Lease Renewal Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Maryland law says, what's specific to Baltimore - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Baltimore's row in the comparison reads 60 days. State law and the city's Public Local Laws reach that figure separately, and both call for the notice in writing.
- A year-to-year tenancy runs on 90 days under § 8-402(c)(2)(ii) and Public Local Laws § 9-11, while § 9-14 sets 60 for the tenancies § 9-11 names. Our record notes both readings and does not resolve them.
- A lease cannot shorten the landlord's notice. § 8-208(d)(5) bars a shorter period, though the parties may agree to a longer one.
- An automatic renewal clause, other than one renewing for one month or less, must be distinctly set apart, and without your initials, signature or witnessed mark it is unenforceable by the landlord under § 8-208(e).
- Baltimore City Code Article 13, Subtitle 8C would require a renewal offer 75 to 100 days before a lease ends, but it is written to expire after the 2020 health emergency. Confirm whether it is still in force before relying on it.
Understanding the Lease Renewal Clause
A renewal clause decides what happens when your lease term runs out: whether it rolls into another term, who has to act to stop that, and how much warning the other side gets. In Baltimore the warning question is answered in two layers of law, and both land on the same number.
The state layer is Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c), which requires a landlord to give written notice of the intent to terminate a tenancy 60 days before it expires, for a written lease of a stated term or a month-to-month tenancy. The city layer is the Code of Public Local Laws of Baltimore City, enacted by the General Assembly, whose § 9-14 also calls for sixty days' notice.
Two more rules sit beside that figure. A lease cannot cut the notice short, and an automatic renewal paragraph has to be set apart and signed off by you before a landlord can enforce it.
A third, the city's renewal-offer rule, carries an expiry clause whose status is unresolved.
What renters assume
A lease that renews itself automatically binds me to another term the moment I miss its notice deadline, however the paragraph is laid out.
What is actually true
Under § 8-208(e), an automatic renewal provision, other than one with a renewal period of one month or less, must be "distinctly set apart" in the lease. One not accompanied by the tenant's initials, signature or witnessed mark "is unenforceable by the landlord".
Twenty rows sit in the comparison on this page, and Baltimore's bar joins four others at 60 days: Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle and Atlanta. Eight rows sit at the thirty-day mark, Detroit's among them with a label that reads 1 month.
Three sit at 90: New York City, Denver and Portland. Philadelphia reads 15 days and Charlotte 7 days, and Washington and Newark draw no bar because their rows require cause.
Baltimore's label says lease or month-to-month because § 8-402(c)(2)(i) gives the same figure to both. A year-to-year tenancy is not on that bar: the state and Public Local Laws § 9-11 set 90 days for it.
The bar also leaves out the city's renewal-offer subtitle. Subtitle 8C would go further, with an offer 75 to 100 days before the lease ends, so check its status before reading the bar as the whole Baltimore answer.
Plain English Version
If you rent in Baltimore on a lease with a set term or month to month, your landlord must give you written notice 60 days before the tenancy ends if it wants you out. A lease clause cannot shorten that, though it can promise you more.
A year-to-year tenancy gets 90 days under state law. If your lease renews itself automatically, that paragraph must be set apart, and without your initials or signature on it the landlord cannot enforce it.
Your own notice to leave a periodic tenancy runs on a separate clock of 30 days.
Lease Renewal Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Baltimore, MD
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
(c) Landlord may increase the rent or change any other term of the Lease for any renewal period by sending written notice to Tenant. Landlord must send this notice at least 60 days before the end of the Term or of any renewal term. Tenant may reject the renewal terms by sending written notice to Landlord 60 days prior to the end of the current lease ending date. Tenant must then vacate at the end of the current Term. The Lease will renew on the terms set forth in Landlord's renewal notice if Tenant does not send notice ending the Lease.
Quoted from the published opinion in Cooper v. SGYS St. Ives, LLC, 333 A.3d 1046, 2025 PA Super 66 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2025). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“change any other term of the Lease for any renewal”
This hands the landlord the pen for every renewal term, rent included. Whether a Baltimore landlord must offer a renewal at all is a question for Baltimore City Code Article 13, Subtitle 8C. It would require a renewal offer 75 to 100 days before a lease ends unless one of five listed good causes applies. Its § 8C-8 ties the subtitle's expiry to the end of the health emergency declared on March 5, 2020, and the city's code site still prints it, so confirm whether it is in force before relying on it.
“notice at least 60 days before the end of the”
This paragraph lands exactly on Maryland's figure. Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c)(2)(i) requires a landlord to give written notice of the intent to terminate 60 days before the tenancy expires, for a written lease of a stated term over 1 week or a month-to-month tenancy. Baltimore's Public Local Laws § 9-14 separately asks for “sixty (60) days' notice”, and § 9-17 says that notice “shall be in writing”.
