Can a tenant withhold rent for repairs in Maryland?

In Maryland, a tenant who has notified the landlord of a serious and dangerous defect and given the landlord a reasonable time to repair it may bring a rent escrow action to pay rent into court, or refuse to pay rent and raise the defect as a defense to the landlord’s action for rent or possession, and relief depends on paying the rent into court. Notice may be a written communication sent by certified mail listing the defects, actual notice of them, or a written violation, condemnation or other notice from a government agency. A period of more than 30 days from receipt of notice is presumed to be unreasonable. Relief is conditioned on proper notice, on payment of the rent the lease requires into court unless the court modifies the amount, and, for tenancies of a month or more, on the court not having entered three prior judgments of possession for unpaid rent against the tenant in the preceding 12 months. It is a sufficient defense that the tenant, the tenant’s family, agents, employees, assignees or social guests caused the defect, or that the landlord was denied reasonable entry to repair it. The section covers conditions such as lack of heat, light, electricity or running water, lack of adequate sewage disposal, rodent infestation in two or more units, and structural defects or health or fire hazards that threaten the occupants, and not minor defects. Repair-and-deduct is a different remedy with its own rules. This is Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-211.

WhatMaryland
Rent withholdingPay rent into court in a rent escrow action
How it worksThe rent is paid into court or an escrow account instead

What the statute says

“Bring an action of rent escrow to pay rent into court because of the asserted defects or conditions; and (ii) Refuse to pay rent and raise the existence of the asserted defects or conditions as an affirmative defense to an action for distress for rent …”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-211

Read the statute in the Maryland Code (Maryland General Assembly): mgaleg.maryland.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

Every deadline on this page runs from the tenant’s notice. A repair request filed in Seayora keeps the date it was made and every update after it, on the website and both phone apps, so owner and tenant are working from the same date.

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