The 2026 session brought significant changes for developers, owners, contractors, multifamily operators, affordable housing sponsors, nonprofit housing organizations, investors, and local governments. Many of these laws turn on timing, ownership structure, project type, property use, or local implementation.
The practical impact may vary significantly by project or portfolio. Development approvals, vested rights, phased permitting, impact fee timing, transit-oriented development, affordable housing structures, fair housing compliance, property condition issues, utility reporting, tenant billing, and capital improvement planning all deserve early review.
Maryland Housing Certainty Act (HB 548 / SB 325)
The Maryland Housing Certainty Act provides that approval or denial of a housing development project application generally must be governed only by the laws and regulations in effect when a complete application is submitted. A complete application is one that includes the materials and information required for processing and review, even if minor, non-substantive errors exist.
Once a project receives required approvals, the Act also provides vested rights for a defined period, helping reduce the risk that later changes in zoning, permitting, or local development standards will derail an approved project. For phased housing developments, each qualifying phase may be treated separately for permitting purposes, making the timing and completeness of each application especially important.
The Act also delays collection of certain residential development impact fees and excise taxes until construction is complete and a certificate of occupancy, occupancy permit, or equivalent approval is ready to be issued. A local government may require payment as a condition of final inspection, but not more than 30 days before the final inspection.
Practical impact: Developers, owners, contractors, and local governments should document application timing, completeness, approvals, and project phasing carefully.
Effective date: October 1, 2026
Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act (SB 389 / HB 894)
The Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act is intended to encourage housing production and transit-oriented development. Among other things, the Act allows certain transit-oriented development areas served by qualifying rail transit stations to be designated as enterprise zones, which may make businesses in those areas eligible for certain tax credits and incentives.
The Act also requires certain public financing programs to prioritize projects that redevelop land contiguous to rail transit stations and owned by the State, Baltimore City, or the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
For developers and local governments, the most significant land-use changes involve parking and development standards near transit. The Act generally prohibits local governments from imposing minimum off-street parking requirements on residential or mixed-use developments located wholly within 0.25 miles of certain rail transit stations, subject to limited exceptions. It also restricts certain local limitations, including land-use classification, height, and setback restrictions, for qualifying transit-oriented development on certain publicly owned transportation land, while preserving local authority over environmental, public health and safety, and adequate public facilities concerns.
Practical impact: Developers, property owners, and local governments should revisit project feasibility, parking assumptions, zoning strategy, and public-private development opportunities near qualifying rail transit stations.
Effective date: October 1, 2026
Large Buildings for Tomorrow Act (HB 870)
The Large Buildings for Tomorrow Act creates a new reporting requirement for large new buildings. Any county or municipality that accepts a permit application for a new building with a proposed gross floor area of 35,000 square feet or more, excluding parking garage space, must notify the Maryland Department of the Environment within 10 business days.
The local authority must provide the Department with the building address, permit application number, total square footage, proposed building type, planned energy sources, and owner contact information. The bill identifies the categories of information that must be reported to the Department, but it does not specify the level of detail required for each category.
Practical impact: Developers and owners of large commercial, multifamily, and mixed-use projects should expect additional coordination around building information and planned energy sources during permitting.
Effective date: October 1, 2026
Nonprofit Housing Corporation Property Tax Exemption (HB 571)
HB 571 expands the property tax exemption framework for certain nonprofit housing corporations and qualifying subsidiary entities that own and operate affordable housing. Eligible nonprofit owned housing used for persons of eligible income may qualify for exemption from State and local property taxes and special assessments under the revised framework.
Under the law, an eligible nonprofit housing corporation generally must be incorporated under Maryland law or authorized to do business in Maryland, recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization, and organized and operated for the primary purpose of developing, owning, or operating safe and sanitary affordable housing.
The exemption does not apply in all circumstances, including certain Baltimore City properties and certain housing projects that received local government financial assistance before July 1, 2026.
Practical impact: Nonprofit housing organizations and affordable housing sponsors should review corporate status, tax-exempt status, purpose language, property use, ownership structures, subsidiary entities, and local financing arrangements to determine which properties may qualify.
Effective date: July 1, 2026
Cooperative Limited Equity Housing Corporation Conversion (HB 85)
HB 85 allows Maryland nonstock corporations to convert into limited-equity housing corporations. The law also adds notice requirements, purchase-offer obligations, and moving-expense reimbursement protections for affected households.
