Short-term rentals in Prince George's County, explained properly.

Platforms must be registered with the Department, must require each host to give them a copy of the host's license or 90-day pending-application certificate before a rental is listed, and must report listing data to the Department monthly. A platform that collects a booking fee in connection with an unlicensed host is liable for a civil fine of $1,000 per violation. The host's application must list the licensed platforms the host intends to use.

This is one of the attestations in the license application. The Department may require evidence of any application requirement in any form or manner it directs.

The applicant attests and ensures that the rental provides the parking. This page does not cover any parking rule in the County zoning rules, which we haven't reviewed.

The Department provides the approved notification letter. The applicant also attests to compliance with the rules of any homeowner association, condominium association, common ownership community or cooperative where the rental is located. The text describes notice and attestation only; it does not describe a public hearing.

The applicant attests to each item and provides the Department a picture as proof of the posted emergency contact information and fire-exit floor plan. The license, the host's contact information, the County-based emergency contact and the Department's contact information must be displayed conspicuously inside the rental. The applicant also attests that the property has no outstanding taxes or liens and no code violations, and complies with Subtitle 4 and the applicable property maintenance, electrical, plumbing and building codes.

Platform payments are due on or before the last days of April, July, October and January and cover the three months before. The County may agree with a platform to an alternative method of collection. The rate and the rules are in Subtitle 10, Division 8 of the County Code, which we haven't reviewed, so no combined tax total is stated here; the Maryland state sales tax layer is shown separately on this page.

The log shows the total number of guests for the calendar year, the guests in each rental, the rental dates, and the days and dates the rental was and was not owner occupied.

The fine is in addition to any other penalty and may be imposed by a violation notice or an administrative citation. The Department may suspend or revoke a license for a citation, corrective order or violation notice under the County Code, for a nuisance, for denying the Department timely access to inspect, or for a stop work or stop use order at the address. Fraud, misrepresentation or inaccurate statements in an application are grounds for immediate revocation or denial. The Department's enforcement actions are at the Director's discretion.

The appeal covers violation notices, administrative citations and license suspensions or revocations. The Administrative Hearing Unit reviews whether the Director's action was supported by substantial evidence, and a further petition for judicial review goes to the Circuit Court for Prince George's County.

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.