If you’re a Baltimore landlord who uses criminal background checks as part of your tenant screening process — and you should be — the rules governing what you can ask, when you can ask it, and how far back you can look have been evolving. Most landlords don’t realize how much has already changed, and even fewer are watching what’s currently moving through the Maryland legislature in 2026.

Getting this wrong isn’t just a legal technicality. A screening process that violates Maryland or Baltimore City law exposes you to fair housing complaints, liability, and potentially a rejected application that you can’t defend in court. Getting it right, on the other hand, means a compliant, defensible process that actually finds you the best tenants.

What Maryland Law Already Requires

Maryland’s Fair Chance in Housing Act established baseline rules that every landlord in the state must follow. These aren’t proposed — they are current law. Here’s what’s already in effect:

The 3-year lookback rule. For most criminal convictions, Maryland landlords are limited to reviewing a prospective tenant’s criminal history within the past three years. You cannot use older convictions as a basis for denial. This is already the law — not something pending.

Restricted application questions. Landlords are prohibited from asking applicants to disclose their full criminal history. The only criminal history question you are permitted to ask on a rental application is whether the applicant is required to register as a sex offender. Any broader disclosure request — “list all prior convictions,” “have you ever been arrested,” etc. — violates current Maryland law.

Sex offender registry remains a valid screen. Registration as a sex offender is an explicit carve-out and may still be asked and used as a basis for denial without a lookback limitation.

What the 2026 Proposed Legislation Would Change

Two bills introduced in the 2026 Maryland General Assembly — Senate Bill 937 and House Bill 1073 — would significantly expand restrictions on how and when landlords can use criminal background information in tenant screening. As of the time of this publication, these bills are in committee and have not yet been signed into law. However, Baltimore landlords should be watching them closely.

The core change proposed by both bills is a “conditional offer” requirement — sometimes called a “ban the box” approach applied to housing. Under this framework, a landlord would be required to complete all other screening criteria first (credit, income, eviction history, rental references) before running a criminal background check. The background check could only be conducted after a conditional offer of housing is extended. Only then could a landlord consider the criminal history — and only within defined parameters.

The bills also propose landlord liability protections: if you do rent to a tenant with a criminal record and an incident later occurs, you would receive explicit protection from liability simply for having made that decision in good faith.

Why Blanket “No Criminal Record” Policies Are a Legal Risk

Some landlords default to a simple rule: no criminal record, no tenancy. It feels protective. In practice, it creates significant legal risk that many owners don’t see coming until they’re named in a complaint.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made clear that blanket policies excluding all applicants with any criminal history may constitute disparate impact discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, because such policies disproportionately affect certain protected classes. Courts have upheld this theory in cases where landlords applied rigid criminal record bans without individualized assessment.

The legally defensible approach is an individualized assessment: considering the nature of the offense, how long ago it occurred, evidence of rehabilitation, and the specific risk it presents to the property or existing tenants. This is more nuanced than a blanket ban — but it is more defensible, and it is consistent with the direction Maryland law has been moving.

Practical Steps for Baltimore Landlords Right Now

Whether or not SB 937 and HB 1073 pass in their current form, the trend in Maryland law is clear: landlords who rely heavily on criminal background checks as a first-pass filter are in an increasingly uncomfortable legal position. Here is what every Baltimore landlord should do right now.

Audit your rental application. If your application asks applicants to disclose all criminal history, remove that question immediately. Under current Maryland law, the only criminal inquiry permitted is sex offender registration status. Any other blanket disclosure requirement is non-compliant today.

Define and document your criminal screening criteria. If you use criminal background information in your decisions, write down exactly what criteria matter, what lookback period you apply, and what offense types you consider relevant to the tenancy. Apply those criteria consistently to every applicant. Documentation is your protection if a decision is ever challenged.

Prepare to sequence your screening differently. Even before SB 937 / HB 1073 pass, restructuring your process so that financial and reference screening comes before the background check is good practice and positions you for compliance if the law changes.

Never use arrests without convictions. An arrest record that did not result in a conviction is not a conviction. Using it as a basis for denial creates both fair housing exposure and, under Maryland’s evolving law, potential direct statutory liability.

What Happens After the 2026 Legislative Session

The Maryland General Assembly’s 2026 session will determine whether SB 937 and HB 1073 advance. Even if these specific bills do not pass in their current form, Maryland’s trajectory over the past several years — the Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act, the Fair Chance in Housing Act, Baltimore City’s expanded protected class framework — shows a legislature that is consistently expanding tenant protections and tightening the compliance burden on landlords.

Landlords who wait to understand these changes until they’re already law are perpetually behind. The ones who build professional, documented, legally current screening processes now are the ones who don’t end up in court later — and who attract and retain good tenants because their process is fair, consistent, and respected.

Sungate has been navigating Baltimore’s evolving landlord-tenant legal landscape since 2018. Our leases, screening criteria, and workflows are updated as Maryland law changes — not months after the fact. When you work with us, your portfolio moves with the law, not behind it.