Permits & licensing in Maryland.
Maryland permitting is county home rule: each of the 23 counties and Baltimore City runs its own permitting office, its own fee schedule, its own review queue. What passes in one county bounces in the next.
The office names do not rhyme either. Montgomery calls it Permitting Services, Anne Arundel calls it Inspections and Permits, Baltimore County calls it Permits, Approvals and Inspections, Carroll runs it as a bureau inside Public Works. The portals split the same way — Land Use Navigator in Anne Arundel, Citizen Access in Howard, e-Permits in Baltimore City.
The state layer is licensing rather than permits. The Maryland Home Improvement Commission registers residential contractors, and the county checks that registration when the permit is pulled.
- WSSC Water serves Montgomery and Prince George's counties; plumbing and gas permits and inspections run through WSSC, not the county permitting office.
- The Maryland Home Improvement Commission, inside the Maryland Department of Labor, registers residential contractors. Counties check MHIC status at permit time.
- Baltimore City is not inside Baltimore County. DHCD holds the city; PAI holds the county. Two governments, two files.
- Frederick County runs permitting as a division of Planning and Permitting; Charles County runs it as a division inside Planning and Growth Management. The department name tells you which desk holds the drawings.
Call and talk to a permit specialist — for your Maryland project.
Maryland, county by county.
Every shape is a door — select a county or city to open its page.
All 24 Maryland jurisdictions, A–Z
Call and talk to a permit specialist
(240) 344-5075Ten minutes on your project. You leave with the permits and licenses it needs, in order, with the clocks that run on each.