Maryland's rent reporting law took effect on October 1, 2026. Landlords that own six or more rental units in the state must now offer tenants, in the written lease, the option to have their on-time rent payments reported to at least one credit bureau. For leases signed before October 1, the offer is due by January 1, 2027. The offer must be repeated at least once a year, and tenants can opt in or out.
Maryland is the only state that enacted a rent reporting requirement in the 2025 and 2026 sessions, by our review. Lawmakers in 14 other states filed 28 bills on the topic in those sessions; none had become law as of October 20, 2026. California has required many landlords to make a similar offer since 2025.
What the Maryland law requires
- Who is covered: landlords that own six or more residential rental units in Maryland.
- What they must offer: reporting of "positive rental payment history," meaning complete and on-time payments only. Late or missed payments are not part of this offer.
- When: at the time of the lease and at least once a year after. For leases that began before October 1, 2026, by January 1, 2027.
- Fees: a landlord may charge no more than the lesser of its actual cost or $10 a month. Paying or not paying the fee cannot be reported to a credit bureau, and the fee is not rent.
- Opting out: a tenant can stop reporting at any time but then must wait at least six months to sign up again.
- Details: Maryland's Secretary of Housing and Community Development is to adopt regulations, including the form of the offer.
The same law (Chapters 772 and 773 of 2026) also bars many landlords from refusing to rent to tenants because they pay with an income-based housing subsidy such as a voucher.
California's law
California Civil Code section 1954.07, added by AB 2747 in 2024, requires landlords to offer tenants positive rent reporting to at least one nationwide credit bureau. Offers were due by April 1, 2025 for existing leases and at signing for new leases, and yearly after that, with the same $10-a-month fee limit. Landlords of buildings with 15 or fewer units are exempt unless they own more than one rental building and are a corporation, a real estate investment trust or an LLC with a corporate member. Assisted housing developments are exempt from this section.
State bills in 2025 and 2026
| Jurisdiction | Bill | Status | Last action | What it does (our summary) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | HB315 | Enacted: Chapter 772, approved May 26, 2026; effective Oct 1, 2026 | 2026-05-26 | House version of the same law (cross-filed with SB 335). |
| Maryland | SB335 | Enacted: Chapter 773, approved May 26, 2026; effective Oct 1, 2026 | 2026-05-26 | Landlords that own six or more rental units in Maryland must include in written leases the option to have on-time rent reported to at least one consumer reporting agency; offer at signing and yearly; existing leases by Jan 1, 2027; fee capped at the lesser of cost or $10 a month. |
| Florida | H1355 | Did not pass | 2026-03-13 | Would have let landlords report rent payment history to credit bureaus only with the tenant’s written consent. |
| Florida | S1626 | Did not pass | 2026-03-13 | Senate version of HB 1355. |
| Illinois | SB3504 | Not enacted | 2026-06-01 | Would require landlords to offer tenants the option of having on-time rent reported to a nationwide consumer reporting agency. |
| Michigan | SB0795 | Not enacted | 2026-03-04 | Would require landlords to offer tenants the option of positive rent reporting to a nationwide consumer reporting agency. |
| Minnesota | HF2123 | Not enacted | 2025-03-10 | Would require landlords to offer an optional, free on-time rent reporting program, with state grants to landlords. |
| Minnesota | SF2807 | Not enacted | 2025-03-20 | Senate version of HF 2123. |
| Missouri | HB2090 | Not enacted | 2026-05-15 | Reintroduced version of HB 938 for 2026. |
| Missouri | HB938 | Did not pass (2025 session ended) | 2025-05-15 | Would require assisted housing developments of five or more units to offer positive rent reporting. |
| Nevada | AB68 | Did not pass | 2025-04-12 | Would have required landlords of larger buildings to offer positive rent reporting, with a fee capped at the lesser of cost or $10 a month. |
| New Hampshire | HB65 | Referred for interim study, Jan 7, 2026 | 2026-01-07 | Would direct landlords to offer tenants the option of reporting rent payments to consumer reporting agencies (carried over from 2025). |
| New Jersey | A2789 | Did not pass (2024-2025 session ended) | 2024-01-09 | Four-year state "Rent for Credit" pilot for subsidized units with volunteer landlords. |
| New Jersey | A3564 | Not enacted | 2026-01-13 | Reintroduced "Rent for Credit" pilot for 2026-2027. |
| New Jersey | S2746 | Not enacted | 2026-01-13 | Senate version of A 3564. |
| New Jersey | S767 | Did not pass (2024-2025 session ended) | 2024-01-09 | Senate version of A 2789. |
| New York | A02729 | Not enacted | 2026-05-20 | Would set rules for landlords that offer tenants rent reporting. |
| New York | A10287 | Not enacted | 2026-02-20 | Would require landlords to offer positive rent reporting (fee capped at $5 a month) and give it a preference in the state low-income housing tax credit program. |
| New York | S10477 | Not enacted | 2026-05-19 | Senate version of A 2729. |
| New York | S10478 | Not enacted | 2026-05-15 | Senate version of A 10287. |
| North Carolina | H404 | Not enacted | 2025-03-17 | Broad housing bill that includes a rent-reporting offer by participating landlords, with a fee limit and opt-out rules. |
| Pennsylvania | HB2597 | Not enacted | 2026-06-04 | Would require landlords with 15 or more units to set up an opt-in rent reporting program and give tenants notice in the lease. |
| Pennsylvania | SB1364 | Not enacted | 2026-06-05 | Senate version of HB 2597. |
| Utah | SB0076 | Did not pass | 2026-03-06 | Would have let owners offer rent reporting at lease signing, with a fee limited to actual cost. |
| Utah | SB0187 | Did not pass | 2026-03-06 | Would have required housing authorities to offer rent reporting at lease signing and yearly. |
| Vermont | H0772 | Passed House; Senate refused third reading | 2026-05-27 | Broad rental bill that includes a positive rent reporting pilot run by the State Treasurer. |
| Vermont | S0305 | Not enacted | 2026-01-23 | Housing and land-use bill that includes the same rent reporting pilot. |
| Vermont | S0309 | Not enacted | 2026-01-27 | Senate rental bill that includes the same rent reporting pilot. |
| Wisconsin | AB1057 | Did not pass | 2026-03-23 | Would have required landlords to offer positive rent reporting each year. |
| Wisconsin | SB1058 | Did not pass | 2026-03-23 | Senate version of AB 1057. |
Status as of October 20, 2026, from LegiScan; "not enacted" means no final passage was recorded and includes bills in sessions that have ended. Summaries are ours, based on the latest bill text. New Hampshire HB 65 appears once although LegiScan lists it in both its 2025 and 2026 sessions.
