Baltimore City Building Permits: When You Need One, What to File

By PermitCove Editorial · · 5 min read
The rear of a Baltimore brick rowhouse with a new wooden deck being built off the back door

If you own a house in the City of Baltimore and the next job is a rear addition, a new circuit, or a deck off the kitchen, the office that takes the building permit is the Department of Housing and Community Development.

The permits page calls the work Housing and Community Development permits and says they are processed in E-Permits. The code the Building Official uses is the Building, Fire, and Related Codes of Baltimore City, 2024 edition. PermitCove is an independent guide, not a Baltimore city office, so nothing here approves your project; the city pages and law-library sections behind each rule are linked at the end. Baltimore County is a separate government with its own permit office, and no city page hands a house building permit to the county, so don't use this page for a house outside the City of Baltimore. Fees and forms change, so check the live E-Permits page before you pay.

Last verified: October 4, 2026, against the City of Baltimore pages linked below.

Baltimore DHCD Permits and Inspections

A house permit is a City of Baltimore permit issued through the Department of Housing and Community Development. The building code says a permit from the Building Official is required before a person constructs, alters, adds to, repairs, rehabilitates, demolishes, or moves a structure, changes the use of a structure or land, installs or alters equipment the code covers, moves a lot line that affects a structure, or grades or excavates. The same section also covers some historic-district work and a long list of uses that, on a transfer of ownership, need a permit to continue. A house that is staying a house is not that use list. It is still the construction sentence.

The pages do not agree on one room number at 417 East Fayette Street. The help center says you can finish an application at a kiosk there, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and that E-Permits itself is open 24 hours a day. The special-referrals page calls the same street address the One Stop Shop, Room 100. The deck sheet from Plans Review lists Room 101 and the plans phone, 410-396-3460. The form for contesting a work-without-a-permit surcharge tells you to send it to the Building Official at Room 202. Zoning, on the help center, is the 8th floor of 417 East Fayette Street, at 410-396-4126. Call 443-984-1809 and ask which floor has the homeowner window that day.

The website footer is a different building. It lists City Hall, Room 250, 100 North Holliday Street, and hours of Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the city operator at 410-396-3100. Those footer hours are not the permit kiosk's hours, and no city page linked here says the kiosk is closed on Fridays. The help center lists Monday through Friday.

The permits page lists these inboxes. Permit questions go to DHCD.Permits@baltimorecity.gov. Trade licensing goes to DHCD.Tradeslicense@baltimorecity.gov. Inspections on an issued permit go to DHCD.ConstructionInspection@baltimorecity.gov. Plans review goes to DHCD.PlansReview@baltimorecity.gov. The permits office phone on that page is 443-984-1809. Plans review is 410-396-3460. Building inspections are 410-396-3470. The January 2026 inspection sheet lists that same 410-396-3470 for building, electrical, and mechanical and plumbing inspections. Zoning is 410-396-4126. A June 17, 2025 customer-support guide spells the zoning inbox DCHD.Zoning@baltimorecity.gov. The letters are transposed on that guide. If a message bounces, call.

Baltimore permit triggers where city pages and code differ

The broad rule on the permits page is that you need a permit if you are replacing or significantly altering anything on the property. Its list is constructing, enlarging, altering, repairing, rehabilitating, demolishing, or moving a structure, changing or installing electrical, gas, mechanical, or HVAC and refrigeration and plumbing systems, changing the use of land or a structure, grading or excavating, and some private-property events. The same page then says minor repairs usually do not need permits unless the item is completely replaced or significantly changed, and that renovations, modifications, and reconstructions always need a permit.

That "unless the item is completely replaced" sentence is not the exemption list. The page links a Work Exempt From Permit sheet, the file dated in the web path March 2026. The sheet says, in general, alterations require a permit, but ordinary repairs that are in fact maintenance activities generally do not require a permit. It also says an exemption is not permission to violate the 2024 city code, the 2021 International Building Code, the 2021 International Residential Code, or any other law.

Replacing roof shingles is on that sheet's exempt list. A full replacement of shingles is still a replacement. The shorter sentence on the web page doesn't cancel the shingle line, and the shingle line is not a pass for a new roof structure; the sheet never says it is.

The law library is a third text, and it does not list every model-code sentence. In the building code, section 105.2 marks some numbered items "as in IBC" and some "not adopted," and then it lists local lines for interior finish work, hoophouses, debris removal, plywood boarding, minor drywall or plaster patching, replacing roof shingles, replacing roof tarring, and a temporary door on a vacant-building notice.

In the residential code, for one- and two-family dwellings, section 105.2 marks building items 1 through 3 as not adopted, item 4 as in the IRC, item 5 as not adopted, items 6 through 8 as in the IRC, and items 9 and 10 as not adopted. Gas and mechanical are "as in IRC." The page does not reprint the model sentences those numbers point at. If a contractor tells you the national book exempts the job, ask which Baltimore line says the same thing.

An older copy of the exempt sheet is still on the city's media site. It is marked REV 08/23 and its header cites the 2020 city code, not the 2024 edition. The March 2026 file the permits page links is marked REV 09/24 and cites the 2024 code. Both cite the 2021 IBC and the 2021 IRC. Where the wording differs, both files are described below. Do not pick the sentence that lets you start.

Finish work is the calmest line, and the two sheets are not identical. The March 2026 sheet, for one- and two-family dwellings, lists interior painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops, and similar interior finish work. The older media file drops the word "interior" and says similar finish work. The building code lists "similar interior finish work." In a city historic district, the referrals page says some minor work that would not otherwise need a permit still needs one, and you need a Notice to Proceed from the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation before the permit is issued. CHAP is 410-396-4866. Paint on the street face of a landmark is not the interior-cabinet sentence.

Sheds are 120 square feet on the sheet the city links, not a number we are borrowing from a model code. For one- and two-family dwellings, the March 2026 sheet says permits are not required for one-story detached accessory structures used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses, and similar uses, if the floor area is not greater than 120 square feet. "Not greater than" includes a floor of exactly 120.

The sheet lists "used a tool," which is the grammar on the page. The older media file says "used as" and puts the same 120-square-foot sentence later in the list. The March 2026 sheet also puts a 120-square-foot shed on the list for buildings that are not one- and two-family dwellings. The older file's "other than" list did not open with that shed line. Zoning is a separate cap, below. A shed that skips the building permit can still be in the wrong yard.

The residential code's "items 1 through 3 not adopted" is why we are not printing a 200-square-foot shed exemption. The law library does not say, in words, what item 1 of the IRC is. It only says those items are not adopted. The sheet the permits office links uses 120 square feet.

