HB 1257 Maryland House of Delegates · 2025 Regular Session

Landlord and Tenant - Residential Leases - Fee Disclosures

HB 1257 requires landlords renting five or more residential units to fully disclose all mandatory fees (like pet or parking fees) when advertising rental rates and providing written information to prospective tenants. Landlords must clearly state the fee's purpose, amount, type (mandatory vs. optional), and payment schedule in advance, and cannot charge any mandatory fee that wasn’t disclosed. The Department of Housing and Community Development will assist tenants with understanding the law and can impose penalties of up to $2,000 for repeat violations. This law excludes utility charges and minor lease violations from disclosure requirements, directly affecting landlords and prospective tenants in Maryland.

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House of Delegates Passage

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 7, 2025 Last action Mar 19, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

First - Landlord and Tenant - Residential Leases - Fee Disclosures → Third - Landlord and Tenant - Residential Leases - Fee Disclosures · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill expands tenant protections by clarifying fee disclosure requirements, adding garbage collection to excluded utility charges, and introducing stronger enforcement mechanisms including tenant lawsuits and triple damages for violations. The changes strengthen tenant rights while maintaining landlord obligations around fee transparency.

Scope change

The bill now applies to landlords offering four or more dwelling units (expanded from five), and extends the effective date to leases signed or renewed on or after October 1, 2025.

ELIGIBILITY

Expanded applicability from five or more dwelling units to four or more dwelling units, making more landlords subject to the fee disclosure requirements.

REQUIREMENT

Added garbage collection to the list of charges that landlords cannot impose mandatory fees for, alongside water, sewer, gas, and electric utilities.

ENFORCEMENT

New provision allowing tenants to file lawsuits against landlords for violations, with courts able to award triple damages plus attorney's fees.

Added tenant right to file claims against landlords for violations, in addition to the existing administrative penalty system.

TIMELINE

Added a new effective date of February 1, 2026 for tenant lawsuits, with claims allowed during tenancy or within two years after tenancy expires.

DEFINITION

Reorganized and clarified definitions of dwelling unit and fee categories to improve clarity.

Floor votes · House of Delegates Mar 7, 2025

How they voted

133–4

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 139

Mar 7, 2025

D Democratic100

99 Yea 1

99% Yea

R Republican39

34 Yea 4 Nay 1

87% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 17, 2025

Committee

Referred Judicial Proceedings

upper

Mar 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

Third Reading Passed

lower

Mar 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

Favorable with Amendments {

lower

Mar 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

Favorable with Amendments Report by Environment and Transportation

lower

Mar 7, 2025

House Of Delegates · Passed

House of Delegates Vote: pass (133-4-2)

house of delegates

Feb 7, 2025

Committee

First Reading Environment and Transportation

lower

8 primary · 0 co-sponsors