City of Bowie rental license: cost, inspection, renewal

Who needs a City of Bowie rental license

Every rental inside Bowie city limits needs one: single-family homes, townhomes, condos, basement apartments, in-law suites, group homes, and short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO. The city's program even covers arrangements where the owner still lives at the property and rents out part of it, so renting a basement to a Bowie State student puts you in the program too.

Here's the part that surprises new Bowie landlords: Prince George's County's DPIE rental licensing explicitly excludes properties inside the city. A county license does nothing for a rental with a Bowie address inside city limits. The city program is the only one that counts, and the city enforces it.

What it costs in 2026

Fees are set by the city's Rental Housing and Code Compliance office (301-809-3008) and renew every year. On top of the license fee there's a $50 application fee, which the city waives on renewals submitted before the current license expires. Miss the date and you pay the $50 again, so calendar the renewal like rent day.

How to apply, step by step

The process is simple if you start before the tenant moves in:

1. Submit the Rental License Application to the city's Rental Housing and Code Compliance office with the license and application fees.
2. The city issues a temporary certificate so the rental can operate while your inspection gets scheduled.
3. Pass the yearly inspection. An inspector checks the unit against the city property maintenance code; inspections run on weekdays and take about 30 minutes.
4. Fix any violations. Corrections trigger a re-inspection, and each additional inspection costs $50, so walk the unit yourself first: smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, GFCI outlets near water, handrails on stairs, and clear furnace and water heater access catch most people.
5. Receive the license, then renew before expiration each year to skip the application fee.

State rules the city license doesn't cover

The Bowie license only satisfies the city. Maryland adds its own layer on top. If the home was built before 1978, it must be registered with the Maryland Department of the Environment's lead rental registry, $75 per unit as of 2026, renewed every two years, and it must meet lead risk reduction standards at each turnover.

Lease terms have state rules too. Since October 2024 Maryland caps security deposits at one month's rent, and the deposit has to come back to the tenant within 45 days of move-out with interest, or with an itemized damage list. Our guide to the 45 day deposit rule, linked below, walks through that clock in detail.

How Bowie compares to nearby jurisdictions

Bowie's annual cycle is the strictest in our service area. Howard County, by comparison, licenses on a two year cycle through DILP, and most of Prince George's County outside the city runs through DPIE. If you own rentals in more than one of these, the renewal calendars won't line up, which is exactly the kind of bookkeeping that slips when you self-manage from a distance.

What happens if you skip the license

Beyond city code enforcement, an unlicensed rental in Maryland can cost you the courthouse. Where a license is required, courts can refuse to let an unlicensed landlord use rent court to collect unpaid rent or pursue eviction. The lease keeps looking valid right up until the day you need to enforce it.

At $120 a year, the license is the cheapest protection a Bowie landlord can buy. If we manage your property, it's included: we file the application, meet the inspector, handle corrections, and track the renewal so the $50 application fee never comes back.