“written notice to Landlord 60 days prior to the”
The tenant's deadline mirrors the landlord's here, and in Baltimore the tenant's notice sits under a separate rule. Public Local Laws § 9-16 lets a tenant end a year-to-year, periodic or at-will tenancy by notice to the landlord 30 days before the end of the year or other period for which the tenant holds. Our record does not set a tenant's notice period for leaving at the end of a fixed term, which leaves this paragraph's date as the one to meet on a lease written like this.
“will renew on the terms set forth in Landlord's”
Silence renews the lease on the landlord's new terms, and Maryland regulates how a clause like this has to look on the page. Under § 8-208(e), an automatic renewal provision, other than one with a renewal period of one month or less, must be “distinctly set apart” in the lease. One not accompanied by the tenant's initials, signature or witnessed mark “is unenforceable by the landlord”.
The clause was enforced exactly as written, and it came back on the landlord who wrote it. The underlying dispute was not about renewal at all - it was a claim under Philadelphia's lead-disclosure ordinance, and the landlord's answer was that the Coopers were former tenants with no right to bring it. The Superior Court disagreed. Because paragraph 24 renewed the lease automatically unless a party gave 60 days' written notice, and this landlord gave none, brought no eviction and filed no suit, the lease was still alive and the Coopers were still tenants - even though they had stopped paying rent. The landlord, the court held, “had a duty to take specific action against Appellants in order to end the lease,” and a tenant's own breach does not quietly turn them into a former tenant. Two things to keep in view. This is a standing holding that construes an automatic-renewal clause, not a renewal dispute, and it should not be read as one. And the same paragraph priced the renewal it created: subsection (b) raised the rent for each renewal term to market rent, as determined by Landlord, with a minimum increase of 7% above current rent. Automatic renewal runs in whichever direction the paperwork points, and here the paperwork pointed at the landlord.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Maryland Law on Lease Renewal Clause
- The state rule names non-renewal directly. Section 8-402(c)(1) applies to "all cases of tenancies at the expiration of a stated term, tenancies from year to year, tenancies from month to month, and tenancies from week to week", and § 8-402(c)(2) says "a landlord shall provide written notice of the intent to terminate a tenancy: (i) If the parties have a written lease for a stated term in excess of 1 week or a tenancy from month to month, 60 days before the expiration of the tenancy". The same paragraph sets 90 days for a year-to-year tenancy, and for a week-to-week tenancy 7 days with a written lease or 21 days without one.
- Baltimore's Public Local Laws carry their own 60 days. Section 9-14 provides that "no landlord leasing, renting or demising any dwelling unit in the City of Baltimore under a lease for a year or any period less than a year, at sufferance or per autre vie, shall be entitled to the remedy provided by Section 9-19 if he has not given sixty (60) days' notice before exercising such remedy", subject to listed exceptions. Under § 9-17 the notice "shall be in writing" and may be served on the tenant, left at the tenant's home or business, or served on any occupant.
- The tenant's notice is a separate rule. Public Local Laws § 9-16 lets a tenant end a year-to-year, periodic or at-will tenancy "by the tenant's giving notice to the landlord thirty (30) days previous to the end of the year, or other period for which he holds the same". Section 9-21 adds that a tenant who is moving out must tell the landlord "at least seventy-two hours before such removal" the date they plan to vacate, on top of any other notice needed to end the lease.
- A lease cannot shorten the landlord's notice, and an auto-renewal clause has to be signed off. Section 8-208(d)(5) bars a lease provision that "Has the tenant agree to a period required for landlord's notice to quit which is less than that provided by applicable law, except that the parties may agree to a longer notice period than that required by applicable law". Under § 8-208(e), an automatic renewal provision, other than one with a renewal period of one month or less, must be "distinctly set apart" in the lease, and one not accompanied by the tenant's initials, signature or witnessed mark "is unenforceable by the landlord".
- Retaliation limits the reason, not the clock. Section 8-208.1(a) bars a landlord from terminating a periodic tenancy because the tenant made a good faith complaint, sued or testified, joined a tenants' organization, or summoned police or emergency help, and § 8-208.1(f) says that "As long as a landlord's termination of a tenancy is not the result of a retaliatory action, nothing in this section may be interpreted to alter the landlord's or the tenant's rights to terminate or not renew a tenancy." Damages for a retaliatory action can reach the equivalent of 3 months' rent plus attorney fees under § 8-208.1(c)(1).