Decks are not on that one- and two-family exemption list. Porches are not on it either. Fences are not on it. The residential amendments mark items 9 and 10 not adopted and do not list them, so this guide does not invent a deck height from a book. What the city did print is an inspection line and a surcharge example.

The January 2026 inspection sheet lists decks under required building inspections: footing, then final. The penalty-surcharge regulations list decks as an example of major work. That is not a sentence that says a platform 6 inches off the ground is free, and it is not a sentence that lists a guard height as the permit test.

The 36-inch railing on the deck sheet, below, is a construction detail for a deck you are building. It is not an exemption at 15 and a half inches. No city page linked here says a porch, or a deck under a stated height, needs no permit. If someone tells you the job is "just a stoop," call 443-984-1809 and write down what they say for that address.

Walls are the same kind of hole. The ePlans matrix dated REV 01/26 says retaining walls for a one- and two-family dwelling more than 5 feet in height require ePlans review. "More than 5 feet" is a plans-review threshold. It does not say a 5-foot wall, or a shorter wall, is exempt from a permit. The building code marks items 2 through 4 of the model exemption list as not adopted and does not list them. The work-exempt sheet does not mention retaining walls.

Fences have a fee in the code and a height in the zoning table, and still no one-sentence permit exemption for a house. Section 109 charges $10 for each 100 linear feet of fence, or fraction of that. The surcharge regulations list fences as an example of minor work, next to a security door on a vacant building, hanging drywall, and concrete that is not a foundation.

"Minor work" in that regulation is a definition used when someone asks to reduce a surcharge. It is not a line that says no permit. The ePlans matrix puts masonry or concrete fences on the ePlans list only for properties other than one- and two-family dwellings. A wood fence on a house is not that line. Zoning, in Table 15-601, allows a fence or wall in a front or corner-side yard if it is no more than 4 feet high, and a fence or wall in a rear or interior-side yard if it is no more than 6 feet high.

The 6-foot row is not marked for the front yard. That is where the fence may sit under zoning. It is not a building-permit waiver. No city page linked here says every fence under 6 feet, or under 7 feet, skips the permit.

Roofs, on the March 2026 sheet, are two lines: replacing roof shingles, and replacing roof tarring. The building code lists the same two. The sheet does not mention sheathing, a second layer, or tile. No city page linked here exempts a tear-off down to the boards, and none sets a square-foot cutoff for shingles. Do not add one.

A few other building lines are on the March 2026 one- and two-family list. Water tanks supported on grade, not over 5,000 gallons, with a height-to-width ratio not over 2 to 1. Prefabricated swimming pools less than 24 inches deep, and the sheet tells you to call zoning at 410-396-4126. The ePlans matrix puts above-ground pools for one- and two-family dwellings on the ePlans list when they are greater than 24 inches deep, and it lists inground pools.

Exactly 24 inches is not "less than 24" and it is not "greater than 24." Call before you treat a pool of exactly 24 inches as exempt. Hoophouses for nursery or agricultural use, with an NFPA 701 covering, and not including service systems. Swings and other playground equipment accessory to detached one- and two-family dwellings, and again the sheet says call zoning.

The older media file, on the one- and two-family list, does not add the words "accessory to detached one- and two-family dwellings" to the playground line. Debris removal, except interior or exterior demolition. Boarding exterior openings with plywood. Minor drywall or plaster patching. A temporary door on a structure that has a vacant building notice. The sheet says the exemption is not a free pass to violate the code.

Plumbing is the split to read twice. The March 2026 sheet's plumbing lines, the leak repair and the water-closet reset, sit under "For Other Than One-and Two-Family Dwellings." They are not on the one- and two-family list. A house water heater is discussed with the plumbing permit, below.

Baltimore homeowner permits vs. MHIC-licensed contractors

The city lets an owner apply for many permits. It does not let an owner pull the trade permits, and the permits page requires a licensed contractor for a lot of the construction itself. Section 105.1.3 of the building code says who may make the application. A demolition or moving permit is applied for by the owner of the property. A permit to remove formstone, paint, or other material from exterior surfaces is applied for by the licensed contractor hired to do the work.

A permit for underpinning or a retaining foundation wall is applied for by the licensed contractor hired to do the work. For other permits, the application may be made by the owner or lessee, the agent of the owner or lessee, or the licensed engineer or architect employed on the work. The residential code points back to that section, and then it points the trade permits at the electrical, mechanical, and plumbing chapters.

The live permits page is stricter about who does the work. It says construction work on one- and two-family dwellings requires a Maryland Home Improvement License contractor. It says a demolition, which it calls razing, requires a Baltimore City licensed contractor. It says electrical, mechanical, gas, and plumbing work requires a licensed contractor. It says extensive structural alterations, and it gives demolishing exterior walls and removing and replacing joists as examples, and it says underpinning on a residential or commercial permit requires an MHIC contractor. MHIC is a state license the city page names. The building permit is still the city's.

The category page adds a narrow demolition exception the summary page does not. For a razing or moving permit, it asks for the contractor's name and registered license, unless you are an owner demolishing your own residential detached garage or shed. That exception is not a pass to tear down the house. The code still says the owner is the one who applies for a demolition permit. Apply, and hire the city-licensed contractor the permits page names, unless the job is the garage or shed the category page actually describes.

Interior demolition has its own contractor line, and the words are "up to," not "more than." On residential alterations, the category page says you need the contractor's name and registered license if you are removing up to one-third of the structural elements on any level, which it calls interior demolition category III. If the job is over that fraction, the page does not give a second sentence. Call.

The permits page links a spreadsheet titled as information on how to determine when a contractor is needed. That file did not open. The contractor rules in this guide are the public sentences above, not the spreadsheet.

Trade permits are not owner permits. Section 2706 says an electrical permit may be issued only to a master electrician, a master restricted electrician, a restricted electrician, or a maintenance electrician, each licensed to do business in the city. Section 2707 says no person may do electrical work unless licensed under state law and insured, or working under the direct supervision of an insured licensed electrician.

Section 2903 says a plumbing permit may be issued only to a master plumber licensed to do business in the city, a master gas fitter licensed to do business in the city, or, for on-site utility work, an on-site utility contractor licensed to do business in the city. The application has to name the insured licensed master plumber responsible for the work.

Section 2802 says an HVACR permit may be issued only to a master, master restricted, limited, journeyman, or journeyman restricted HVACR contractor licensed to do business in the city. A homeowner is not on those lists. Doing the wiring yourself because you own the house is not a path the code provides.

