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.
Risk Intelligence
Get a free read on the notice you just got
Expert Matching
Want help acting on what you found?
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.
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.
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.
Ask CondoSignal
Have a question about special assessments?
Get a plain-English answer from our research across all 50 states — free, in seconds.
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
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 →
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 special assessments 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
Get a free read on the notice you just got
A special assessment, an insurance non-renewal, a thin reserve study — find out whether it signals real risk, checked against your state's rules, with page citations you can verify. No cost, no obligation.
Expert Matching
Want help acting on what you found?
We can connect you with insurance brokers, realtors, and mortgage brokers who can help you respond to what your documents reveal.
- Reserve fund engineer
- HOA lawyer
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Get a free read on the notice you just got
A special assessment, an insurance non-renewal, a thin reserve study — find out whether it signals real risk, checked against your state's rules, with page citations you can verify. No cost, no obligation.
Expert Matching
Want help acting on what you found?
We can connect you with insurance brokers, realtors, and mortgage brokers who can help you respond to what your documents reveal.
- Reserve fund engineer
- HOA lawyer