The Montgomery County MD Rent Stabilization Survival Guide: What Every Bethesda, Rockville, and Silver Spring Landlord Must Know

What the HOME Act Is — and Why It Outranks Every Other MoCo Rule

The HOME Act (formally the Housing Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity Amendments) was passed by the Montgomery County Council as Bill 15-23 and went into effect in 2024. It is codified in Montgomery County Code Chapter 29, the county’s landlord-tenant chapter. The statute creates a county-wide rent-stabilization regime that caps annual rent increases on most rental units at CPI + 3% with a 6% hard ceiling. The Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs (OLTA) administers complaints; the Housing Opportunities Commission Rent Advisory Board (HOC RAB) publishes the year-specific cap based on the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA CPI.

What makes the HOME Act uniquely dangerous for MoCo landlords is that the cap is not waivable in the lease and applies retroactively to renewal increases. A landlord who raises rent above the cap on a renewal is exposed to: (a) tenant restitution claims for the wrongfully collected excess, (b) OLTA-ordered rent rollbacks, (c) attorney’s fees, and (d) potential impacts on the DHCA Rental Facility License renewal cycle. Unlike DC’s rent stabilization — which only covers pre-1976 buildings of 5+ units — the MoCo HOME Act covers most single-family rentals, townhouses, condos, and small multi-unit buildings in the county.

When the Cap Applies (and the Exemptions That Aren’t What You Think)

The default rule under Chapter 29 is that the cap applies to every rental unit in Montgomery County. Exemptions are narrow and statutory. The most commonly misunderstood ones:

• New construction — 23-year exemption window. Newly constructed rental units are exempt from the cap for the first 23 years after the certificate of occupancy. A 2026 build is exempt through 2049. After that, the cap engages.
• Owner-occupied dwellings. If the owner lives in the property and rents out part of it (basement apartment, ADU, a single bedroom), the rented portion is typically exempt. Pure rentals where the owner does not occupy are not exempt under this provision.
• Sole-rental single-family exemption (narrow). Chapter 29 includes a limited exemption for certain sole-rental single-family properties where the owner has only one rental property and meets specific ownership criteria. The exemption is narrower than landlords usually assume — do not rely on it without confirming with Chapter 29 §29-21 specifics.
• Subsidized / regulated housing. Units that are already subject to a parallel rent-restriction regime (LIHTC, federal subsidies, Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit program) typically follow their primary regulation rather than HOME Act.

What is NOT exempt: a single Bethesda condo you own and rent out (covered). A Rockville townhouse you bought as an investment (covered). A Silver Spring single-family you used to live in and now rent out (covered — the owner-occupied exemption requires concurrent owner occupancy). The default assumption for any Montgomery County rental should be that the cap applies.

The Cap Math — CPI + 3% / 6% Ceiling Decoded

The cap is the LOWER of:

• CPI + 3% — where CPI is the year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, OR
• 6% — the hard ceiling regardless of CPI

The Housing Opportunities Commission Rent Advisory Board (HOC RAB) publishes the year-specific cap for the rate-setting cycle. In low-CPI years, the cap can be substantially below 6%. For example, in a year where the Washington MSA CPI-U comes in at 2.5%, the cap is 2.5% + 3% = 5.5% (because 5.5% is below the 6% ceiling). In a year where CPI-U comes in at 4%, the cap is 6% (because 4% + 3% = 7% exceeds the 6% ceiling, which then governs).

Critical: the cap applies to renewal increases, not to fresh placements. On a fresh placement to a new tenant, you can list at any rent the market supports. The cap re-engages on that tenancy’s first renewal. Practical consequence: turnover creates a one-time “reset to market” opportunity, but holding a tenant long-term means the cap compounds against you year over year. A Bethesda property where market rent rose 8% in a 5%-cap year sees the gap widen by 3% each subsequent renewal until the tenant turns over.

Rent Increase Notice Requirements (60-Day Rule)

Maryland Real Property Code Title 8 requires at least 60 days’ written notice for a rent increase on a tenancy of a year or more. Montgomery County’s Chapter 29 overlays the same notice requirement and adds specific format expectations: the notice must state the current rent, the proposed new rent, the effective date, and (for cap-covered properties) a statement that the proposed increase complies with the HOME Act cap.

Service should be by certified mail return-receipt or personal delivery with affidavit. Posting on the door is insufficient. Email notice is insufficient on its own. Landlords who miss the 60-day window cannot enforce the increase for that renewal cycle — the existing rent continues until the next compliant notice period.

