Getting Public Records
Gen. Prov. § 4-203 — granted or denied within 30 days, with a written reason for a denial
30 days. A Maryland custodian grants or denies a request to inspect public records promptly, and no more than 30 days after receiving it. An approved record is produced immediately or within the time reasonably needed to retrieve it, and no more than 30 days after the request.
A custodian who expects production to take more than 10 working days says so in writing or by email within 10 working days, with the time expected, a range of fees, and the reason for the delay. Missing the deadline without doing that is a denial.
A denial comes within 10 working days as a written statement of the reasons, the legal authority, a brief description of the withheld record, and the remedies for review, and any part of the record open to inspection is still made available. A custodian may not ignore a request on the ground it was meant to harass.
Any of these time limits may be extended by up to 30 days with the requester's consent.
Sources for this section (1)
- Md. Code, Gen. Prov. § 4-203 — Public records: time to grant or deny
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Maryland attorney.