Federal law and related bills
| Jurisdiction | Bill | Status | Last action | What it does (our summary) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congress | HB6644 | Enacted: Public Law 119-101 | 2026-07-11 | Housing law; lets a new group of public housing agencies in HUD's Moving to Work program consider reporting tenants' on-time rent to credit bureaus, with consent. |
| Congress | HB9380 | Not enacted | 2026-06-18 | Would let consumers ask lenders to consider data they share, such as rent payments in bank records. |
| Colorado | HB1196 | Enacted without rent reporting | 2026-06-02 | As introduced, would have required covered landlords to offer positive rent reporting. The rent-reporting section was removed before final passage; the law, effective Jan 1, 2027, covers tenant screening notices and redaction in eviction filings. |
| Massachusetts | H4761 | Enacted: Chapter 73 of the Acts of 2025 | 2025-11-25 | Spending law with a provision that bars late fees and reports of missed rent to credit bureaus for federal workers affected by a government shutdown who give notice within 30 days. |
What changed in our count
A keyword search of 2025 and 2026 bills returned 42 records in 18 states and Congress. After reading each bill's text, we kept 31 state records (30 bills in 15 states, counting New Hampshire's carried-over HB 65 once) that would require, allow or set rules for reporting rent to credit bureaus, plus two federal bills and two related state laws. We moved Colorado's HB 26-1196 out of the list of rent reporting laws: its introduced version had a rent reporting requirement, but that section was taken out before the bill passed. We dropped seven records that were not about rent reporting, including tenant-screening and credit-score bills in Massachusetts and New Jersey and Ohio's state budget.
Why it matters
Rent is often a person's largest monthly bill, but on-time rent usually does not show up on credit reports unless a landlord or a rent-reporting service sends it. For people with thin credit files, adding a record of on-time payments can help them get a credit score or improve one. Whether it helps depends on which bureaus receive the data and which scoring model a lender uses; some older scoring models do not count rent data.
What you can do
- If you rent in Maryland from a landlord with six or more units, look for the rent reporting offer in your lease or in a notice by January 1, 2027. It is your choice whether to accept.
- Ask which credit bureaus will get the data and whether there is a fee. A report to all three nationwide bureaus reaches more lenders.
- Check your credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com a few months after you enroll to make sure the payments appear correctly. You can dispute errors with the bureau.
- If your landlord does not offer reporting, some rent-reporting services will report for a fee. Compare costs, and whether they report late payments too, before you sign up.
Official bill pages
- Colorado HB1196: official bill page
- Congress HB6644: official bill page
- Congress HB9380: official bill page
- Florida H1355: official bill page
- Florida S1626: official bill page
- Illinois SB3504: official bill page
- Maryland HB315: official bill page
- Maryland SB335: official bill page
- Massachusetts H4761: official bill page
- Michigan SB0795: official bill page
- Minnesota HF2123: official bill page
- Minnesota SF2807: official bill page
- Missouri HB2090: official bill page
- Missouri HB938: official bill page
- Nevada AB68: official bill page
- New Hampshire HB65: official bill page
- New Jersey A2789: official bill page
- New Jersey A3564: official bill page
- New Jersey S2746: official bill page
- New Jersey S767: official bill page
- New York A02729: official bill page
- New York A10287: official bill page
- New York S10477: official bill page
- New York S10478: official bill page
- North Carolina H404: official bill page
- Pennsylvania HB2597: official bill page
- Pennsylvania SB1364: official bill page
- Utah SB0076: official bill page
- Utah SB0187: official bill page
- Vermont H0772: official bill page
- Vermont S0305: official bill page
- Vermont S0309: official bill page
- Wisconsin AB1057: official bill page
- Wisconsin SB1058: official bill page
Source
Bill status and texts: LegiScan (data licensed under CC BY 4.0, LegiScan LLC), search of 2025 and 2026 sessions, retrieved October 20, 2026, with each bill's latest text read by us. Maryland law: Chapters 772 and 773 of 2026 (HB 315 and SB 335). California: Civil Code section 1954.07 (AB 2747, Stats. 2024, ch. 279). Bill texts are public records. Our table is available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Rent Reporting Laws and Bills by State," My Credit Guide, October 20, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/rent-reporting-laws/.