Applying online in Baltimore: plans and the site plan

The front door is E-Permits, at the Accela address the city lists, aca-prod.accela.com/BALTIMORE. The permits page and the help center both say to use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. The help center says that even if you had an account before, you create a new one so the permits and the license registrations connect. Permits created before February 3, 2025, are the ones you connect with a PIN. If you used the old ePlans ProjectDox account, the help center says you must use the same email. You can search permits without an account. You cannot file one without an account.

For a house, the category the page tells you to pick is the One and Two Family Combo Permit. That is the label for new construction and additions, for interior and exterior alterations, and for plumbing, mechanical, gas, and electrical work on a one- or two-family dwelling. A demolition of the building is a different label, Razing or moving building/structure. A use and occupancy permit is its own label. Fire-alarm and sprinkler work on the permits page is pointed at a commercial and multifamily combo, which is the wrong door for an ordinary house unless staff tell you otherwise.

What you upload depends on the size, and exactly 600 square feet is a gap. For new construction or an addition under 600 square feet, the category page wants a site plan, floor plans, a foundation plan, a roof plan, elevations, cross-sections, fire-rating details if there is a party wall, and the other construction details, with drawings to scale. It links a drawings matrix. For new construction or an addition over 600 square feet, the same page tells you to use the One and Two Family Combo Permit and points at ePlans.

The ePlans matrix, REV 01/26, lists new construction and additions for one- and two-family dwellings greater than 600 square feet as work that requires ePlans review. Under 600 is not that line. Exactly 600 is not "under" and it is not "over" and it is not "greater than." Call 410-396-3460 before you assume a 600-square-foot addition skips ePlans. The matrix says if you are unsure, that is the number.

ePlans is not something you upload on a whim. The permits page says certain projects are reviewed for architectural, structural, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing code compliance, and that you submit the plans after staff send you instructions. Status is in E-Permits. You can book a meeting with the reviewer assigned to a filed permit. The matrix is not a complete list. It says so.

One- and two-family items that are on it, besides the addition over 600 square feet, include sitework, grading, or paving, retaining walls more than 5 feet high, an inground pool, and an above-ground pool greater than 24 inches deep. Decks for properties other than one- and two-family dwellings are on it. A house deck is not that line. That does not mean a house deck needs no drawings. The under-600 additions category, which is where the city links the deck sheet, still asks for scaled drawings.

Alterations are split on the category page into work that replaces elements of the same size in the same location, and work that adds a new element or expands one. The second kind asks for drawings: a floor plan and how the floor is supported, on a cross-section, for structural work; existing and proposed floor plans and partition walls for non-structural work; floor plans and a cross-section for a gut rehab. Same-size replacement is still filed as the combo permit. The page does not call it exempt.

You do not start because you clicked submit. The code says the permit is not valid until the fees are paid, and an amendment or an extension is not valid until its fee is paid. Payment is online or at the One-Stop Shop, before the permit is issued. The permits page says an online check has no fee and a credit card has a small fee.

It does not list the card fee. Once you pay, the page says the permit arrives by email. The January 2026 inspection sheet says the permit, or a copy, stays on the site until the job is done, and that if the permit required plans you keep an approved set on the site during construction.

The clock is in section 105.5. Unless the permit says an earlier date, it expires if the work has not begun on the site within 180 days after issuance, or if the work is abandoned or suspended on the site for 180 days or more. A permit issued to comply with a condemnation notice or a demolition order is shorter: start within 30 days, finish within 90.

An extension is a timely written application. For an ordinary permit, the application has to be made within 90 days after the permit expires, and each extension is not more than 180 days unless the Building Official authorizes otherwise. You can get more than one. An expired permit can be reinstated for a final inspection only once, and only if you ask within 3 years, the rough-in inspections were approved, and the work is complete. The help center links a guide for amend, extend, or reinstate.

Two houses, or a house and a detached garage that each need a permit, are two permits. Section 105.8 says that when work is being done on two or more independent structures on the same property, each one needs its own permit.

Historic districts, floodplain, design review, forest conservation, minor privilege, and zoning can sit between "submitted" and "issued." The permits page says applications in planning and historic districts are referred after you submit, and that special cases are communicated within "these time frames." The page does not list a table of weeks for an ordinary house plan. Design review is a different clock, and it is the Department of Planning's.

The referrals page says that when a complete application is in, Planning will complete design review within 15 days of acceptance, and that the 15 days can be extended if they ask for more information. Design review, as that page lists it, includes new dwellings, excluding additions, new rowhouses, and upper-floor additions and roof decks on existing rowhouses. A roof deck on a rowhouse is on that list.

A first-floor bathroom is not, unless some other line on the page catches the address. Forest conservation, outside the Critical Area, applies to grading permits and building permits that disturb 5,000 square feet or more. A small kitchen is not that. A floodplain address is sent to Planning's floodplain managers. The referrals page says Baltimore City's floodplain regulations supersede both state and federal floodplain regulations. The residential code says that for work in a flood hazard area the Building Official looks at whether the job is a substantial improvement, and that a substantial improvement has to meet the Floodplain Management Code.

Baltimore permit fees in the city building code

Section 109 says a permit is not valid until the prescribed fees are paid. The dollar lines below are section 109.6 of the Building, Fire, and Related Codes, 2024 edition, as the city law library posted it on October 4, 2026. The city pages linked here don't include a later fee sheet that replaces them. These dollar lines are not a quote for your address.

Sediment and erosion control, in the same section, is assessed by the Department of Public Works under a Board of Estimates schedule. A review of the permit application by Public Works or by the Department of Transportation is $100 in this section, and a consultation meeting with the applicant is $50 for each half hour. A house that never touches those offices should not inherit those lines. Ask what is on the invoice.

For a new one- or two-family dwelling, or an addition, the construction fee is $10 for each 1,000 cubic feet of gross volume, or fraction of 1,000, including basements and cellars. The minimum is $150 for a new building and $75 for an addition. An alteration or repair of a one- or two-family dwelling is $0.30 per square foot of affected gross floor area, or fraction, with a minimum of $50.

If the alteration is only on the exterior, or it is only new interior doors and no other work is on the permit, the fee is $10 for each $1,000 of estimated cost, or fraction, still with a $50 minimum. An accessory structure is $25 if it is 100 square feet of gross floor area or less, and $50 if it is over 100 square feet.

