Maryland SB 335 (Oct 1, 2026): Landlord Compliance Guide | Assetsoft

Maryland SB 335, formally Landlord and Tenant Discrimination in Housing for Income-Based Housing Subsidies and Positive Rental History Reporting, was introduced by Senators Love, Charles, Henson, Hettleman, Lam, Muse, and Sydnor during the 2026 Regular Session. It passed both chambers, was approved by the Governor on May 26, 2026, and becomes Chapter 773 of the Laws of Maryland.

The Act adds § 20-705.1 to the State Government Article and § 8-208.4 to the Real Property Article. Both take effect October 1, 2026.

For owners and operators, it is best understood as two separate compliance workstreams that happen to share an effective date.

Under the new § 20-705.1, an income-based housing subsidy means recurring monetary assistance to a landlord from a governmental entity or nonprofit intended to defray a tenant's rent obligation, expressly including Housing Choice vouchers issued under the United States Housing Act of 1937.

If your rental application uses financial information, including credit history, you may not refuse to rent to a prospective tenant who pays with a subsidy based on:

1. The prospective tenant's income;

2. The prospective tenant's credit score, or lack of a credit score; or

3. Adverse credit history that arose during a period when the applicant did not have a subsidy, where the applicant confirms that period, voucher paperwork, public housing authority documents, or a PHA response to your request.

You also may not require a public housing authority to verify subsidy dates to assess credit history.

The bill preserves meaningful underwriting latitude:

• Income sufficiency for the tenant's portion. You may verify the applicant can pay the rent and utilities not covered by the subsidy, provided you use an income-to-tenant-portion ratio substantially equivalent to the ratio you apply to non-subsidized applicants.

• Behavioral history. You may decline based on any commercially reasonable and nondiscriminatory use of a landlord reference, or a history of lease violations, unpaid utilities, nuisance, or property damage.

• Funding-mandated collection. Landlords receiving funding that requires income qualification for income-restricted units may still collect financial information where that collection is a condition of the funding.

The compliance risk is concentrated in that phrase substantially equivalent. If your screening matrix applies a 3x income test to market applicants and a 3x-of-gross-rent test to voucher holders, you have a defect, and under amended §§ 20-701(c) and 20-1020(e), it is a discriminatory housing practice subject to Maryland Commission on Civil Rights enforcement.

New Real Property § 8-208.4 applies only to landlords who own six or more residential rental units in the State. If that's you, every written lease must now include the option to have the tenant's positive rental payment history reported to at least one consumer reporting agency.

"Positive rental payment history" means complete and timely rent payments and expressly excludes any instance in which the tenant did not pay in full or on time. This is an upside-only feed.

For existing leases, delivery must be by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, a tracked delivery service with confirmation, or electronic delivery if the tenant has elected to receive notices that way. If you mail it, you must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the return election.

What the Offer Must Contain

The Secretary of Housing and Community Development will prescribe the form by regulation. The statute requires it to include: a statement that reporting is optional; the name of each consumer reporting agency; the amount of any fee; instructions for submitting the written election; notice that the tenant may opt in at any time; notice that the tenant may stop at any time but cannot resume for at least six months; opt-out instructions; and a signature block the tenant dates and signs to accept.

Tenants may request additional copies of the election at any time, and you must comply.

The Fee Mechanics Read These Twice

• The fee is capped at the lesser of your actual cost or $10 per month.

• Payment or nonpayment of the fee may never be reported to a consumer reporting agency.

• The fee is not rent. It cannot be credited toward rent or any other lease obligation.

• If a tenant is 30+ days delinquent on the fee, you may stop reporting, and the tenant cannot re-elect for at least six months from the date the fee first became due.

• On any written request to stop, you stop, and a six-month lockout applies before re-election.

Every one of these requirements maps to something inside Yardi Voyager, MRI Living, RealPage, or Entrata:

• Lease templates and clause libraries need the § 8-208.4 option embedded, not stapled on as an addendum someone forgets.

• Screening criteria need a separate, defensible ruleset for subsidy applicants with an income-to-tenant-portion test that provably mirrors your market test.

• Charge codes need a non-rent, non-ledger-crediting fee that never touches your delinquency or reporting feed.

• Notice generation and delivery tracking need to produce certificates of mailing or tracked delivery evidence, on an annual recurrence, per lease.

• The CRA data feed needs to suppress every non-complete, non-timely payment with a filter, not a dump.

• Audit trails need to survive a Commission on Civil Rights inquiry two years from now.

The six-month lockout rules alone are a state machine most PMS platforms do not model that's integration work natively.