Maryland guide
Maryland reserve studies
Maryland is one of the few states that mandate both a reserve study and actual funding of reserves — a far stronger regime than California or most states, which require a study but not funding. House Bill 107 (2022) required every association maintaining common areas (above a $10,000 component threshold) to obtain a professional reserve study and update it at least every five years.
Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Expert Matching
Need a real estate lawyer or mortgage specialist?
SB 63 / HB 292 (2025, effective October 2025) then required the budget to fund reserves to the study's recommended level, deposited by each fiscal year-end, with a formal funding plan and a five-year catch-up window for first studies. The result reshapes diligence: the red flags are no longer "is there a study" but "where is this association in its funding ramp, and what method did it choose.".
Free personalized check
See which condo risks deserve your attention
Answer a few questions based on your state and situation. No documents required.
Private by default. Save only when you choose.
What HB 107 and HB 292 require
Under §11-109.4 (condo) and §11B-112.3 (HOA), associations must obtain a professional reserve study, itemizing components and their quantity, and update it at least every five years. Under §11-109.2 and §11B-112.2 (as amended by HB 292), the annual budget must include reserve contributions equal to the amount recommended by the most recent study and the funding plan, deposited into the reserve account by the last day of each fiscal year. The study and the funding are both mandatory — the gap many states leave between them does not exist in Maryland.
The funding plan and the five-year catch-up
Every association must adopt a formal funding plan, developed with a reserve specialist, engineer, or architect, using one of five recognized methods (component, cash flow, baseline, threshold cash flow, or any GAAP-consistent method). Associations obtaining their first study get five fiscal years to ramp up to the recommended level (extended from three years by the 2025 law). An association still in that window will have rising regular dues over the next several budget cycles — confirm where it stands, because the ramp-up is a near-certain future cost.
The funding-method and bylaw-cap traps
The chosen funding method matters: baseline and threshold cash-flow methods are less conservative, with lower contributions now and higher special-assessment risk later. Check which method the funding plan uses. Critically, HB 107 empowers a board to raise assessments to fund reserves even where the bylaws cap increases — so a bylaw cap will not protect a buyer from reserve-driven increases. Funding plans must also prioritize health, safety, and structural components, which must keep being funded even during a declared hardship.
Distress signals: hardship and borrowing
By a two-thirds governing-body vote with member notice, an association may deviate from full funding for up to two consecutive fiscal years on a documented financial hardship — a strong distress signal that the community cannot fund required reserves. Request the hardship documentation. Separately, since 2025 associations may borrow from their own reserve accounts if repaid within five years; confirm any reserve borrowing and its repayment status.
Ask CondoSignal
Have a question about reserve funding?
Get a plain-English answer from our research across all 50 states — free, in seconds.
Maryland legal references
- Md. Real Prop. §11-109.4 — Reserve study and funding plan (HB 107; HB 292 method/itemization)
- Md. Real Prop. §11-109.2 — Mandatory reserve funding, five-year catch-up, hardship (HB 292)
- Md. Real Prop. §11B-112.2 / §11B-112.3 — HOA reserve study and funding requirements
Informational only. Not legal advice. Always confirm against current statute and counsel.
Need help applying these Maryland statutes to your specific situation? We can connect you with state-licensed counsel and specialists familiar with this exact regulatory environment.
Find a Maryland specialist →Reviewer's checklist
- Confirm a current reserve study exists and was updated within five years (§11-109.4)
- Request the full study and the formal funding plan, not just a summary
- Identify the funding method — component and cash-flow are more conservative than baseline/threshold
- Confirm whether the association is in its five-year initial-study catch-up window
- Compare actual reserve deposits to the funding-plan amount (must be funded by fiscal year-end)
- Check whether the board invoked HB 107 authority to exceed a bylaw assessment cap
- Ask whether a two-thirds financial-hardship vote is on file, and request the documentation
- Confirm any reserve borrowing and its five-year repayment status
- Identify large near-term components — roof, balconies, parking deck, envelope
- Weigh the reserve picture against the building's age and coastal or flood exposure
Want this same review on your actual documents? We do it free, with page citations you can verify.