That is the fee when a permit is issued. It is not a finding that a 120-square-foot shed needs a permit. Interior-only demolition is $0.02 per square foot, with a $25 minimum for a one- or two-family dwelling. Demolition other than interior-only, for a one- or two-family dwelling, is $0.03 per cubic foot of the structure, with a minimum of $300.

An accessory structure on that demolition line is $50 each, and the section caps the demolition fee at $5,000 per permit. A one- or two-family swimming pool is $50. A fence is $10 per 100 linear feet, or fraction. A retaining wall is $10 per 100 square feet of area above the footing, or fraction.

Trade fees are in the same section, and they are easy to under-count if you only look at the building line. An electrical service of 0 to 100 amperes is $25. Over 100 to 200 amperes is $30. Over 200 to 400 is $40. Each new branch circuit, feeder, or circuit extension or replacement is $6, with the 3-wire and 4-wire counting rules the section lists. Fixtures or devices only are $25 for the first 25, then $5 for each additional 25 or fraction.

A photovoltaic system is $25 for 1 to 25 panels, then $5 for each additional 10 panels or fraction. A plumbing fixture installed, replaced, or reconstructed is $5 each. Removing fixtures only is $20. An electric water heater, new or replacement, is $20 each. For a one- or two-family dwelling, a new or replacement water service, sanitary connection, or storm connection is $25 each. Fuel-oil or natural-gas piping, new or replacement, is $25 for a one- or two-family dwelling. The invoice adds them to the cubic-foot fee; this guide does not.

If the work already happened, section 109.5.9 adds a surcharge on the permit issued for work begun or completed without a permit, beyond the permit or inconsistent with the approved plans, or during a suspension or after a revocation. The amount, except where the section says otherwise, is the greater of $1,000 or 50 percent of the permit fee. Demolition without the right permit, or in violation of the permit, is 50 cents per cubic foot of the structure before the demolition. The surcharge is on top of any other fine. It can become a lien. The Building Official may reduce it on a written application, under the rules adopted for that purpose.

Those rules are Title 7, Chapter 2 of the code of Baltimore regulations, the file the permits page links. They say the department adopted them under section 109.5.9. They also say a penalty surcharge will be assessed for major work without a permit, outside the permit, or after a suspension, for work that needed a CHAP Notice to Proceed and was done without a permit or outside one or after a suspension, and for work that continues after a stop-work order.

"Major work" in that chapter includes additions, decks, full or partial demolition, electrical, excavation, framing, HVAC, mechanical, new construction, plumbing, pouring concrete for a foundation, footing, or wall, structural work, underpinning, curbing, formstone removal, and any work that requires a licensed professional. "Minor work" includes fences, a security door on a vacant building, hanging drywall, and concrete that is not foundation or structure.

The code section says the surcharge applies to any permit issued for work begun without a permit. The regulation's assessment paragraph is aimed at major work, CHAP work, and stop-work. Don't assume a fence has no surcharge just because it appears in the minor-work examples. Ask, and if you want a reduction, the regulation says the form has to be in within 30 days of the assessment.

The same regulation says a surcharge may be reduced by as much as 100 percent in the cases it lists. Those include a surcharge issued in error, a reasonable belief that no permit was required, a licensed professional who was hired under a written contract that required the professional to get the permits, a job the official first called major and that you show was minor, emergency work if the permit was applied for within one business day of the start, and work that began under a permit that expired and was then extended. That one-business-day line is a reduction rule. It is not a permit exemption, and it is not the plumbing emergency rule below.

Refunds are tight. Section 109.4 says no fee is refunded except as that section allows. If no work has been done and no privilege has been enjoyed, a refund may be granted of not more than 50 percent, and no refund is granted on a fee or charge of less than $1,000. If the Building Official revokes a permit because of an administrative error that was not your fault, you can get a full refund or have the fee credited to a replacement permit.

A reinspection, if you scheduled an inspection and the same work has to be seen again, is $50 the first time, $100 the second, and $125 the third and every time after that, payable in advance. An inspection you ask for outside normal working hours is $50 an hour for each inspector, with a minimum of $200 per inspector, payable in advance. The section does not list the clock it means by normal hours.

Baltimore zoning code setbacks for rowhouses

A building permit is not the zoning decision. The referrals page says zoning reviews the project against the zoning ordinance before plans are submitted, and either approves it then or accepts it for filing only and holds the approval until questions are resolved. A violation goes to a zoning appeal before the zoning board. The phone is 410-396-4126. There is no single front-yard number that fits every house in Baltimore. Yards are set by district in the zoning tables. Call zoning with the address before you order posts.

Accessory structures, in section 15-501, have citywide sentences that still depend on the district. The structure has to be on the same lot as the principal structure. It cannot go up before the principal structure. All accessory structures together may not cover more than 50 percent of the required rear yard. Unless the subtitle says otherwise, height is not over 15 feet, and the structure has to meet the yard requirements of the district. If you attach it to the house by a wall or a roof, it is part of the house and it has to meet the rules for the house. A shed bolted to the back wall is not the detached shed you hoped it was.

Table 15-601 is the list of things that may sit inside a required yard. A shed, tool house, or similar storage structure of no more than 180 square feet, in a residential zoning district, is marked only for the rear yard. It is not marked for the front or the interior side. "No more than 180" includes exactly 180. The table does not list a leftover distance to the rear lot line. A shed of 150 square feet can be inside the zoning encroachment line and outside the 120-square-foot building-permit line. Those are different tests. A shed of 181 square feet is not on that encroachment row at all.

An open patio or terrace is marked for the front, the interior side, and the rear. The table does not list a size. That is permission to be in the yard, not a finding that the patio needs no building permit. An awning, sunshade, or canopy from a window, porch, or door may go no more than 3 feet into a required yard, and it is marked for all three yards.

A cornice, eave, belt course, sill, one-story bay, or similar feature may go no more than 2 feet into a required yard. A balcony has to stay at least 5 feet from the front lot line or the corner-side lot line, and it is not marked for the interior side yard. Playground equipment and playhouses are marked for the rear, the interior side, and the corner-side yard, not as a front-yard use. Call zoning before you set a playhouse in the front.

Porches are in that table and in section 15-512, and the two do not use the same words. The table says an unenclosed porch, with or without a roof, no more than one story high, may go no more than 8 feet into a required yard, and it marks the front, the interior side, and the rear. A porch more than one story high, still no more than 8 feet into a required yard, is marked for the rear only.

