Being Evicted For Rent
Real Prop. § 8-401 — 10 days' notice first, a trial on the fifth day, and the right to pay and stay
10 days' written notice before filing. Before a Maryland landlord may file a complaint for unpaid rent on a home, the landlord gives the tenant a written notice, on a form the Maryland Judiciary created, of the intent to file if the tenant does not cure within 10 days. The notice is sent by first class mail with a certificate of mailing, fixed to the door, or sent electronically if the tenant chose that. The complaint has to state the date the notice was given, and the tenant may challenge it.
The case is filed in the District Court of the county, and the summons calls the tenant to a trial held on the fifth day after the complaint is filed. The court may adjourn the trial for no more than 1 day so either side can bring witnesses, longer only if all parties consent. If rent is found due, the court orders possession given to the landlord within 4 days after the trial, extended up to 15 days after the trial on a physician's certificate that leaving sooner would endanger the health or life of the tenant or another occupant.
Paying what the court found due ends it. If the tenant, or someone for the tenant, pays the rent and late fees the court found due together with the costs at the trial, the complaint is entered as satisfied. After a judgment, the tenant can still redeem the home by paying in cash, certified check or money order everything the court found due plus court awarded costs and fees, at any time before the eviction is actually carried out. A check from a government agency counts the same. The right to redeem does not apply to a tenant against whom three judgments of possession for unpaid rent were entered in the 12 months before the case.
- A warrant to put the landlord back in possession can issue only after 7 days pass without the tenant complying with the judgment.
- If the landlord does not order the warrant within 60 days of the judgment, or does not act on it within 60 days, the judgment for possession is stricken.
- An eviction is stayed from day to day in extreme weather: a temperature or next day forecast of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, a winter storm, blizzard, hurricane or tropical storm warning, or an excessive heat warning.
- Either side may appeal to the circuit court within 4 days of the judgment; a tenant who wants to stay the eviction during the appeal gives a bond.
A tenant who lives in the home and is a federal, State or local government employee furloughed without pay during a government shutdown may ask the court to stay a case for rent that came due during the shutdown, for a time the court considers reasonable.
Sources for this section (1)
- Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-401 — Repossession for failure to pay rent
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Maryland attorney.