Prince George's County Rent Control Law 2026: Rules Explained

The Permanent Rent Stabilization and Protection Act became law effective September 15, 2024, following its June 18, 2024 enactment, with the actual rent-increase limitations applying to increases from October 17, 2024 onward.

[Cite: Prince George's County, CB-055-2024 official program page]

That's the statute taking effect. It isn't the same thing as the law being fully operational, since several of its core mechanisms weren't administratively implemented until more than a year later.

The county's implementing regulations, covering rental housing fee limits, rent banking, capital-improvement surcharges, substantial-renovation exemptions, and the fair-return petition process, took effect February 1, 2026.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Frequently Asked Questions for CB-055-2024"]

Before that date, these provisions existed in the statute's text, but a landlord had no actual approved process for using rent banking, applying a capital-improvement surcharge, claiming a renovation exemption, or petitioning for a fair return. A landlord who assumed these tools were usable from 2024 onward was working without a functioning administrative pathway.

For the period from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, the maximum allowable increase is 2.7% for age-restricted senior housing and 5.7% for other regulated units.

[Cite: Prince George's County, CB-055-2024 official program page]

Both figures are notably unchanged from the prior year's period. That repeat is unusual enough to flag directly: a landlord expecting the figure to move, the way it has in each prior annual cycle, should confirm this year's posted rate rather than assuming it automatically shifted.

[Cite: Prince George's County, CB-055-2024 official program page]

Senior and age-restricted housing increases are capped at the lesser of CPI-U or 4.5%. All other regulated units are capped at the lesser of CPI-U plus 3%, or 6%.

[Cite: Prince George's County, CB-055-2024 official program page]

That's structurally similar to the CPI-plus-a-fixed-margin formula used elsewhere in the region, but with a lower senior-housing ceiling and a slightly different general formula than neighboring jurisdictions, so a landlord operating across multiple Maryland counties shouldn't assume the same calculation applies uniformly everywhere.

The maximum allowable increase for the initial period, October 17, 2024 through June 30, 2025, was 3.3% for senior housing and 6.0% for other regulated units, the flat ceiling in both cases. For July 2025 through June 2026, that dropped to 2.7% and 5.7% respectively, and the 2026-2027 period holds at those same figures.

[Cite: Prince George's County, CB-055-2024 official program page]

A landlord may implement only one rent increase within any 12-month period.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Frequently Asked Questions for CB-055-2024"]

That frequency limit operates independently of the percentage cap itself. A landlord can't split an allowable annual increase into two smaller increases spaced a few months apart to make each one feel less noticeable to a tenant; the entire allowable amount has to be applied in a single increase within the 12-month window.

The regulations include a dedicated Rent Banking Policy and workbook covering how a landlord carries forward an unused portion of an allowable increase for application in a future year.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Program Update to Stakeholders" (December 2025)]

Since this mechanism only became administratively usable on February 1, 2026, a landlord who held rent flat in an earlier cycle expecting to bank that unused capacity should confirm how that earlier period is treated under the finalized policy, rather than assuming automatic retroactive credit.

The regulations establish a Capital Improvement Surcharge Policy allowing a limited surcharge for major renovations, along with a separate Substantial Renovation Exemption for units undergoing qualifying renovation work, each with its own dedicated application workbook.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Program Update to Stakeholders" (December 2025)]

A landlord planning a major renovation should treat these as two distinct pathways, a surcharge added on top of the standard increase cap, versus an exemption removing the unit from the cap structure entirely for a defined period, rather than assuming either one automatically applies to any renovation project.

A landlord who believes the standard rent-increase cap doesn't allow a reasonable return on investment for a specific property may petition for a fair return, subject to approval from the county's Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Program Update to Stakeholders" (December 2025)]

That petition process is the mechanism the law provides for a landlord in genuine financial distress under the standard cap, but it requires DPIE approval rather than functioning as an automatic override a landlord can simply invoke.

Fourteen categories fall outside this law's rent-increase limitations: units built on or after January 1, 2000; licensed medical or treatment facilities; tax-exempt temporary shelter organizations; owner-occupied group homes; religious facilities; transient hotel and motel units; school dormitories; licensed assisted living and nursing homes; two-unit buildings where the owner resides in one unit; accessory dwelling units; units with governmental or third-party low-income restrictions; landlords owning 5 or fewer rental units as natural persons or living trusts; condominium units; and cooperative units.

[Cite: Prince George's County, CB-055-2024 official program page]

That construction-date exemption, units built on or after January 1, 2000, is likely the single most common reason a given property falls outside this law entirely, given how much of the county's rental housing stock postdates that cutoff.

Every property owner must submit the PRSA Annual Reporting Form by September 30 each year, covering the preceding July 1 through June 30 period, regardless of whether the property qualifies for an exemption.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Frequently Asked Questions for CB-055-2024"]

Regulated properties have an additional obligation beyond the reporting form itself: submitting a Rent Roll spreadsheet detailing unit-level rent information.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Frequently Asked Questions for CB-055-2024"]

A first violation carries a penalty of $1,000. Subsequent violations can reach up to $5,000 each.

[Cite: Prince George's County, "Frequently Asked Questions for CB-055-2024"]

That escalating structure means a landlord's exposure grows meaningfully with repeated noncompliance, rather than facing the same flat penalty regardless of whether it's a first-time or repeated issue.

The practical starting point is confirming exemption status for each property against the full fourteen-category list, particularly the construction-date cutoff, before assuming any unit falls under the rent cap at all.

For portfolios with properties that don't qualify for an exemption, filing the September 30 annual report and rent roll on schedule, and reviewing whether banked capacity, a capital-improvement surcharge, or a fair-return petition might apply given the newly operational February 2026 regulations, builds a more complete compliance picture than relying on the percentage cap alone.