Section 15-512 says an unenclosed porch may encroach 8 feet into any required front or corner-side yard, and that an unenclosed porch in the interior-side yard must be at least 4 feet from the interior-side lot line. It says an enclosed porch must meet all minimum yard requirements. The table row does not list the 4-foot lot-line sentence. The section does not list the one-story limit in that same subsection. The 4 feet still applies even though the table is shorter, and so does the one-story split the section's yard paragraph leaves out.

The section also defines the words. An enclosed porch is enclosed by walls, screens, or other material on two or more sides, and a screened porch counts. An unenclosed porch is open on two or more sides, even if it has a railing. Front porches must remain open. Original porches must be kept and may not be filled in with opaque materials. On a rowhouse, infill porches have to match the row's posts, railings, step direction, and step material.

When you replace porch parts, you match the original elements of the row. The section bans T-1-11, plywood, vinyl and aluminum siding, and cinderblock for that replacement, and it bans columns and railings that were not part of the original row. Those are zoning sentences. They are not a building-permit exemption for a new porch. CHAP, if the block is in a historic district, is another review on top of both.

Fences, as the table lists them, are 4 feet in the front or corner-side yard and 6 feet in the rear or interior-side yard. The 4-foot row is marked in all three yard columns. The 6-foot row is marked for the interior side and the rear, not the front. If a reviewer cites one, write it down. Do not average it with 4 and 6.

Rowhouse additions in Baltimore

An addition is construction. The code's permit sentence includes "add to." The category page has a door for it: One and Two Family Combo Permit, with the drawing list if you are under 600 square feet and the ePlans path if you are over 600. Exactly 600 is the gap above. The fee, if the addition is the thing being permitted, is the cubic-foot line, $10 per 1,000 cubic feet including basements and cellars, with a $75 minimum, not the $0.30 alteration line. Ask when you file.

The drawings have to show the existing house and the new work. The under-600 list is a site plan, floor plans, foundation, roof, elevations, and cross-sections, plus party-wall fire ratings if you are building on the lot line the way Baltimore rowhouses do. The page links sample site plans and floor plans on the older housing portal.

Those files did not open on October 4, 2026, so this guide does not describe what they draw. A Maryland architect or engineer is not, required on every house addition. Rooftop decks are the place the code requires the seal, below. Section 105.1.5 says the Building Official may require a registered design professional as a condition of a permit. That is a "may." It is not a promise that a homeowner sketch will be accepted.

Green building is the exception people miss in the other direction. The permits page says one- and two-family dwellings, including accessory structures, are exceptions to the Green Building Code. So are multifamily buildings up to 3 stories and no more than 5 units, and temporary structures up for under 180 days. The category pages still tell you to complete a green checklist for buildings over 3 stories and more than 5 units. A one- or two-family house is the exception the permits page lists, including a house that is three stories. The exception for a one- or two-family house is real, but if a reviewer has already asked for a checklist on your address, don't skip it.

A garage turned into living space is an alteration of use and of the building, not a paint job. The city pages linked here don't include a city garage-conversion handout that lists insulation values, window area, or an emergency-escape size. Those numbers are not in this guide. File it as the alteration the category page describes, with the existing and proposed plans, and expect the residential code the city adopted, which is the 2021 International Residential Code as Baltimore amended it.

Zoning for the addition is the district, not a number in this article. If you enclose a porch to make the room, section 15-512 says an enclosed porch has to meet the full yards, and front porches have to stay open. A roof deck on an existing rowhouse is on the design-review list. Call zoning and, if the block is historic, CHAP, before you order the lumber.

Baltimore decks, porches, and roof decks

A wooden deck and an open front porch on a Baltimore rowhouse

Use the exemption section before you decide a low platform is free. The one- and two-family sheet does not list decks. The inspection sheet says a deck needs a footing inspection and a final inspection. The surcharge rules list decks as major work. The ePlans matrix does not put one- and two-family decks on the ePlans list. The under-600 additions page is where the city links the deck and balcony construction sheet. That sheet is an example of how Plans Review wants the framing drawn. It is not a finding that every deck over a certain height needs a permit and every lower deck does not. No city page linked here sets that cutoff height.

The sheet is from Plans Review, 417 East Fayette Street, Room 101, 410-396-3460. It is a drawing, and the span grids are small. This guide is not retyping the joist table, because a misread span is a bad joist. What the notes say, in words, is enough to keep you from the common mistakes. Do not attach a deck ledger to an overhanging floor system.

If you are not sure, the warning says to consult the building inspector. A ledger on brick veneer is supported by posts. A ledger on brick with block, or on block only, uses half-inch carriage bolts and washers through the wall into a continuous 2-by-4 backer. Poured concrete uses half-inch lag bolts, washers, and shields, with a minimum 4-inch embedment.

A house band board uses a minimum of half-inch carriage bolts staggered at 16 inches on center. For a deck not over 5 feet above grade, the sheet says half-inch by 5-inch lag bolts and washers may be used. Above 5 feet, it wants a continuous 1-by-4 diagonal brace under the joists. Nails, bolts, and hangers are hot-dip galvanized, stainless steel, or triple-coated zinc polymer.

Railing posts attach with 3/8-inch lag bolts or carriage bolts and washers. The minimum railing height on the sheet is 36 inches above the decking when the deck is more than 15 and a half inches above grade. Footings are shown a minimum of 30 inches below grade, in concrete at least 8 inches thick. The beam table on the sheet is labeled for a 12-foot joist span.

If your joists are not 12 feet, do not borrow that beam span. The sheet also lists live loads, 40 pounds per square foot on the supported part of a deck and 60 on a cantilever, and 60 for a balcony that hangs off the house with no posts. For every foot of joist past the beam or the wall, the sheet wants at least 2 feet of joist on the other side.

Stairs on the same sheet are drawn with a minimum 9-inch tread and a maximum 8 1/4-inch riser. Closed risers need a 1-inch nosing. Open risers have to be less than 4 inches. Handrails are drawn at 36 inches minimum, with openings not more than 4 inches on center. Those are the notes we could read. They are not a substitute for the stamped drawing the reviewer asks for.

A rooftop deck is a different project, and the city did publish the rules in section 1511.9 and on a rooftop-deck sheet that cites the 2024 city code. The deck has to comply with that section and with the structural chapter. The construction documents need dimensional setbacks, and they have to be signed and sealed by a Maryland architect or engineer. If the deck sits on party walls, you notify the adjoining owners in writing and you include evidence of that notice.