The Five-Figure Mistakes: MoCo Cap Defects We See Most Often

The five most common HOME Act defects in MoCo rentals, ranked roughly by frequency:

1. Assuming a single-family rental is exempt. The sole-rental exemption is narrower than landlords assume. Most Bethesda / Rockville / Silver Spring single-family rentals ARE covered. We audit Chapter 29 §29-21 specifics on day one for every property.
2. Using a prior-year CPI rate instead of the current HOC RAB published cap. The cap is recalculated annually as CPI-U changes. Using an outdated rate — even by accident — creates a cap-violation exposure if the prior-year rate is higher than the current cap.
3. Sending a 30-day notice instead of 60-day. Maryland Title 8 + MoCo Chapter 29 require 60 days for tenancies of a year or more. A 30-day notice for a renewal increase is unenforceable and creates a documentation defect even if the increase amount complies with the cap.
4. Posting the notice on the door without certified mail backup. Service defects shift the burden to the landlord in any subsequent OLTA complaint. Certified mail return-receipt + personal service with affidavit is the belt-and-suspenders standard.
5. Treating a fresh placement as a cap-engaging event. The cap applies to renewals, not to fresh placements. Some landlords under-price fresh placements thinking the cap binds them; this leaves money on the table and doesn’t actually generate any compliance benefit.

Howard County vs. Montgomery County — Why the County Line Matters

MoCo and the adjacent Howard County (Columbia, Ellicott City, Elkridge, Clarksville) are 20 minutes apart but operate in different rent-stabilization worlds:

• Montgomery County: HOME Act applies (CPI + 3% / 6% cap), OLTA enforcement, mandatory DHCA Rental Facility License + 3-year inspection, source-of-income protections, one of the most active tenant-advocacy regulatory environments in the Mid-Atlantic.
• Howard County: NO county-wide rent stabilization on private market-rate single-family rentals. Lighter Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits (DILP) registration. Top-rated Howard County school clusters drive demand instead of MoCo’s federal-employee anchor. Renewals follow the statewide Maryland Real Property Code Title 8 default — 60-day notice, no cap.
• Prince George’s County: Has a Rent Stabilization Act with caps periodically renewed by the County Council — in between MoCo’s heavy regime and HoCo’s lighter one.

Translation for landlords: a Bethesda renewal needs a cap-aware compliant increase calculated against the current HOC RAB published CPI + 3% / 6% rate. A 20-minute drive away, a Columbia or Ellicott City renewal can target market on every cycle. Same statewide eviction process (45–60 day timeline through District Court), same 45-day deposit return rule, same MDE lead-paint affidavit — different rent-stab regime. The county line genuinely changes your management strategy.

How Flat Fee Landlord Handles Cap Compliance End-to-End

Every Montgomery County property under Flat Fee Landlord management gets the full HOME Act compliance handled end-to-end. No upcharge, no scope-creep, no "cap-compliance package" add-on. The process:

• Day-one coverage audit. Before the first renewal, we confirm Chapter 29 coverage status, identify any applicable exemption (new construction 23-year window, owner-occupied, sole-rental, subsidized), and document the analysis in the property file.
• Annual cap-rate tracking. We track the HOC RAB published cap for the current year and run a cap calculation 90 days before every renewal so the owner has time to decide between a cap-priced renewal and a tenancy turnover at market.
• 60-day-notice timing. Every renewal increase notice goes out at least 60 days before the proposed effective date, in writing, with current rent / proposed rent / effective date / cap-compliance statement.
• Service of process. Certified mail return-receipt to every named tenant on the lease, plus personal delivery with affidavit. Email is supplemental, not primary.
• Cap math documentation. The cap calculation is documented in the property file with the HOC RAB cap rate, the CPI-U input, the resulting cap percentage, the current rent, and the compliant new rent. If a tenant later files an OLTA complaint, we have the math on paper.
• OLTA complaint defense. If a tenant files a complaint, we coordinate the documentation response with the owner and (if needed) the owner’s Maryland-licensed counsel. The day-one audit + documented cap math is usually enough to resolve a complaint without OLTA escalation.

Sources & Last Reviewed

Last reviewed: May 2026.

Primary statutory sources:

• Montgomery County Code Chapter 29 — Landlord-Tenant Relations (including HOME Act provisions)
• Bill 15-23 (HOME Act) as enacted by the Montgomery County Council
• Maryland Real Property Code Title 8 — Landlord and Tenant (statewide baseline; 60-day notice rule)
• Maryland Real Property Code §8-203 — Security deposit rules (2-month cap, 45-day return, accrued interest)
• Maryland Real Property Code §8-208 — Lease provisions (penalty-clause limits)
• Maryland Lead Risk Reduction in Housing Law — MDE pre-1978 lead-paint affidavit + registration
• Maryland HOME Act (Md. Code, State Government §20-705) — statewide source-of-income protections (separate from MoCo HOME Act)

Agency guidance: Montgomery County Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs (OLTA); Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County Rent Advisory Board (HOC RAB) annual rate publications; Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) Rental Facility License program; Maryland Department of the Environment Lead Rental Registration.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. MoCo Chapter 29 implementing rules continue to evolve through OLTA rulemaking and Maryland court interpretation — confirm with a Maryland-licensed attorney before relying on any specific procedural detail for a transaction. The Flat Fee Landlord Team coordinates with our owners’ Maryland-licensed counsel on contested OLTA complaints.