For owners and housing sponsors, the law creates a structured conversion path with additional procedural steps. For affordable housing providers and local governments, it may help preserve affordability while also adding resident protections during ownership changes.
Practical impact: Sponsors considering conversion should review resident notice, purchase-offer, and reimbursement requirements before moving forward.
Effective date: October 1, 2026
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (SB 274 / HB 573)
HB 573 expands Maryland fair housing enforcement by prohibiting housing practices that have a discriminatory effect, even without proof of discriminatory intent. The law includes a defense where the challenged action was taken without discriminatory intent, was necessary to achieve one or more substantial, legitimate, and nondiscriminatory interests, and could not have been achieved by less discriminatory means.
The Department of Housing and Community Development is also authorized to adopt related regulations, so additional implementation guidance may follow.
Practical impact: Owners, managers, developers, lenders, and local governments should review housing policies, siting decisions, tenant-screening practices, occupancy rules, marketing, application criteria, and other housing-related policies for disparate impact risk.
Effective date: October 1, 2026
Safe and Healthy Homes for All Act (SB 941 / HB 1218)
The Safe and Healthy Homes for All Act requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, through the Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs and in consultation with the Attorney General, to develop a plan to identify severe health and safety risk properties in Maryland and recommend related interventions. The Department must also publicly post a list of severe health and safety risk properties.
The Act applies to properties with 50 or more units and is intended to focus on the most serious, repeated, and high volume violations, including properties with chronic unsafe housing conditions, repeated cycles of violations, failures to remediate, or persistent hazards.
Practical impact: Multifamily owners, managers, investors, and local governments should identify properties with recurring code or habitability issues and prioritize remediation before problems escalate.
Effective date: July 1, 2026; terminates December 31, 2027
Water Submetering in Apartment Houses and Mobile Home Parks (SB 130 / HB 220)
SB 130 / HB 220 authorizes water submeters in apartment houses and mobile home parks, allowing owners and managers to bill occupants based on actual usage under specified conditions. The law also limits costs that may be passed through to occupants and requires owners or their agents to maintain records, obtain records needed by an occupant to verify a water bill, and allow occupants to inspect records during reasonable business hours.
The bill also authorizes local housing authorities to install individual submeters for apartment houses or dwelling units, provided they have required approvals.
Practical impact: Owners and managers considering submetering should review billing systems, lease language, recordkeeping procedures, tenant notices, complaint processes, and maintenance obligations before installing or relying on submeters.
Effective date: October 1, 2026
Residential Rental Apartments – Air Conditioning Requirement (SB 12)
SB 12 requires apartment buildings with 10 or more individual dwelling units to provide each unit with air conditioning from June 1 through September 30, except as necessary for reasonable maintenance and repairs.
For air conditioning systems not controlled by the tenant, the landlord must maintain a temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, measured three feet above the floor in all habitable spaces. For tenant-controlled systems, the landlord must ensure the system is in good working order and capable of maintaining that standard.
Newly constructed rental units and units equipped with air conditioning at any time on or after January 2, 2025, must comply beginning June 1, 2026. Existing units that undergo a renovation involving replacement or substantial upgrade of electrical or heating systems on or after October 1, 2026, also must comply. The law does not apply to residential rental units located on property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Practical impact: Multifamily owners, developers, and managers should account for the new cooling standards when planning renovations, electrical upgrades, capital improvements, maintenance procedures, and compliance budgets.
Effective dates: June 1, 2026 for newly constructed units and certain units already equipped with air conditioning; October 1, 2026 for covered renovations
Real Estate & Construction Takeaways
The 2026 session created several new considerations for development, construction, multifamily operations, affordable housing, and local government planning. Developers, owners, contractors, nonprofit housing organizations, affordable housing sponsors, and local governments should review application timing, phasing, permitting procedures, impact fee planning, building reporting, tenant billing, property-condition compliance, fair housing policies, property tax exemption eligibility, and capital improvement budgets.
Affordable housing stakeholders should pay particular attention to how these laws may affect project feasibility, ownership and subsidiary structures, financing arrangements, tax exemptions, transit-oriented development opportunities, and compliance risk. Early review may help avoid project delays, financing issues, compliance disputes, enforcement risk, and reputational harm.
Contact Us
For more information about real estate and construction legislation that may impact your project, portfolio, development strategy, affordable housing work, or local government planning process, please contact the Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny attorney with whom you typically work, or an attorney in our Real Estate or Construction Practice Groups.