Short-Term Rental Insurance in Maryland

Maryland at a glance

Baltimore licensing

Tiered license system caps how many non-owner-occupied units a host may operate

Designed to limit investor consolidation of Baltimore housing stock into rentals.

Ocean City permit

Separate town rental license plus a room tax on top of the state sales and use tax

Enforcement of occupancy and noise rules is typically more active during summer season.

State tax

State sales and use tax applies to short-term lodging statewide

Collected through the Comptroller regardless of which local license applies.

Primary regulator

Maryland Insurance Administration

Confirm current insurance-producer and coverage questions with the administration or a licensed agent.

Baltimore's tiered short-term rental licensing

Baltimore City requires short-term rental hosts to obtain one of several license tiers depending on whether the unit is the host's primary residence or a separate investment property, with non-owner-occupied units facing a cap on the total number of licenses a single host may hold citywide. The city's ordinance was designed specifically to curb investor consolidation of housing stock into short-term rental use, which makes Baltimore's rules noticeably more restrictive toward multi-property hosts than most other Maryland jurisdictions.

Ocean City's rental permit and lodging tax layer

Ocean City requires its own rental licensing separate from Baltimore's system and applies a room tax on top of Maryland's state sales and use tax, which extends to short-term accommodations statewide. Because Ocean City's summer rental season drives a large share of Worcester County's local economy, the town's code enforcement around occupancy, parking, and noise tends to be more active during peak months than off-season.

State sales and use tax applies regardless of local license

Maryland's state sales and use tax applies to short-term lodging statewide, and hosts must collect and remit it through the Comptroller regardless of whether their unit falls under Baltimore's tiered licensing, Ocean City's rental permit, or a jurisdiction with lighter local rules such as many Eastern Shore counties. Older Baltimore row-house stock and Ocean City's high-rise oceanfront condos also present very different property and fire-protection profiles that a single statewide approach to underwriting cannot treat identically.

Who we write this for in Maryland

Short-term rental FAQs for Maryland