The deck may not be raised more than 2 feet above the plane halfway between the lowest and highest points of the roof that carries it. The minimum setbacks on the code and on the sheet match. A flat roof is 8 feet from the face of the building wall. A gabled roof is 6 feet behind the ridge. A mansard, which the code describes as a steep front slope and then a flat roof, is 6 feet behind the ridge.

Sides and rear are "none" in that minimum table. You still have to meet any larger setback in the zoning code or an urban renewal plan. The design-review page lists upper-floor additions and roof decks on existing rowhouses as work Planning reviews. Clearances to chimneys and to electrical service are required. The code cites National Electrical Code section 230.24. The rooftop sheet's header cites the 2020 National Electrical Code, section 230, and the body of the same sheet lists 203.24.

The sheet does print two clearance numbers in words: conductors at least 8 feet above the roof, kept for at least 3 feet in every direction from the edge of the roof, and at least 8 feet above the deck surface at the lowest point. If a reviewer cites a different section number, show them both pages.

A porch is not a nickname for either deck. Zoning is section 15-512 and the encroachment table, including the 8-foot and 4-foot conflict above. The city pages linked here don't include a porch construction sheet that lists a footing depth or a railing height for a front stoop. Do not paste the deck sheet's 30-inch footing onto a masonry rowhouse porch because this paragraph sits nearby. And do not enclose the front porch and call it a mudroom. The zoning section says front porches stay open, and original porches are not filled with opaque materials.

Baltimore sheds and accessory structures

A small backyard shed behind a Baltimore rowhouse

Count the floor, then notice which rule you are in. The March 2026 exempt sheet says a one-story detached shed, playhouse, or similar building does not need a permit when the floor area is not greater than 120 square feet. Exactly 120 is on the exempt side of that sentence. The older media file agrees on 120 and disagrees on small wording. The residential code marks model-code items 1 through 3 as not adopted and does not list them, so do not swap in a larger number from a national book.

Zoning's encroachment row is 180 square feet, rear yard only, in a residential district, and it does not list a distance to the lot line. A shed of 120 square feet or less can still fail zoning. A shed of 121 to 180 square feet can be on the zoning row and off the permit exemption. A second story is not in the exemption. The exemption is one story.

The accessory rules still apply under 120 square feet. Same lot, not before the house, no more than 50 percent of the required rear yard for all accessory structures together, no more than 15 feet high unless a more specific rule says otherwise, and the district yards unless the encroachment table lets you into the required rear yard. Attaching the shed to the house makes it part of the house. Power to the shed is not a free add-on. The one- and two-family electrical exemptions are low-voltage and minor repair, not a new circuit. A light and an outlet are the electrical permit, issued to a licensed electrician, even when you think you skipped the building permit.

The fee table charges $25 for an accessory structure of 100 square feet or less and $50 for one over 100 square feet, when a permit is issued. If the shed is large enough to need one, it is the One and Two Family Combo path, with a site plan. The ePlans matrix does not list ordinary one- and two-family sheds. Do not treat that silence as a waiver of drawings if the reviewer asks for them.

Taking the shed down is the one place the category page lets an owner act without a contractor's name. You still need the razing permit unless some exemption we did not find applies. The exception is an owner demolishing their own residential detached garage or shed. Everyone else on that line needs a Baltimore City licensed contractor. The code says the owner applies. Both can be true.

Sleeping in the shed is a different project. No city page linked here says a shed under 120 square feet may be a dwelling. Do not call it an apartment because the building permit was the thing you think you skipped.

Baltimore electrical permits

The City of Baltimore issues the electrical permit. No city page linked here sends house wiring to the county or to the state for the permit itself. The state shows up as a license. Section 2706 says no electrical work starts before the Building Official issues the permit, unless the codes specifically except it. The permit is issued only to the city-licensed electricians that section names. Section 2707 requires a state license and insurance, or work under the direct supervision of an insured licensed electrician.

The March 2026 one- and two-family exemptions are narrow. Listed cord-and-plug temporary decorative lighting. Reinstallation of attachment plug receptacles, but not the outlets. Wiring and equipment operating at less than 25 volts and not capable of supplying more than 50 watts. Minor repair, including replacing lamps or connecting approved portable equipment to approved permanently installed receptacles. A new circuit is not on that list. A panel change is not on that list. A service change is not on that list.

The category page does not match the "minor repair" feeling. It says one- and two-family work needs a permit when you add or replace plumbing, mechanical, gas, and electrical fixtures and devices, including when the new item is the same size and in the same location. A different size or a different location is also a permit, and that is the side of the page that points at ePlans for the cases it lists.

The electrical guideline the category page links, marked REV 01/16, says a licensed electrician is required and then lists replacement of fixtures, receptacles, switches, and other devices, replacement of service cable, replacement of panels, replacement of circuits and feeders up to 30, relocation of lights and receptacles not more than 5 feet, installation of up to 30 new circuits, services up to 400 amps and up to 600 volts, and all electrical work on one- and two-family dwelling units.

It says all replacements are in kind, same size and location, and that work other than the list may need ePlans. The guideline is old and the city still links it from the category page. Lamp replacement and a cord-and-plug decoration are the exemption sheet. A receptacle you relocate, even 5 feet, is the guideline's permit list. If the job sits between "replace a lamp" and "replace a device," call before you assume the older guideline or the newer sheet is the one the counter will use.

The fee for the work, when the permit is issued, is the electrical schedule above. A service change and a new circuit are not the same line. Photovoltaic panels have their own small schedule. The ePlans matrix puts solar on the ePlans list for properties other than one- and two-family dwellings. It does not put a house rooftop array on that line. Assume the dashboard will ask for whatever the current solar permit asks for. No city page linked here says a house array needs no permit.

The inspection sheet says most electrical permits need a rough-in inspection, and all of them need a final. You schedule in E-Permits. The cutoff for scheduling is 2:30 p.m. the day before the date you want. If you cover the wiring first, the inspection sheet says the work has to stay accessible and exposed until it is approved. Opening the wall is your cost. The sheet does not say the city pays for it.

Baltimore plumbing and mechanical permits

Plumbing, gas, and HVACR are city permits, issued to the licensees in sections 2903 and 2802. The permits page says this work requires a licensed contractor. The mechanical and plumbing guideline, also marked REV 01/16 and still linked from the category page, says a licensed contractor is required. Its list includes replacement of water, sanitary, storm, hydronic, and natural-gas piping, plumbing fixture replacement, up to 12 new plumbing fixtures, hot water heaters, HVAC replacement, up to 6 new residential natural-gas appliances, gas piping with a gas-fitter license, and all mechanical and plumbing work on one- and two-family dwelling units.

