Haunted addresses on record in Maryland
What Maryland requires
Maryland law says a homicide, suicide, accidental or natural death, felony, or a property's reputation for being haunted is not a 'material fact' or latent defect a seller or agent has to volunteer. But if a buyer asks directly, Maryland's general fraud and misrepresentation rules mean the seller or agent can't lie about it.
Maryland has a dedicated statute on this: Real Property Article Section 2-120. It provides that it is not a material fact or latent defect relating to property offered for sale or lease that a homicide, suicide, accidental death, natural death, or felony occurred on the property. The statute shields an owner, seller, landlord, or their agent from civil liability or criminal penalty for failing to disclose those facts.
Maryland does not have a California-style death-disclosure window (no three-year lookback appears in the statute). The default is simply no duty to disclose, regardless of how recent or notorious the death was.
Maryland does not have a codified 'ask rule' written into Section 2-120 itself, but secondary legal sources consistently note that Maryland's general fraud and misrepresentation principles still apply on top of the disclosure statute: if a buyer asks a direct question ('did anyone die in this home?') and the seller or agent knowingly answers falsely, that can amount to misrepresentation. Silence or declining to answer is treated differently than an affirmative lie.
No Maryland court case comparable to New York's Stambovsky v. Ackley 'legally haunted house' ruling turned up in this research. There has also been legislative activity worth noting: at least one proposed bill sought to require disclosure of homicide, suicide, or accidental death and felonies on a property, opposed by the Maryland Association of Realtors, but the underlying non-disclosure rule in Section 2-120 remains current law.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and turn on details — for a real decision, talk to a licensed professional in Maryland.
The Maryland record is waiting
No entries filed from Maryland yet. If something happened at an address you know, write it down — you may be the reason the next resident feels less alone at 3 AM.