Bill
SB 856
Maryland mandates timely mold action: landlords must assess within 15 days and remediate within 45 days of notice, plus statewide standards and tenant info to curb mold risks.
Purpose
- Establish statewide requirements and standards to prevent, identify, and remediate indoor mold and dampness in rental housing, strengthen tenant information rights, and create uniform regulatory standards for mold assessment and remediation.
Key provisions
- Definitions: establishes statutory definitions for “mold,” “dampness,” “mold assessment,” “mold remediation,” and “mold hazard.”
- State information resources: the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), in coordination with MDH, DHCD, Maryland Department of Labor, and DGS, must develop and maintain:
- a centralized website with mold/dampness and remediation information; and
- an informational pamphlet for tenants (MDE may instead use EPA’s “Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home”).
- Tenant notice and landlord obligations:
- Landlords must give the pamphlet to each tenant when a lease/rental agreement is signed and every 2 years thereafter on tenant request, and request tenant acknowledgement of receipt.
- Upon written notice of mold detection from either a local housing code enforcement agency or a tenant/building occupant, the landlord must:
- perform a mold assessment within 15 days of receiving the notice; and
- if the assessment detects mold, perform remediation within 45 days after the assessment is completed — or within a reasonable time if remediation within 45 days is not feasible.
- Assessments and remediations must follow recommended industry guidelines/best practices and applicable state and local law.
- Landlords must communicate with occupants during assessment/remediation, ensure proper ventilation and low indoor relative humidity, and maintain property to applicable housing/building codes and minimum livability standards.
- Local-government-owned housing: local governments that own/manage residential properties must comply with the landlord provisions for those properties; local governments and health departments are otherwise not required to conduct assessments/remediation.
- Regulatory standards: MDE, in consultation with MDH, DHCD, and DGS, must adopt regulations by June 1, 2027 establishing uniform standards for:
- identifying/evaluating mold (visible inspections and testing);
- mold air, bulk, and surface sample analyses (per nationally recognized accreditation standards);
- remediation methods (including EPA guidance) and building-code reinforcement;
- a risk-reduction standard for mold hazards.
Who is affected
- Landlords and property managers of residential rental units in Maryland (including local housing authorities for properties they manage).
- Tenants (enhanced information and faster assessment/remediation timelines).
- Mold assessment/remediation contractors and related small businesses (increased demand and compliance obligations).
- Local governments (potentially increased costs when owning/managing housing).
Fiscal and implementation notes
- Fiscal note estimates a potential one-time General Fund cost to the State (example scenario: ~$125,000 in FY2026) for developing materials/website and administrative work; local expenditures may increase and could be significant for some jurisdictions. The bill is expected to have meaningful effects for small businesses in the remediation/maintenance sector.
- Regulatory deadline: MDE must issue implementing regulations on or before June 1, 2027.
- Enactment: enacted as Chapter 539 (2025). (Statutory effective date and implementation schedule are set in the law; see regulatory deadline above.)
Practical effect
- Creates mandatory, time-limited landlord responses to tenant or agency mold reports, standardizes state-level guidance, and requires statewide publication of informational materials — together intended to reduce health risks from indoor mold and to standardize assessment/remediation practices across Maryland rental housing.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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