Replacements are in kind, same size and location. Other work may need ePlans. A water heater is on that list. It is not on the one- and two-family exemption sheet. File the permit. Do not skip it because the job is "just a water heater."

The category page says the same thing in plainer language. Adding or replacing plumbing, mechanical, gas, and electrical fixtures and devices on a one- or two-family dwelling needs a permit, whether or not the new piece is the same size and in the same place. Same size and same place is still the One and Two Family Combo Permit, and the page asks for the contractor's name and registered license. A different size or place is the path that can go to ePlans.

Read the exemption sheet's plumbing half as not the house list, because that is where the city put it. Stopping a leak, until a concealed drain or water or vent pipe has to be replaced with new material, and clearing a stoppage or resetting a water closet without rearranging the pipes, are listed under "other than one- and two-family."

They are not listed on the house list. Gas exemptions that are on the house list are portable heating, cooking, or clothes-drying appliances, replacement of a minor part that does not change the approval of the equipment or make it unsafe, and portable fuel-cell appliances that are not on a fixed pipe and not on the power grid.

Mechanical exemptions on the house list are portable heaters, portable ventilation, portable cooling, steam or hot or chilled water piping inside the equipment, the same minor-part replacement, portable evaporative coolers, self-contained refrigeration of 10 pounds of refrigerant or less or motors of 1 horsepower or less, and the same portable fuel cell. A window unit that is portable is the list. A new furnace is not. An exact HVAC change-out is on the guideline as a permit, not as an exemption.

Emergency plumbing is not a homeowner path. Section 2903.5 says that when emergency work is needed to fix a possible health hazard or other hazardous condition, the work may start before the permit, by a master plumber or, inside the license, an on-site utility contractor or a gas fitter. That person has to notify the city promptly and get a permit within a reasonable time. The section does not define "reasonable" in days. The surcharge regulation's one-business-day line is about reducing a penalty, not about this plumbing sentence.

The fees, when the permit is issued, are the plumbing and mechanical lines above. A fixture is not the water-service fee. A water heater is not the fixture fee. Gas piping on a house is the $25 one- and two-family line in the mechanical schedule, and the guideline still wants a gas fitter. No city page linked here says a barbecue stub is exempt. The permits page's required-work list includes changing or installing gas systems. Call if the only work is a listed portable appliance that is not on a fixed pipe, because that is the exemption the sheet actually lists.

Inspections follow the same sheet as electrical. Most mechanical, plumbing, and HVACR permits need a rough-in, and all need a final. Schedule in E-Permits by 2:30 p.m. the day before. The inspection sheet also says to call Miss Utility at 1-800-257-7777, or use the site it lists, 48 hours before you dig. That is the city's sheet. It is not a building permit.

After you file in Baltimore: review and inspections

Building plans spread on a desk next to a laptop, ready for a Baltimore building permit application

File in E-Permits, or use the kiosk at 417 East Fayette Street during the help center's Monday-through-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. window. Pay online or at the One-Stop Shop before the permit is issued. Print the permit from the email. If plans were required, keep an approved set on the job. The inspection sheet says issuance of the permit does not stop the Building Official from later requiring a correction of errors in the plans or in the work.

Every permit needs an inspection. That sentence is on the permits page and on the inspection sheet. You schedule in E-Permits, which the scheduling page says is available 24 hours a day. The cutoff to request a date is 2:30 p.m. the day before. You can cancel and reschedule there and see the history. The inspections the sheet names for building work are these.

A deck: footing, then final. A new building or addition: footing, foundation, slab, framing, insulation, and final. An alteration: framing, insulation, and final. A fence, a temporary, or a sign: footing as needed, then final. Razing: an on-site consultation before the permit is issued, the inspector present when demolition starts, slab removal, footing if required, backfill, and final.

Footing inspections happen after the excavation is done and any required steel is in place. Slab and under-floor inspections happen before concrete goes down or floor sheathing goes on. Framing happens after the roof deck or sheathing, the framing, the fireblocking, and the bracing are in, and after the pipes, chimneys, and vents that will be concealed are complete, and after the rough electrical, plumbing, and heating are approved. The final happens after the work the permit required is complete.

A certificate of occupancy is a further step, and the pages aim it differently. The scheduling page says all permits must have a final inspection before a certificate of occupancy can be issued. The inspection sheet says a certificate of occupancy requires the inspections on its use table, and that all work permits must have a final inspection before that certificate. For a single-family dwelling whose use is unchanged, and for a home office, the sheet's line is a building inspection, not the health-and-fire stack it lists for a restaurant.

A single-family dwelling with 5 or fewer unrelated people is on that building-inspection line. A single-family dwelling with 6 or more unrelated people is on a fire-and-building line. The sheet also says Baltimore City considers 3 or more dwelling units a multifamily dwelling, and that a multifamily dwelling starts with a fire inspection when there are 4 or more units, then a building inspection.

The table is written for a new use, or for a house that is no longer a single-family dwelling. Use and occupancy permits, on the category page, cover new construction, ownership changes, tenant changes, a change in use, removing a vacant building notice, and public pools. An ownership change of a house you are not altering is that permit, not a building-alteration permit.

If you see work without a permit, the permits page says to call 311 and choose construction without a building permit. You can look up an existing permit first. The page links a search on the older housing portal. Inside the city, 311 is the number. The footer says that outside the city the number is 443-263-2220.

The codes themselves are one edition, with a start date, and you should know that before you buy a book. The law library's introductory note says the 2024 Building, Fire, and Related Codes article is the Maryland Building Performance Standards as of March 2023, the 2021 International Building Code, the 2020 National Electrical Code, the 2021 fuel gas, mechanical, plumbing, property maintenance, fire, energy, residential, green, and swimming pool and spa codes, as the city amended them.

Ordinance 24-341 took effect May 22, 2024. It applies to building operations for which a permit application is filed on or after that date. A matter that was validly begun before that date can be finished under the prior law, in the way the ordinance describes. The exempt sheet's older copy still says 2020 in the header.

The copy the permits page links says 2024. Today is after May 22, 2024. Don't design a new submittal to a retired edition just because an old PDF is still on the server. Take the law library note to the counter if a checklist fights it.

One more rule that is not a building permit. The inspection sheet says every owner of a non-owner-occupied dwelling or a vacant structure in Baltimore City has to file a property registration with the Housing Commissioner. If you live in the house, that sentence is not about you. If you do not, it is a separate filing. The phone on the sheet is 410-396-3575.

