Draft your Montgomery County MD pre-service worksheet Pick the Rent Year, enter the current rent, and get the Chapter 29 Article VII capped maximum, the 90-day service window under Bill 15-23, a rolling 23-year U&O exemption check, and the DHCA overcharge exposure pre-computed before you draft and serve the landlord-authored notice.
Free preview — no sign-up, no card. Submitting opens a worksheet with the Rent Year you elected, the math you'd put on the landlord-authored notice, and flags if the 90-day window is too tight or if the building's U&O permit is under 23 years old. Nothing about your tenant, unit, or rent is stored on the server until you explicitly purchase the $9 archived worksheet + compliance-log entry.
Montgomery County has no county-issued rent-increase form.
The tenant notice you serve is landlord-authored and must satisfy Chapter 29 Article VII (Bill 15-23): at least 90 calendar days before the effective date, in writing, with landlord name/contact, tenant name/unit address, current and new rent, effective date, Rent Year, the VRGA (percentage) used, and a statement of compliance with Article VII. Maryland Real Property §8-208 separately requires 60 days on month-to-month rent changes, but the county's 90-day rule is the stricter prevailing requirement for rent-stabilized units. Two exemptions also matter: the rolling 23-year new-construction exemption (the building's first use-and-occupancy permit must be 23+ years old on the proposed effective date) and the small-landlord exemption (natural persons with 4 or fewer total rental units in Montgomery County). The worksheet flags either exemption if you check the box.
What you'll get
The worksheet documents which Rent Year applied, what was computed, and what exemption risks were flagged.
- Rent Year picker. RY 2025-2026 (published VRGA 5.8%) or RY 2026-2027 (pending — defaults to the 6.0% hard ceiling until DHCA publishes in mid-June 2026). The worksheet stamps the elected Rent Year and the controlling Chapter 29 Article VII section.
- Rolling 23-year U&O exemption callout. If you flag the building as newer than 23 years, the worksheet stamps a yellow callout: Chapter 29 Article VII does not cover the unit until the first use-and-occupancy permit reaches 23 years old (rolling exemption). Verify the U&O date with DHCA if unsure.
- Small-landlord exemption callout. If you flag yourself as a natural person with 4 or fewer rental units in Montgomery County, the worksheet stamps a yellow callout: Chapter 29 Article VII exempts you; the increase is governed by Maryland Real Property §8-208 (60-day notice for month-to-month) instead of the county's 90-day rule.
- 90-day service window. The worksheet computes the earliest lawful effective date from the planned service date (service + 90 calendar days). Flags TOO EARLY vs OK. The 90-day rule applies regardless of lease type (month-to-month or fixed-term).
- 12-month next-eligible date. The worksheet shows the earliest date you can serve a NEXT rent increase on this unit. Article VII bars more than one increase in any rolling 12-month period, measured from the effective date of the most recent prior increase.
- DHCA overcharge exposure. If your proposed new rent exceeds the VRGA, the worksheet flags the excess in red and prints the DHCA civil-remedy exposure: rent rollback, refund of overcharges, and civil penalties, plus the overcharge as a defense in rent-court proceedings for non-payment of the unlawful portion.
- Versioned audit token. Every preview prints an audit token deterministic for the same inputs against the same rule version — proves which Rent Year was elected and which rule was in effect when the rent was set, in the event of a DHCA Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs complaint or enforcement inquiry.
Before you serve the Bill 15-23 notice
Four Montgomery County gotchas the worksheet won't catch.
- Takoma Park overlap. If the property is in Takoma Park specifically, a separate city rent-stabilization law also applies — and it may be stricter than Chapter 29 Article VII. The county worksheet does not apply the Takoma Park differential. Verify at the Takoma Park Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs before serving. Units in Gaithersburg and Rockville are covered by their own incorporated-municipality rules that are less common but still matter.
- Effective date, not notice date, controls the Rent Year. A notice served in May 2026 with a September 2026 effective date uses the RY 2026-2027 VRGA (pending, assume 6.0% ceiling), NOT the RY 2025-2026 VRGA of 5.8%. The regime picker keys off the effective date for this reason. Serving at 5.8% when the effective date is after July 1, 2026 may be fine (lower than cap), but computing at 5.8% when the Rent Year's actual VRGA is lower leaves money on the table. Recompute with the published figure after June 15, 2026.
- Capital improvements and fair return need DHCA approval. To exceed the VRGA, the landlord must petition DHCA (Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs) with documented scope/cost, demonstrate tenant benefit for capital improvements, or demonstrate a confiscatory return on investment for fair-return petitions. Self-help surcharges — adding a line item above the VRGA without an approved petition — are overcharges. The worksheet does not calculate capital-improvement surcharges.
- Federally-subsidized overlay. If the unit is Section 8 HAP project-based, LIHTC-restricted under active compliance, HUD-insured with rent-restriction overlay, or USDA Rural Development 515, the federal contract rent rule supersedes Chapter 29 Article VII. The cap in the federal regulatory agreement governs. State-subsidized housing under a regulatory agreement with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development or the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission is similarly excluded.