Sources include Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c); Baltimore City Pub. Local Laws § 9-14; Baltimore City Pub. Local Laws § 9-11; Baltimore City Pub. Local Laws § 9-16; Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(d)(5); Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(e); Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208.1(a), (f) - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Start with Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c)(1), which applies to "all cases of tenancies at the expiration of a stated term, tenancies from year to year, tenancies from month to month, and tenancies from week to week". The end of a stated term is named, so declining to renew an ordinary lease sits inside the section.
Then the clock. § 8-402(c)(2)(i) says a landlord "shall provide written notice of the intent to terminate a tenancy" 60 days before it expires. That applies where the parties have a written lease for a stated term in excess of 1 week, or a tenancy from month to month.
Count back from the last day of the tenancy, and expect the notice on paper.
Other tenancies run on their own counts. A year-to-year tenancy takes 90 days under § 8-402(c)(2)(ii). A week-to-week tenancy takes 7 days with a written lease, or 21 days without one.
A lease cannot trim the figure. § 8-208(d)(5) bars a provision that has the tenant "agree to a period required for landlord's notice to quit which is less than that provided by applicable law". The same subsection lets the parties agree to a longer notice period.
Automatic renewal has its own rule. Under § 8-208(e), an automatic renewal provision, other than one with a renewal period of one month or less, must be "distinctly set apart" in the lease.
One not accompanied by the tenant's initials, signature or witnessed mark "is unenforceable by the landlord".
Then the reason. § 8-208.1(a) bars a landlord from terminating a periodic tenancy because the tenant made a good faith complaint, sued or testified, joined a tenants' organization, or summoned police or emergency help. Damages for a retaliatory action can reach the equivalent of 3 months' rent plus attorney fees under § 8-208.1(c)(1), and § 8-208.1(f) leaves both sides' rights "to terminate or not renew a tenancy" intact where the termination is not retaliatory.
Two paragraphs of § 8-402 stop at the city line. The rule in § 8-402(c)(3) letting a tenant's oral notice stand in for the landlord's written notice "shall not apply in Baltimore City", and the foreclosure notice periods in § 8-402(c)(4) do not apply to property there.
This page cites the section as the General Assembly prints it in its 2026 Regular Session text, so read the current text before you count from it.
Maryland Tenant Protections
Written notice of the intent to terminate a tenancy 60 days before it expires, for a written lease of a stated term over 1 week or a month-to-month tenancy, under Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c)(2)(i); 90 days for a year-to-year tenancy under § 8-402(c)(2)(ii); and 7 days or 21 days for a week-to-week tenancy, depending on whether there is a written lease.
Baltimore's Public Local Laws § 9-14 separately requires sixty days' notice before a landlord renting a dwelling unit for a year or less may use the holding-over remedy, and § 9-17 requires that notice in writing. A lease may not set a landlord's notice to quit shorter than the law provides under § 8-208(d)(5), though it may set a longer one.
An automatic renewal provision renewing for more than one month must be distinctly set apart, and without the tenant's initials, signature or witnessed mark it is unenforceable by the landlord under § 8-208(e). § 8-208.1(a) bars terminating a periodic tenancy in retaliation for a good faith complaint, a lawsuit or testimony, joining a tenants' organization, or calling police or emergency help, with damages up to the equivalent of 3 months' rent plus attorney fees under § 8-208.1(c)(1).
The tenant's own notice is separate: 30 days under § 9-16 for a year-to-year, periodic or at-will tenancy, and the moving date at least 72 hours ahead under § 9-21.
What's Specific to Baltimore
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Baltimore has two local layers, and on renewal both matter. The Code of Public Local Laws of Baltimore City is enacted by the General Assembly; the Baltimore City Code, which includes Article 13, is the second.
The Public Local Laws carry their own 60 days. § 9-14 says no landlord renting a dwelling unit "under a lease for a year or any period less than a year" may use the holding-over remedy without giving "sixty (60) days' notice". Under § 9-17 that notice "shall be in writing", and it may be served on you, left at your home or business, or served on any occupant.
The same section lists exceptions on a shorter clock. In five situations, among them a tenant unreasonably refusing the landlord access, a nuisance, and a seasonal tenancy of not more than five months, the notice is "thirty (30) days before the end of the term unless otherwise provided in the lease".
The state text in § 8-402(c) carries no matching carve-out, and we do not predict how a court would read the two together.
The year-to-year count is another open seam. § 9-11 says 90 days, matching the state, while § 9-14 sets 60 for the tenancies named in § 9-11. We record both readings and do not resolve them, so a year-to-year tenant should keep both dates in view.
The renewal-offer rule with an expiry clause
Baltimore City Code Article 13, Subtitle 8C (Lease Renewals) would go further. It requires a landlord to offer a renewal 75 to 100 days before a lease ends unless one of five listed good causes applies.
