Window Guards in Multifamily Buildings
Beginning January 1, 2022 in Montgomery County, Maryland, landlords of any multifamily rental housing unit (including condominium units used as rental units) must provide, in good working order, a physical barrier or limiting device attached to a window to prevent occupants from falling out of the window (a “window guard”) if a rental unit is occupied by a child ten years of age or younger, or if a tenant requests the installation of the window guard.
All window fall protection devices must comply with building and fire safety codes. As per Montgomery County’s adopted National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life Safety Code, certain emergency escape windows in multifamily buildings must have window fall protection devices that have an ASTM F2090 compliant emergency release mechanism. For more information, please see our multifamily building window guard flyer below…
Landlords will be required to notify tenants about the window guard requirements in writing, using the:
- DHCA Window Guard Lease Addendum
አማርኛ (Amharic) • • Français (French) • 한국어 (Korean) • 中文 (Mandarin) • Español (Spanish) • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) ; and the - 2022 Lease Summary
አማርኛ (Amharic) • English • Français (French) • 한국어 (Korean) • 中文 (Mandarin) • Español (Spanish) • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
All current tenants must be notified about the new law via a window guard lease addendum by February 1, 2022.
Under Bill 51-20 - Landlord-Tenant Relations - Window Guards, a window guard must be installed and maintained in each window of a habitable room if:
- a child of age 10 or younger occupies the dwelling unit; or
- a tenant of the dwelling unit requests in writing the installation of a window guard.
Multifamily Building Window Guard Flyer
11-21 Executive Regulation requirements for Window Guards