What do the 2025 and 2026 Maryland HOA law changes require of volunteer boards?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 5, 2026

Maryland HOA law changes for boards: 2025 reserve funding plans and independent election counts, plus 2026 rules on common-area EV charging and sign windows.

Part of the HOA board handbook: new state laws for boards.

What changed and when

The 2025 session of the Maryland General Assembly passed several bills amending the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, Title 11B of the Real Property Article. All of the changes in this guide took effect October 1, 2025. The two that matter most to a self-managed board are SB 63 (chapter 518), approved by the governor May 13, 2025, which rewrote the reserve funding rules in sections 11B-112.2 and 11B-112.3, and SB 758 (chapter 512), also approved May 13, 2025, which added section 11B-118 on how elections are counted and changed the rules on financial statement fees and enforcement. Smaller 2025 changes include SB 540 (chapter 522), limiting the personal information an association can demand before letting residents use recreational facilities, and SB 120 (chapter 516), tightening the standard for unreasonable solar restrictions. The 2026 session added three smaller laws, covered below, on EV charging, political signs and Charles County board training. It left the 2025 reserve and election rules alone.

Who the reserve rules apply to

The reserve study and funding requirements in sections 11B-112.2 and 11B-112.3 apply to associations responsible for common area components whose total repair and replacement cost is at least $10,000. A pool, clubhouse, private road or stormwater pond puts almost any association over that line. Condominiums follow the Condominium Act instead.

Reserve funding under SB 63

The annual budget must now include reserves equal to the amount recommended in the most recent reserve study or updated study, and that money must be deposited in the reserve account by the last day of the fiscal year. After the association's first reserve study, the board has five fiscal years, up from three, to reach the recommended funding level, following a funding plan. Section 11B-112.3(f) requires the board to adopt that funding plan with a qualified reserve study preparer, choosing a method: component or full funding, cash flow, baseline, threshold cash flow, or another method consistent with generally accepted accounting principles. The plan must give priority to health and safety items, structural integrity such as roofs, and essential systems such as plumbing, sewer, HVAC, and electrical. Reserve money used for something outside the plan must be repaid within five years, and the board reviews progress at each annual meeting. Updated reserve studies are due every five years and must analyze the work done and money spent, revise cost and life estimates, and note maintenance contracts. The preparer must have prepared at least 30 reserve studies in the prior three calendar years, or worked on at least 30 in that time while employed by a reserve study firm, be a licensed architect or engineer, or hold the Reserve Specialist designation from the Community Associations Institute or the Professional Reserve Analyst designation from the Association of Professional Reserve Analysts.

The hardship exception

Boards worried about a large dues increase have one escape valve. By a two-thirds vote, at a regular or special meeting with reasonable advance notice to owners, the board may find a financial hardship and reasonably deviate from full funding for no more than one fiscal year. The board can renew the finding for another year with another two-thirds vote. During the deviation, the association must still fund the priority items in its funding plan, and the board must document its good-faith efforts to return to full funding. Those documents are records owners can inspect. The exception does not waive the reserve study or the funding plan, and it is not a way to skip reserves indefinitely.

Elections, records, and enforcement under SB 758

New section 11B-118 requires that ballots be collected and counted, and results certified, by independent parties. An independent party cannot be a candidate in that election or have a conflict of interest with a candidate. Employees of the management company are not independent unless the association owns the management company. A lot owner can serve if the owner does not electioneer and more than 25 percent of eligible voting members have not objected. The association may hire a third-party vendor or use a commercial online voting platform. Owners who run an election in good faith are not personally liable. Any provision of the governing documents that conflicts with section 11B-118 is void. SB 758 also amended section 11B-112 so the association cannot charge an owner to examine financial statements in person where they are kept or to receive them electronically, though reasonable copy fees are still allowed. It amended section 11B-115 so lot owners are treated as consumers, which puts any Title 11B violation within reach of the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Attorney General.

