Silver Spring rent stabilization is run by Montgomery County, not by a city government, and it limits rent increases on most apartment units at least 23 years old to the lower of inflation plus 3% or 6% per year. For leases renewing between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027, that allowance is 5.2%, and it sits on top of a dense layer of county licensing, lease and inspection rules plus Maryland’s 2024 renter-protection laws.
Silver Spring is not an incorporated city. It is a census-designated place with a 2020 Census population of 81,015, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s QuickFacts puts the owner-occupied rate at 38.3% for 2020–2024, which means most households in the community rent. Because there is no city hall, the rules that govern an apartment building in downtown Silver Spring, Long Branch or along Georgia Avenue come from two places: Chapter 29 of the Montgomery County Code, administered by the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA), and the Maryland Real Property Article. This guide walks through both, in the order an owner usually runs into them.
Who sets the rules in Silver Spring
Montgomery County contains several incorporated municipalities that run their own landlord-tenant programs. The county’s Rent Stabilization program page lists Gaithersburg, Rockville, Takoma Park, Barnesville and Laytonsville as outside its scope. Silver Spring is not on that list, so the county program applies directly to rental buildings there.
That distinction matters at the edges. Takoma Park borders Silver Spring and has its own long-standing rent stabilization ordinance, so a building just over the line can be governed by a different set of rules even though it shares a Silver Spring mailing address. Before relying on anything below, confirm from the property’s tax record which jurisdiction the parcel falls in.
Inside the county’s jurisdiction, three offices do most of the work:
- DHCA’s Office of Rent Stabilization publishes the annual allowance, administers exemptions and hears fair-return petitions.
- DHCA’s licensing and code enforcement staff issue the annual rental housing license and inspect multifamily buildings.
- The Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs (COLTA) hears disputes that the Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs cannot resolve informally.
How Silver Spring rent stabilization caps increases
The County Council passed Bill 15-23, Landlord-Tenant Relations – Rent Stabilization, and it was signed on July 23, 2023. It took effect on July 23, 2024, once the implementing Executive Regulations were in place. The core formula is simple: each year the allowable increase is the lower of the regional Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) plus 3%, or a flat 6%. The allowance runs on a July 1 to June 30 cycle.
The county’s rent increase limits page shows how the number has moved since the law began:
- July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025: 6%, because CPI-U was 3.3% and the 6% ceiling applied.
- July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026: 5.7%, from CPI-U of 2.7% plus 3%.
- July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027: 5.2%, from 2026 regional CPI-U of 2.2% plus 3%, announced by County Executive Marc Elrich in a February 27, 2026 letter.
The allowance is applied to the unit’s current rent at the time of a new lease or renewal. Increases on stabilized units can happen only once every 12 months and never mid-lease, so the practical timing of a building’s rent growth is set by its lease expiration schedule.
Banking unused increases
Owners do not lose an allowance they choose not to take. Unused increases are “banked” and do not expire. The limit is that a banked amount plus the current year’s allowance cannot raise rent by more than 10% of the current rent in a single increase. An owner who held rents flat in 2025 to keep occupancy high could, in principle, recover part of that later, but only within the 10% ceiling and only at a lease renewal or new lease.
Vacant units and the starting rent
The county’s overview of the program explains that if a unit was vacant before it became subject to rent stabilization, the landlord may set the base rent when it is next rented. If a unit has sat vacant for more than 12 months, banked increases may be added to the last rent charged. There is no general vacancy decontrol for occupied stabilized units, so turnover alone does not reset rent to market.
The rolling 23-year rule and other exemptions
The single most important question for any Silver Spring building is whether it is covered at all. Licensed rental units that are at least 23 years old are stabilized unless another exemption applies. The age is measured from the “Year Built” date shown in the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) record, and a unit reaches 23 years on January 1 of the 23rd year after that date. A building recorded as built in 2002, for example, became stabilized on January 1, 2025. The county’s 2026 letter describes the covered stock as units “built in or before 2003.”
Because the threshold rolls forward each January, buildings that were exempt as new construction age into coverage over time. That is a real consideration for newer mid-rise and high-rise buildings around the Silver Spring Metro station: a building that is exempt today may be stabilized within a few years.
The county’s exemptions page lists twelve categories. Those most relevant to apartment owners are:
- New construction offered for rent for fewer than 23 years.
- Units that have undergone substantial renovation within the past 23 years, under the program’s definition.
- Income-restricted units under a government regulatory agreement, such as Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs). Accepting Housing Choice Vouchers does not by itself create an exemption.
- Units owned by a natural person, trust or estate that owns two or fewer rental units in the county, which rarely applies to a 5+ unit building.
The remaining categories cover licensed medical facilities, 501(c)(3) shelters, owner-occupied group houses, religious facilities, transient lodging, accessory dwelling units, dormitories, and assisted living and nursing homes. Exemptions are not automatic in every case, so owners should confirm a building’s status with DHCA rather than assume it.
Fair return petitions, capital improvements and troubled properties
The cap is not absolute. Landlords may petition DHCA for an increase above the annual allowance when it is needed to earn a fair return on the property, and the program also provides for capital improvement surcharges. Both routes require documentation, and the burden sits with the owner, so buildings with thin margins should keep clean income and expense records from the day of acquisition.
There is also a restriction that runs the other way. Properties placed on the county’s Troubled or At-Risk Properties list cannot raise rents until they are removed from it. For an owner, that ties code compliance directly to revenue: unresolved inspection findings can freeze rent growth across the whole building.
Fees and charges on stabilized units
Bill 15-23 did not stop at base rent. DHCA publishes an annual fee schedule for stabilized units, and the 2026–2027 fee schedule, covering July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, sets these limits:
- Application fee: $25, or the actual cost of screening.
