Maryland guide
Maryland special assessments
Special assessments are the mechanism through which deferred costs in a Maryland association arrive at your door — and the state's new reserve-funding mandate has turned them into the dominant buyer risk. Maryland imposes no statutory cap on regular assessment increases, and special-assessment approval thresholds are governed primarily by the declaration and bylaws.
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But HB 107 lets a board raise assessments to fund mandatory reserves even past a bylaw cap, and the funding mandate is forcing long-underfunded buildings to confront decades of deferred maintenance. The result, most visibly in Ocean City, is special assessments commonly in the $5,000–$10,000 range and sometimes six figures. Because a special assessment approved before settlement generally runs with the unit, reading the budget, reserve study, and minutes together is how you anticipate them.
How assessment authority works in Maryland
The Council of Unit Owners (condo) or HOA board levies regular assessments per the annual budget under §11-110 (condo) and §11B-117 (HOA). Maryland sets no statutory cap on regular increases. Special assessments for unbudgeted or capital needs are permitted, with the voting or approval threshold set primarily by the declaration and bylaws — which often require a membership vote or special quorum above a dollar amount. Read those provisions to understand what triggers an owner vote in your specific community.
The bylaw-cap override
The most important Maryland-specific point is that HB 107 empowers a board to increase assessments to meet the mandatory reserve-funding level even where the bylaws cap increases. A bylaw cap will not save a buyer from reserve-driven increases. If the association is in its five-year reserve catch-up window, rising regular assessments are all but guaranteed, independent of any special assessment.
Where the next assessment hides
The most reliable predictors of a coming Maryland special assessment are an association mid-catch-up on reserves, a reserve study flagging large near-term roof, balcony, parking-deck, or envelope work, a declared financial hardship, and an insurance renewal that spiked the deductible. Read these together. In coastal markets like Ocean City, salt-air structural deterioration concentrates this risk. The minutes often telegraph an assessment months before it is formally levied.
Disclosure and borrowing
Approved special assessments and capital expenditures must be disclosed in the condo Resale Disclosure Certificate (§11-135), and one approved before settlement generally runs with the unit — so the buyer inherits it. Associations may also fund capital work by borrowing, and since 2025 may borrow from their own reserve accounts if repaid within five years. Confirm any outstanding association loan or reserve borrowing and its repayment status.
Maryland legal references
- Md. Real Prop. §11-110 — Common expenses, assessments, and liens (condo)
- Md. Real Prop. §11-109.2 — Reserve funding mandate and bylaw-cap override (HB 107 / HB 292)
- Md. Real Prop. §11-135 — Disclosure of approved special assessments to a purchaser
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
- Read the declaration and bylaws for the special-assessment approval threshold
- Confirm whether the association is in its five-year reserve catch-up window
- Check whether the board used HB 107 authority to exceed a bylaw assessment cap
- Identify any special assessment approved or contemplated in the minutes
- Confirm a pre-settlement approved assessment that would run with the unit
- Read the reserve study for large near-term components driving assessment risk
- Check whether a two-thirds financial-hardship vote has been declared
- Review insurance renewals for deductible spikes that could drive an assessment
- Confirm any association loan or reserve borrowing and its repayment status
- Weigh the cumulative assessment risk against your budget, especially in coastal stock
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Related risk areas
Read these next to round out your due diligence
Reserve studies
A reserve study tells you what the association expects to spend on long-term capital repairs and replacements, and whether it is funding those obligations adequately.
Insurance risk
The association's master insurance policy determines what your personal HO-6 policy needs to cover — and what it does not.
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.
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