Rental conversions in Salisbury

Salisbury's zoning code allows an accessory apartment of no more than 500 gross square feet, inside an owner-occupied single-family detached house or in an accessory building on its lot, as a special exception in the R-5S, R-8S and R-10S residential districts.¹¹ The lot must be at least 60 feet wide with at least 9,000 square feet of land, parking for the apartment must be in the rear yard, and an accessory apartment isn't allowed in a house that rents guest rooms.¹¹

So the first call is to the city's planning and zoning staff, with your address and lot size. 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, 2026.¹⁷ When we checked, the city's published code still carried only the special exception route, so ask what applies on the day you apply.

How many people can live in the unit is limited too. In Salisbury's R-5, R-8 and R-10 zones, a rental is limited to two unrelated adults unless it has an exemption.¹⁴

Wicomico County's Bill 2026-08, adopted August 19, 2026 and effective October 19, 2026, rewrote the county's accessory apartment rules as rules for accessory dwelling units.¹⁸ Under Wicomico County's ADU law, a lot, parcel or tract whose primary residence is a single-family detached house may have one accessory dwelling unit, either a separate structure or an attached addition, and an ADU can't be added to a multifamily dwelling.¹²

A Wicomico County ADU may be no more than 50 percent of the main house's square footage, must meet the main house's setbacks, and must comply with all building codes and public health and safety requirements.¹² The county requires one off-street parking space per ADU bedroom, not in the front yard, and allows only one entrance on the street-facing front of the main house unless it already had more.¹²

If the house is on a well or septic system, a second kitchen and bath add to what that system has to handle. The county's residential application routes a job through sign-offs such as zoning, floodplain, Critical Area, historic review, plumbing and the health department where they apply.¹⁵

Salisbury requires every rental property owner to get a Rental Owner's License before registering any rental units, and then to register each unit with the city.¹⁴ Under Salisbury's rental code, a dwelling that has been converted to rental use is a new rental dwelling unit, and a new unit must be registered within 60 days.⁷

In Salisbury a new rental owner's license costs $120 and a unit registration $120 per unit in the first year, each renewing at $75 a year, with renewals due by March 1.¹⁴ Salisbury inspects a new rental unit before it issues a license, and units in buildings with four or more rentals are inspected jointly with the Fire Marshal.¹⁴

Book the rental inspection after the construction inspections have passed, since the city's inspector will look at the same alarms, exits and wiring. Outside the city we found no county rental license on its permit pages, so ask the county before you advertise.

Salisbury defines a short-term rental as lodging in a home or accessory building offered to transient guests for less than 31 consecutive days.⁷ Each short-term rental unit in Salisbury needs a Rental Owner's License and its own registration, must pass an annual exterior and interior inspection by the city's housing department, and must have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in every bedroom and on every level.⁷

A unit rented by the night or the week is still a rental unit to the city, so the owner's license comes first either way.

The 2021 IRC requires the units of a two-family dwelling to be separated by walls and floors with at least a 1-hour fire-resistance rating, or a 1/2-hour rating if the building has an automatic sprinkler system throughout.¹⁹ In a house split into two units, that usually means a rated wall or ceiling between them, and old plaster may not count.

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.¹⁹ 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.¹⁹

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.²⁰ With 46%⁵ of the city's homes built before 1980, assume the rule applies until a lead test shows otherwise.

Plenty of Wicomico conversions end up housing a mother or father instead of a tenant; 35%²¹ of the county's owner households are already headed by someone past sixty-five. Under the new county rules an attached addition counts as an ADU, so a ground-level suite with a curbless shower and a wide door is one option to ask about. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.²²

You call the number on this page. The call is recorded and goes to one independent company that handles rental conversions in the Salisbury area, and you talk with them directly about the work, the schedule and the price.

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Before you sign a contract, look the company up on the state's own site. 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