Rental conversions in Prince George's County

The Prince George's County Council enacted CB-074-2026, the zoning bill that allows and regulates accessory dwelling units, on September 29, 2026, with an effective date of November 16, 2026.¹¹ Maryland's HB 1466, passed in 2025, requires every county and municipality with planning and zoning authority to adopt a local law allowing ADUs on lots with a single-family detached house by October 1, 2026.¹⁶ The county's bill is its answer to that state deadline.

The unit's gross floor area may not exceed 75 percent of the main house's, and it may be no taller than 22 feet or the height of the main house.⁷ No more than four people may live in the accessory dwelling unit, and that limit drops by the number of people renting any part of the main house.⁷

Either the main house or the accessory dwelling unit must be owner-occupied.⁷ That rules out buying a house only to rent out both the main home and the unit.

Accessory dwelling units built without a permit before the law takes effect must start coming into compliance by working with DPIE within 90 days of its effective date, and must meet all of its provisions.⁷ If an apartment already exists in your basement without permits, that window is the time to bring it into line.

Maryland's Department of Planning describes ADUs as converted rooms inside an existing house, additions, or new or converted stand-alone accessory structures.¹⁶ In the county's split-levels and ramblers, the lower level is an obvious candidate, but a rental unit down there has more to clear than a family room would.

Applicants for a county single-family rental license attest that basements, or parts of them, won't be used as bedrooms or habitable space unless the Code Compliance Division of the Office of Homeland Security authorizes it.¹⁴ Ask the company to confirm with the county what a sleeping room in the unit will need before the layout is drawn.

The 2021 IRC requires at least one egress door for each dwelling unit, reached by a continuous path that does not pass through a garage, and opening to a public way or a yard or court that leads to one.¹⁷ The 2021 IRC requires smoke alarms in each sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area and on every story including basements, interconnected within each dwelling unit so that one sounding sets off all of them.¹⁷

Maryland requires residential fire sprinkler systems in all new one- and two-family dwellings, which the state's planning department says includes newly built ADUs.¹⁸ A new backyard cottage should be priced with that system included from the start.

Prince George's County issues a single-family house or townhouse rental license for two years, and a landlord renting space that contains two or more separate dwelling units must get a use and occupancy permit from DPIE's Permitting and Licensing Division.¹⁴ A county rental license won't be issued while there are life-safety violations or unpermitted construction, and a property found to have unpermitted construction is referred to DPIE's Inspections Division.¹⁴

Owners in Berwyn Heights, Bowie, Brentwood, Capitol Heights, Cheverly, College Park, District Heights, Edmonston, Forest Heights, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Landover Hills, Mount Rainier, New Carrollton, Riverdale Park, Seat Pleasant, the Town of Laurel and University Park apply to their municipality for a rental license instead of the county.¹⁵

EPA's lead renovation rule generally doesn't cover homeowners working on their own pre-1978 homes, but it does apply if you rent out all or part of your home.¹⁹ Maryland requires residential rental properties built before 1978 to be registered with the Department of the Environment every year, at $30 per unit, and to get a new lead inspection certificate at each change of occupancy.⁹

A short-term rental in Prince George's County must be the host's permanent residence, shown through the Maryland Homestead Tax Credit, and an owner whose homeowners association doesn't allow short-term rentals can't take part.²⁰ Renting by the night is a separate county license with rules of its own. For a county short-term rental license, all construction, including a second stove, must be permitted, and a basement can't be used for bedrooms or habitable space unless DPIE's Enforcement Division authorizes it.²⁰

Some families build an accessory unit for an aging parent instead of a tenant. 31%²¹ of the county's owner-occupied homes already have an older householder, and a one-level unit with a step-free entry, a curbless shower and wide doors keeps working for that purpose for years. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.²²

When you call the number on this page, a recorded line puts you through to one independent company that handles rental conversions in the Prince George's County area. The design, the schedule and the price are agreed between you and that company.

The company pays us for each call it receives, so connecting costs you nothing, and we never follow up by phone or text. How we make money

Check the company's license with the state before signing. Maryland's Home Improvement Commission licenses home improvement contractors and salespersons, and its License Search shows whether a license is current.²³ Check a Maryland license

Then agree in writing who will pull the building permit, and line it up with the date the county's new law takes effect.