if the Commissioner has notified the platform that the unit cannot lawfully be used, or if the host has stopped offering rentals through the platform for 12 months or more since the last verification. If a platform gets written notice that a listed unit cannot lawfully be used, it must remove the listing within 3 days. A platform may not collect a fee for facilitating bookings of a unit that cannot lawfully be used, and must keep records of Baltimore rentals it facilitates, with the host's name and license number, the address and block and lot numbers, booking and stay dates and the amounts charged. The Commissioner may issue administrative subpoenas to platforms.

DHCD's page says new applicants and renewing licensees must each create a new online account and registration in the online portal, and that renewals need a Claim Code sent to the email address on the original registration account. New-license instructions list the property address, owner information as recorded on the deed and a Maryland State Use and Sales Tax number; the dwelling unit count entered is 1 and the rooming unit count 0. If the property recently transferred and the owner name was changed from the auto-filled one, a HUD-1 or settlement sheet must be attached. Renewal instructions list the property address, the claim code, the Maryland sales and use tax number and the $200 payment, and the code requires the renewal application and fee at least 30 days before expiry (Sec. 48-8(b)).

Sec. 48-26: anyone who violates any provision of the subtitle (including any cause for denial, suspension or revocation in Sec. 48-21) or any rule adopted under it is guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, subject to a fine of not more than $500 for each offense, and each day a violation continues is a separate offense. Sec. 48-25 adds that the subtitle may be enforced by environmental citation under City Code Article 1, Subtitle 40, in addition to any other civil or criminal remedy.

Sec. 48-21 lists the causes: a material false statement in an application, fraudulently or deceptively obtaining or using the license, failing to abate within 120 days a violation notice, order or citation under the Building, Fire, Health or Zoning codes, or failing to comply with the subtitle or its rules. Sec. 48-22 requires not less than 10 days written notice and a chance to be heard, except that the Commissioner may act without prior notice if the Commissioner, Fire Chief, Health Commissioner or Police Commissioner finds the health, safety or welfare of occupants or the public in imminent danger. A person aggrieved by a decision may petition the Circuit Court for Baltimore City for judicial review; the filing does not stay the decision unless the court grants a stay (Sec. 48-23).

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.