Breaking a lease in Maryland

Maryland gives a tenant no general right to leave a fixed-term lease early, but if a tenant moves out before the term ends, you have a duty to mitigate your damages, and a lease cannot waive it. You may re-rent the home without notice to the tenant, who then stays secondarily liable for the rent if you promptly report any default by the new tenant (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-207).

• A service member, or the service member's spouse, who receives a change of assignment (permanent change of station, temporary duty over 90 days, orders into quarters on a military installation, or release from active duty) owes no more than rent then due plus 30 days' rent after giving written notice and proof, plus damage repairs (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-212.1).
• The medical-condition rent limit can apply when the patient is a named party to the lease or an authorized occupant. Before leaving, the tenant must give the required medical certification and written termination notice with the move-out date. If the statutory conditions are met, liability for rent after departure is limited to two months. This statutory rent limit does not apply if the lease already requires one month or less of written notice and no more than two months of post-departure rent (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-212.2).
• A tenant who is a victim of abuse, or whose legal occupant is, may end future liability with written notice and a protective order, peace order or a qualified third party's report signed within the last 60 days, then has 30 days to vacate and owes rent for no more than 30 days (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-5A-02; Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-5A-03).
• If fire or another unavoidable accident makes the home untenantable, a tenancy for a term of seven years or less ends, and rent is owed only up to the day of the fire or accident (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-112).
• The certification must address a condition that substantially restricts mobility at the home, requires a higher level of care elsewhere, or is a mental disorder meeting the statutory continued-habitation or higher-care test. It must state that the condition is expected to continue beyond the lease termination date. A diagnosis alone does not supply all of these statutory facts (Md. Code, Real Prop. 8-212.2).
• Use a physician or psychologist licensed by the relevant Maryland board. Section 8-212.2 requires the certification on that professional's letterhead or printed prescription form, signed by that professional, in substantially the statutory form. These are conditions of the rent-liability limit; the provision does not promise a penalty-free exit in every medical situation (Md. Code, Real Prop. 8-212.2).

If a serious defect is not fixed within a reasonable time after notice, the tenant may file a rent escrow action in District Court and pay rent into court, or withhold rent and raise the defect as a defense when you sue for rent. The court can end the lease, abate the rent, or have escrowed rent paid out to make the repairs (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-211).

• To get this relief the tenant must have given proper notice and must pay the rent into court. A tenant with three prior judgments of possession for unpaid rent in the 12 months before the case (monthly tenancies) cannot use it (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-211(k)).
• Separately, a tenant may claim breach of the warranty of habitability for damages or a rent abatement, and that relief may not be conditioned on paying rent into escrow (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-212(e), (g)(1)).
• Maryland's landlord and tenant law gives no general right to repair and deduct; the deduction it allows is for a utility bill that the lease makes your responsibility (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-212.3).See Repairs and habitability on the Maryland page
• A lease may not make the tenant give up any right or remedy the law provides (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(d)(2)).
• If the court orders any relief to a tenant in a rent escrow or warranty of habitability action, the tenant may also recover reasonable attorney's fees, costs and litigation expenses; the court may award you the same if the tenant's action was in bad faith or without substantial justification (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-211(o), (p); Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-212(j), (k)).

Maryland has no statute that sets a general rule on subletting a home. The lease controls, so state in it whether the tenant needs your written consent (Md. Code, Real Prop. Title 8).

To end a month-to-month tenancy, or a written lease for a stated term longer than one week, you must give the tenant written notice at least 60 days before it expires. A tenancy from year to year needs 90 days, and a week-to-week tenancy needs 7 days with a written lease or 21 days without one (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c)(2)).

• A lease may not require the tenant to give longer notice to end the tenancy than you must give (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-501).
• If the tenant tells you, even orally, at least 30 days before the end (90 days for year to year) that they will move out, and you can prove it, you need not send your own written notice to recover possession. This does not apply in Baltimore City (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c)(3)).
• If a tenant stays on with your consent after the term ends, the tenancy becomes month to month (week to week if it was weekly) unless the lease says otherwise in a term the tenant initialed (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(d)).
• Accepting rent after giving notice does not waive the notice unless you agree otherwise in writing (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c)(5)).

Within 45 days after the tenancy ends, you must return the deposit with the interest it has earned, less any damages rightfully withheld. If you keep any part for damages, you must send the tenant, by first-class mail to the last known address within the same 45 days, a written list of the damages with an itemized statement of the costs (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(e)(1), (g)).

• If you do not send the itemized list on time, you lose the right to withhold any part of the deposit for damages (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(g)(2)).
• The itemized statement must include documentation of the materials or services. You may use an estimate, but then you must tell the tenant in writing when the repairs are done, include the final invoice, and refund any amount withheld above the actual cost within 30 days after completing the repairs (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(j), (k)).
• A landlord who fails to return the deposit without a reasonable basis can owe up to three times the amount withheld, plus reasonable attorney's fees (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(e)(4)).
• Section 8-203(h) addresses eviction or ejectment for a lease breach, or abandonment, before the tenancy ends. The tenant may demand return by first-class mail within 45 days and provide a new address. Within 45 days of receiving that notice, send the required itemization and return the balance with interest, subject to lawful withholding (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(h)).
• A lease term that waives these deposit rules is void (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(l)).
• Withholding may cover unpaid rent, actual breach losses or tenant-related damage beyond ordinary wear. A deposit is not an automatic breach charge, and replacement rent reduces claimed future-rent losses. Compare dated condition records, photos and repair evidence before charging for painting, cleaning or replacement (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(f)).