Pursuant to Code 29-51 of the Montgomery County Code on Rental Housing, all landlords must complete the County’s Annual Rental Housing Survey.   The survey seeks to collect information on facility services, amenities, rental rates, utility costs, vacancies, turnover rates, and other pertinent information.  DHCA collects the data to measure the County’s rental market, which also helps inform County housing strategies, policies, and programs.  
Landlords and property managers of multifamily and single-unit rentals who do not comply with the annual rental survey may be subject to a civil citation and/or fine.   The survey is open from April 1, 2026, to  April 30, 2026.

Failure to comply with the law will result in a civil penalty of not exceeding $1, 000 for each violation.

Properties located within the incorporated municipalities of the City of Gaithersburg, the City of Rockville, the City of Takoma Park, the Town of Barnesville, and the Town of Laytonsville are not required to submit the survey.

Owners and property managers may contact DHCA at 240-777-0311 to place a service request for assistance completing this mandatory survey. Please allow enough time to complete the survey by the April 30 deadline. The Single Unit Survey Form (PDF) is available if you can't submit the survey online. Please email your completed survey to [email protected].  We appreciate your prompt action in completing the survey. Thank you for your continued partnership.

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The Annual Rental Housing Survey (“Survey”) collects information from all rental property owners on the characteristics and rents of their rental housing units. The Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) also launched the Housing Portal (“Portal”) in September 2024. The Portal is being developed to make it easier to interact with DHCA across a variety of housing programs.

To reduce redundancy in DHCA’s requests for information from landlords, DHCA will integrate the Survey into the Portal in future years. In preparation for this transition, DHCA has updated the 2026 Survey to ensure consistency with the Portal and enable data integration.

Once all 2026 survey responses have been collected, all data received for the 2026 Annual Rental Housing Survey will be uploaded into the Portal and will serve as a starting point for future years' survey responses. DHCA will notify rental property owners once this upload is complete. DHCA will also provide ongoing updates and communication regarding the Portal’s development, including detailed instructional guides.

For 2026, if you have already entered lease information into the Portal, you must still complete the 2026 Annual Rental Housing Survey.  This information is required for full conversion to the Housing Portal. In the future, you will not be asked to submit this information in multiple places.

To complete the 2026 Annual Rental Housing Survey by the April 30 deadline, the following information will be helpful to have on hand:

• The survey will request information from July 23, 2024, to the present for all single-family and multifamily units related to:
  • Rent Stabilization exemption status (if any)
  • Air conditioning availability at the property
  • Information about active leases during this time period, including:
    • ​lease terms;
    • whether the lease was a new tenant or a renewal;
    • rent amount;
    • fees charged to tenants, including pet fees, deposits, and parking fees; and
    • the date each tenant signed the criminal history and credit screening lease addendum.

Information from previous years is required to complete the survey.

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Frequently Asked Questions:

(Updated March 10, 2026)

1. Do landlords of  all single-family and multifamily rental properties have to fill out the 2026 Annual Rental Housing Survey?   Yes.
2. Am I required to provide rental housing data retroactively? Yes, you are required to submit lease information from July 23, 2024, to present, for the indicated fields.
3. Why is DHCA conducting this survey and collecting rental housing data? Pursuant to Code  29-51 of the Montgomery County Code on Rental Housing, the DHCA is required to collect rental data from all rental property owners.
4. What happens if I do not complete the survey? Because the Annual Rental Housing Survey is required by law, failing to complete it may result in fines and denial of your license renewal.
5. If I previously provided this information on the 2024 or 2025 survey, can I skip the question? No, all required and applicable fields must be completed for each year.
6. I have already registered in the Housing Portal and provided all the information for the previous and current years. Do I still need to enter it again? Yes, even if your information is already in the Portal, you must re-enter it as part of the new Annual Rental Housing Survey submission.
7. If the lease term ends after the survey is submitted, how should the updated lease terms be recorded?  If a lease term ends after you submit the survey, you must enter the new lease information directly in the Housing Portal.
8. Do I have to update whenever there is a new lease or tenant, each time there is a turnover? Yes, the rental data must be maintained and up to date in the Portal.
9. Why do you require rental housing data starting on July 23, 2024? The Rent Stabilization Program was effective July 23, 2024, and to properly determine the maximum rent a rent-stabilized unit can charge, the rent as of that date must be recorded.
10. Will I be required to complete the 2026 Annual Rental Housing Survey  and update the Housing Portal?  For 2026, you are required to complete the 2026 Annual Rental Housing Survey. Once all survey responses have been received, DHCA will upload the data to the Housing Portal for you. In future years, the survey will be conducted within the Housing Portal, and your 2026 responses will serve as a starting point. Once that transition is complete, you will be able to update the information in the Housing Portal.
11. If I need help or have questions, who should I contact? If you have questions, please place a service request for the DHCA Office of Rent Stabilization through  MC311 at 3-1-1 or (240) 777-0311.