The 2026 changes

EV charging in common parking. HB 405 (chapter 753), effective October 1, 2026, adds section 11B-111.13. Governing documents may not prohibit or unreasonably restrict the board from installing, or authorizing the installation of, EV charging equipment in common or limited common parking spaces. The project goes through the ordinary budget process for a common area change of similar cost, and the board must first consider whether enough parking will remain. The board may grant a license of up to 3 years, renewable at its discretion, on common area needed for the equipment or its power. The act reaches documents recorded before it took effect. Political signs. SB 758 (chapter 288) and HB 855 (chapter 289), effective on signing April 28, 2026, amend section 11B-111.2. Where local law sets no time limit, an association may limit candidate and ballot question signs only to a window that opens at least 45 days before early voting starts (or before the vote, if there is no early voting) and runs to 7 days after the vote. The old window opened 30 days before the election. Charles County training. SB 573 (chapter 804), effective October 1, 2026, requires each HOA board member in Charles County to finish a course approved by a recognized common ownership commission within 90 days of taking office. A director already serving gets 90 days from the start of their next term; the enacted text pins that to directors in office on October 1, 2025, a year before the law took effect, so treat every sitting director as covered. The board certifies completion, keeps the certificates and reports to the commission. Certificates last 3 years, and the board may remove a member who skips the course or void that member's votes.

The board's to-do list

Get your reserve study current, and if the last one is more than five years old, commission an update from a preparer who meets the new qualifications. Adopt a written funding plan with that preparer, and budget the recommended contribution for the coming year, with a schedule to reach full funding within five fiscal years of the initial study. If the budget cannot absorb it, decide early whether to use the hardship exception, notice the meeting, and take the two-thirds vote on the record. Transfer the budgeted reserve contribution to the reserve account before fiscal year end. Put the funding plan on the annual meeting agenda. For elections, pick your independent counters before the next election. Owners who agree not to campaign can serve if no more than 25 percent of eligible voters object, and a vendor or online platform is another route. Amend any bylaw that has the board or the manager counting ballots. Stop charging owners to look at or receive financial statements electronically. Remove any requirement that residents provide a Social Security number, birth certificate, or citizenship, immigration, religion, or medical information to use the pool or other recreational areas. Change the sign rule to the 45-day window before the next election season, since the 30-day version is now too short. Before approving chargers in a shared lot, get a parking count and a budget estimate. In Charles County, enroll every director in the course.

What did not change and common misreadings

SB 63 did not require a new reserve study every year. The board reviews reserves against the funding plan each year, and a full updated study is due every five years. The five-year phase-in runs from the initial reserve study. Early drafts of SB 63 would have added a $10,000 replacement cost line to the budget, but the enacted budget item in section 11B-112.2(c)(6) says only "Reserves." HB 1215, a separate 2025 bill that would have extended the phase-in, was withdrawn, and its change passed through SB 63 instead. Several 2026 bills did not pass and are not law: HB 1600 and SB 919 (records online, reserve loans, meeting notice), HB 1269 and SB 615 (reserve studies), HB 955 and SB 955 (elections), HB 1132 (resale disclosure fees), and HB 502 (statewide board training). SB 747 (chapter 717), on unit owner repair costs and HO-6 coverage, applies to condos only. HB 405 does not let an individual owner install a charger in a common space. It frees the board to do it. Finally, the independent-counter rule in section 11B-118 overrides your bylaws. A board that keeps counting its own ballots because the bylaws say so is relying on a provision the statute declares void.

Where to read the law

Each bill page on the Maryland General Assembly site shows the chapter number, effective date and enacted text, and the same site has the statute text for Title 11B. When this guide was rechecked in November 2026, the statute page for section 11B-111.2 still showed the old 30-day sign window and the page for 11B-111.13 showed no text, even though both changes are in force. Read the chapter text linked from each bill page for those two sections. Read sections 11B-112.2 and 11B-112.3 for reserves and 11B-118 for elections. Some counties, including Montgomery and Prince George's, have their own common ownership community rules that add requirements on top of state law. Check with an attorney licensed in Maryland before relying on this for a budget, election, or bylaw amendment.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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