- Pet fee: up to $26.23 per pet per month.
- Lockout fee: $26.23.
- Parking: existing charges may rise by no more than 2.2%, and a new parking fee requires DHCA approval.
For an owner underwriting “other income,” those limits matter. A building that has historically relied on fee increases to offset capped rents will find that the county has closed most of that route.
Licensing, the annual survey and triennial inspections
Every rental building in the county’s jurisdiction needs an annual rental housing license under Chapter 29, covering all rented units, and the license must be displayed. The license fee is charged per unit and set by Executive Regulation; the county’s budget documents indicate plans to raise multifamily fees, so check the current amount with DHCA when budgeting.
Two recurring compliance tasks come with the license:
- The annual rent survey. Rental properties must complete DHCA’s annual survey by April 30. The survey feeds the county’s rent data and supports enforcement of the stabilization rules.
- Inspections. DHCA inspects every multifamily property at least once every three years and can move a building to annual inspections. Landlords must give tenants 72 hours’ notice before an inspection.
A building’s inspection history is one of the first things a careful buyer or lender asks about. Repeated violations can lead to more frequent inspections and, at the far end, placement on the troubled properties list described above.
Lease terms Montgomery County requires
The county’s lease rules are stricter than Maryland’s baseline. As summarized by the People’s Law Library of Maryland:
- Two-year lease offer. Landlords must offer a two-year lease for the initial term and at each renewal. Offering a shorter term requires a stated reasonable cause, which a tenant can contest with DHCA.
- Conversion right. A tenant who signs a one-year lease may convert it to a two-year lease within 30 days, under County Code §29-27(t).
- Lease Summary. Every lease must include the county’s plain-language Lease Summary, under §29-27(w).
- Written lease. Under state law, an owner of five or more rental units must use a written lease.
Ninety days’ notice for every increase
Montgomery County requires 90 days’ written notice before any rent increase, and the rule applies to exempt units as well as stabilized ones. Notice must be delivered by U.S. mail or by hand with a signed receipt. In practice, renewal letters need to go out roughly a quarter before lease expiration, and property managers who are used to 30- or 60-day cycles elsewhere in the region need to adjust.
Maryland’s 2024 renter laws layered on top
Two state laws that took effect on October 1, 2024 apply to every Silver Spring apartment building regardless of county rules.
The Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 (HB 693, Chapter 124):
- Caps security deposits at one month’s rent, with limited exceptions.
- Requires the remaining deposit, plus interest, to be returned within 45 days with a written list of deductions.
- Requires the Maryland Tenants’ Bill of Rights to be attached to every lease.
- Created the state Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs.
- Bars carrying out evictions during extreme weather.
The Tenant Safety Act of 2024 (HB 1117, Chapter 125) requires landlords to keep units fit for human habitation, allows multiple tenants to bring claims together, and opens the door to rent abatement and damages when conditions fall short.
Nonpayment cases and filing costs
Since October 1, 2024, the District Court filing fee for a failure-to-pay-rent case is $50 in every Maryland county except Baltimore City, an increase of $35 driven by a higher surcharge. Landlords must give tenants 10 days’ written notice before filing for nonpayment. Neither Maryland nor Montgomery County has adopted a just-cause eviction requirement; a 2026 statewide “good cause” bill, HB 774, passed the House of Delegates on April 6, 2026 and then stalled in the Senate.
How disputes are resolved through COLTA
Most tenant complaints start with DHCA’s Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs, which tries to resolve them informally. Cases that do not settle can go to the Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs, a quasi-judicial body whose decisions carry the force of law. COLTA can award damages of up to $2,500, attorney’s fees of up to $1,000, and a penalty of up to three times the security deposit in deposit disputes. Its decisions can be appealed to the Circuit Court.
For an owner, the exposure from a single COLTA case is modest. The bigger risk is pattern: repeated deposit or lease-term complaints are a sign that a building’s procedures are out of step with county rules, and that tends to surface in buyer due diligence.
What these rules mean for Silver Spring owners
Put together, Montgomery County’s framework rewards owners who run their buildings with good records and a calendar. A few practical steps follow directly from the rules above:
- Confirm coverage building by building. Pull the SDAT “Year Built” date, check for MPDU or other regulatory agreements, and note the January on which an exempt building ages into the 23-year rule.
- Plan renewals 90 days out. Build the notice period, the two-year lease offer and the Lease Summary into the renewal workflow, and keep proof of delivery.
- Track the bank. Record unused allowances by unit so that any later catch-up stays within the 10% ceiling and can be documented.
- Underwrite fees realistically. Use the current DHCA fee schedule, not historical fee income, when projecting other income.
- Keep inspections clean. A building on the troubled list cannot raise rents at all, which makes deferred maintenance a revenue issue.
- Hold deposits to state rules. One month’s rent, an itemized list and 45 days are now the standard.
Buyers price these rules in. The capped growth rate, the fee limits and the documentation burden all show up in how investors value a stabilized building compared with a newer exempt one, which is why owners thinking about timing often look at our Silver Spring market page and at how the 23-year clock affects their particular property. For a side-by-side view of how Maryland’s approach compares with other states, see our guide to rent control and property tax by state, and for wider coverage of the state, our Maryland markets overview.
Staying current as the rules change
The stabilization allowance is recalculated every year from regional CPI, and the county announces it in the late winter for the July 1 cycle, so the 5.2% figure for 2026–2027 will be replaced next spring. The fee schedule updates on the same cycle. At the state level, the good-cause eviction debate is likely to return in a future session, and the county has other landlord-tenant bills under discussion. The most reliable habit is to check DHCA’s rent stabilization page each February and before every lease-renewal season, and to keep the building’s license, survey and inspection records in one place where a property manager, lender or future buyer can review them quickly.