Get my free risk report →Want every document to request before you buy in Maryland — with the local red flags and the statute behind each? See the complete Maryland condo due-diligence checklist →
Critical
Under 10%
Weak
10–30%
Fair
30–70%
Healthy
70%+
- Under 10%:
- Assessment likely imminent
- 10–30%:
- Elevated assessment risk
- 30–70%:
- Common, manageable middle
- 70%+:
- On track to fund replacements
Source documents
- Declaration & bylawsthe rules
- Budget & financialsthe money
- Reserve studythe big repairs
- Meeting minuteswhat the board fears
Cross-reference
The risk lives in the contradiction between documents.
An assessment in the minutes but not the estoppel; a reserve the budget never funds.
Risk report
Severity-graded across 8 categories.
Every finding cites the document, page number, and quoted text.
How CondoSignal reviews this
We read the reserve study, operating budget, and 24 months of meeting minutes together — maryland reserve studies risk usually lives in the contradiction between documents, not in any single one of them. Every finding cites the source document, the page number, and the quoted text behind it.
See our 8-category framework →Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Most buyers get 7–14 days to review condo documents. Upload the packet — we read the reserve study, budget, minutes, and insurance summary and flag the risks, every finding linked to the exact page. Free.
Expert Matching
Need a real estate lawyer or mortgage specialist?
We can connect you with vetted real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, and insurance brokers familiar with the specifics of condo and HOA transactions.
- Reserve fund engineer
- Property manager
- Building envelope consultant
- Restoration contractor
Related risk areas
Read these next to round out your due diligence
Special assessments
Special assessments are the single largest source of financial surprise in condo and HOA ownership.
Condo document review
A condo document review is the structured analysis of every disclosure document your seller or association has provided — declaration, bylaws, rules, reserve study, budgets, financials, meeting minutes, insurance summary, estoppel or resale certificate, and any pending special assessment notices.
Insurance risk
The association's master insurance policy determines what your personal HO-6 policy needs to cover — and what it does not.
Related reading
Guides for Maryland buyers and owners
Maryland's New Reserve Law Is Triggering Big Special Assessments — How to Spot a Building at Risk
Maryland's HB 107 and HB 292 made reserve funding mandatory, and long-underfunded buildings are responding with large special assessments. Here is what the law requires and how to read a building's funding status before you buy.
How to Read a Reserve Study Before Buying: Is the Funding a Red Flag?
Reserve studies are dense engineering-financial documents. Learn what percent funded and baseline funding mean, how to spot unfunded repairs, and when the numbers are a special-assessment red flag — before you buy.
Special Assessment Red Flags: How to Spot One Before You Buy
A special assessment rarely arrives without warning. The clues show up in the reserve study, budget, and meeting minutes months before the vote — here are the red flags to check before you buy.
Already own in Maryland?
Owner guides for the notice you just got
Already dealing with a specific Maryland situation? Start here instead of the buyer flow:
Reviewed by Kirk Hasley, Founder. Every claim here is checked against current Maryland statute and primary sources, using the same documented review framework we run on every file. Last reviewed June 13, 2026.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What a finding looks like
Every finding cites the exact page in your documents
“The board approved a $15,000-per-unit special assessment for façade repairs, payable over 12 months.”
Source: Board meeting minutes, p. 12 — quoted and linked in your report so you can verify it in seconds.
Your free report checks 14 risk categories this way. Get my free risk report →
Built for trust
Premium due-diligence software — not a chatbot.
Source citations on every finding
Every risk indicator links back to the exact document, page number, and quoted line. You can verify our work in seconds.
Free with transparent consent — or paid and private
Our free option is supported by limited, opt-in referrals you control. Or pay once for a fully private review with no data sharing.
Consistent, documented analysis
Consistent scoring — same documents always produce the same results. No guesswork, no chat-style answers.
Informational, never legal advice
We surface what your documents actually say so you can ask better questions of your attorney, lender, and inspector.
Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Most buyers get 7–14 days to review condo documents. Upload the packet — we read the reserve study, budget, minutes, and insurance summary and flag the risks, every finding linked to the exact page. Free.
Expert Matching
Need a real estate lawyer or mortgage specialist?
We can connect you with vetted real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, and insurance brokers familiar with the specifics of condo and HOA transactions.
- Reserve fund engineer
- Property manager
- Building envelope consultant
- Restoration contractor