But § 8C-8 says the subtitle "shall automatically expire on the 181st day following the expiration of the catastrophic health emergency declared by the Governor of Maryland on March 5, 2020". The city's code site still prints Subtitle 8C, with Ordinance 23-275 as its latest history line.
Our record does not include the proclamation that ended that emergency, so we take no position on its status; confirm it with the city before relying on Subtitle 8C.
The tenant's side runs on its own clock. § 9-16 lets you end a year-to-year, periodic or at-will tenancy by notice 30 days before the end of the year or other period. § 9-21 asks a tenant who is moving out to give the date at least 72 hours ahead. And one state rule stops at the city line: the § 8-402(c)(3) rule letting a tenant's oral notice replace the landlord's written notice does not apply in Baltimore City.
§ 8-208(e) requires an automatic renewal provision, other than one renewing for one month or less, to be distinctly set apart. Without your initials, signature or witnessed mark, it is unenforceable by the landlord.
That is the figure in § 8-402(c)(2)(i) and Public Local Laws § 9-14. § 8-208(d)(5) lets a lease set a longer period, never a shorter one.
§ 8-208(d)(5) bars a provision that has the tenant agree to a landlord's notice to quit shorter than the law provides. Read such a clause against that subsection before you sign.
§ 8-208.1(a) bars terminating a periodic tenancy because of a good faith complaint, and damages can reach the equivalent of 3 months' rent plus attorney fees. Keep dated copies of what you report.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402(c); Baltimore City Pub. Local Laws § 9-14; Baltimore City Pub. Local Laws § 9-11; Baltimore City Pub. Local Laws § 9-16; Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(d)(5); Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(e); Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208.1(a), (f), read on mgaleg.maryland.gov. The Maryland General Assembly publishes § 8-402 in its 2026 Regular Session statute text; the Baltimore Public Local Laws pages print no currency date, and the Baltimore City Code on the same city site is marked current through July 17, 2026, so confirm the status of Article 13, Subtitle 8C before relying on it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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A non-renewal notice with under 60 days to run
§ 8-402(c)(2)(i) sets 60 days of written notice for a lease of a stated term or a month-to-month tenancy. Count back from the end date and note the day the notice arrived.
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An auto-renewal buried in the fine print
§ 8-208(e) requires an automatic renewal provision to be distinctly set apart, and one without your initials, signature or witnessed mark is unenforceable by the landlord.
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A spoken notice treated as enough
Public Local Laws § 9-17 says the notice shall be in writing, and the state rule letting a tenant's oral notice replace the landlord's written one does not apply in Baltimore City.
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A 30-day notice with a reason attached
§ 9-14 sets 30 days for five listed situations, such as a nuisance or refusing access. The state text in § 8-402(c) carries no matching carve-out, so ask which situation is claimed.
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A non-renewal that follows a complaint
§ 8-208.1(a) bars terminating a periodic tenancy because you made a good faith complaint or joined a tenants' organization. Keep the dates of each step.
Your Rights as a Baltimore Tenant
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60 days, in writing
§ 8-402(c)(2)(i) requires written notice of the intent to terminate 60 days before a lease of a stated term or a month-to-month tenancy expires, and Public Local Laws § 9-14 matches it.
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No shorter notice by contract
§ 8-208(d)(5) bars a lease term setting a landlord's notice to quit shorter than the law provides, while allowing the parties to agree to a longer one.
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An auto-renewal you signed off
§ 8-208(e) makes an automatic renewal provision that is not accompanied by your initials, signature or witnessed mark unenforceable by the landlord.
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No ending as payback
§ 8-208.1(a) bars terminating a periodic tenancy in retaliation, with damages up to the equivalent of 3 months' rent plus attorney fees under § 8-208.1(c)(1).
What To Do - Step by Step
Name your tenancy first
Stated term, month to month, year to year or week to week? § 8-402(c)(2) gives each its own count, from 7 days to 90 days.
Count back 60 days from the end date
For a lease or a month-to-month tenancy, the written notice is due 60 days before expiration under § 8-402(c)(2)(i) and Public Local Laws § 9-14. Keep the envelope or message it came in.
Read how your renewal paragraph is laid out
Find whether it is set apart and whether you initialled or signed it. § 8-208(e) makes an unacknowledged automatic renewal unenforceable by the landlord.
Ask about Subtitle 8C
Article 13, Subtitle 8C would require a renewal offer 75 to 100 days before the lease ends, but it is written to expire after the 2020 health emergency. Ask the city whether it is in force.
Line up the dates against your complaints
§ 8-208.1(a) bars a retaliatory termination of a periodic tenancy. Keep copies of every complaint and the date it went in.
Read the current text, then get advice
This page cites § 8-402 as printed in the 2026 Regular Session text. Pull it yourself, then take a disputed non-renewal to a Baltimore tenant attorney or legal aid office.