A Baltimore pre-filing checklist

  1. Confirm the house is in the City of Baltimore, not Baltimore County. This office does not issue the county's permits. No city page linked here sends a house building permit to the county.
  2. Ordinary repair is a sentence, not a category you get to define. The March 2026 sheet is the list the permits page links. Replacing shingles is on it. A new circuit, a water heater, and a deck are not. The older REV 08/23 file cites the 2020 code and is still online. Where they differ, do not pick the easier line.
  3. A one-story detached shed at 120 square feet or less is the building-permit exemption on that sheet. Zoning's rear-yard encroachment row goes to 180 square feet and does not list a lot-line distance. Exactly 120 is exempt from the permit on the sheet and still has to meet zoning. Power to the shed is an electrical permit, and that permit is issued to a licensed electrician.
  4. The city pages linked here don't include a height that makes a house deck or a porch exempt. The inspection sheet expects a footing inspection and a final on a deck. The deck sheet's 36-inch rail and 30-inch footing are construction notes, not the permit test. A rooftop deck needs a Maryland architect or engineer, the setbacks in section 1511.9, and, on a rowhouse, design review. A front porch has to stay open under zoning.
  5. An owner may apply for many building permits. An owner does not get the electrical, plumbing, or HVACR permit. Construction on a one- or two-family house requires an MHIC contractor on the permits page. Razing requires a city-licensed contractor, except an owner demolishing their own detached garage or shed. Underpinning and exterior surface removal are applied for by the contractor.
  6. Do not email a sketch and start demolition. File the combo permit, pay, wait for the issued permit, and keep it and the approved plans on the site. The 180-day clock is real. The city pages linked here don't include a review-time table for an ordinary house. The 15-day line is Planning's design review, not a promise from the permit counter.
  7. The building-permit dollars in this guide are section 109 of the 2024 code as posted in the city law library. A new one- or two-family house is $10 per 1,000 cubic feet, minimum $150. An addition on that line has a $75 minimum. Work without a permit is the greater of $1,000 or 50 percent of the permit fee, and the surcharge regulation talks about major work in a way the code section does not. Do not write the check from this page.

Critical Area and DOT: two Baltimore approvals outside the building permit

Everything above is about the Housing and Community Development permit. Two other Baltimore offices can also have a say: Planning, if the lot is near tidal water, and the Department of Transportation, for anything that sits in the street or reaches over the sidewalk.

Waterfront lots: the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area

Maryland's Critical Area takes in all land within 1,000 feet of the state's tidal waters and tidal wetlands (Maryland Critical Area Commission: FAQs). State law requires Baltimore to run its own Critical Area Management Program, and the program sits with the city's Department of Planning. The city's program page says a site can fall under more than one set of rules. It names Intensely Developed Areas, Resource Conservation Areas, Habitat Protection Areas, and Designated Habitat Protection Areas, and says the manual describes what each one allows (Baltimore City: Critical Area Management Program).

The state's Critical Area FAQ explains how that works for a homeowner. Most residential building permits don't go to the state Critical Area Commission and are handled locally. Commission staff do review and comment if the project needs a variance, special exception, or conditional use, or disturbs more than 5,000 square feet in a Resource Conservation Area. The same FAQ says any development on land that fronts a tidal waterway, a tidal wetland, or a stream, and any disturbance to the Buffer, requires a Buffer Management Plan approved by the local government, which is usually the planning office (Maryland Critical Area Commission: FAQs).

If your house is near the harbor or a tidal stream, ask Planning which classification your lot is in before the drawings are finished. The state FAQ says building in the Critical Area is subject to limits on lot coverage and clearing, so even a deck, a shed, or new paving is worth raising early.

The street and the sidewalk: Transportation permits

The building permit doesn't cover the public right-of-way. The Baltimore City Department of Transportation issues Temporary Use of Right of Way permits through its OpenGov system. Its list includes dumpsters, storage containers, scaffolds, sidewalk closures, moving trucks, curb repairs, driveway curb cuts, and street or utility cuts. The page gives a standard processing time of 15 days for all of those permit types and links a separate fee schedule (BCDOT: Right of Way Permits).

Anything that stays in the right-of-way long term goes through BCDOT's Minor Privilege section instead. That covers encroachments ranging from signs and outdoor seating to permanent structures such as underground vaults and bay windows (BCDOT: Minor Privilege). On a rowhouse, a bay window or a vault that reaches past the property line is a separate approval from the building permit.

In practice, file the dumpster or container request as soon as you have a start date. A 15-day standard turnaround is long enough to push back a demolition day if you wait until the building permit is in hand.

Last checked: October 2026.

Renting out a pre-1978 Baltimore house: Maryland lead registration

If the Baltimore rowhouse you're renovating was built before 1978 and you plan to rent it out, the building permit is only one piece. Maryland requires owners of rental homes built before 1978 to register them with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), renew every year, and hand over a valid lead inspection certificate every time a new tenant moves in, unless the property is certified lead-free (MDE: Lead Registration for Landlords).

MDE lists the specifics. The annual renewal is due by December 31, at $30 per unit. A change in ownership needs a new registration and tracking number, and the ownership records have to match state tax records exactly. MDE also says that Baltimore City has its own rental registration, with its own fees, on top of the state requirement, and that the state doesn't collect the city's fees for it.

Because a passing lead inspection certificate is needed at each tenant turnover, build that inspection into the renovation schedule instead of leaving it for move-in week. You can find inspectors and contractors from MDE's lists of accredited lead paint inspectors and abatement contractors, which are linked from the registration page. If you're selling instead, see the site's guide to selling a house with unpermitted work.

Official sources

Next steps for a Baltimore project

Still not sure the work needs a permit? Try do I need a building permit, in plain English or the permit checker. Other city guides are on building permits by city.

The general deck and shed rules are in our deck permit guide and shed size limits, and how much a building permit costs has fee comparisons. For a city lot, go by the DHCD and code numbers above.

PermitCove isn't the City of Baltimore or the Department of Housing and Community Development. We can't issue a permit, quote your fee, or tell you a set of plans will pass; for that, call the permits office at 443-984-1809.

Edited by Ahmed Khalifa, founder of PermitCove. Sources are linked inline; see our Editorial Policy.

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Written by PermitCove Editorial

We research every guide from public city, county, and state building-department pages and model codes, then translate them into plain-English checklists. We are not a government agency and this is not legal advice. How we research · Disclaimer · Report an error

Check locally: permit rules vary by city and county. Confirm requirements with your local building department (AHJ) before starting work.

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