By Gren · September 17, 2026
Maryland's wholesaling statute does not fine you. It does something worse: it hands the other side an exit.
Miss the seller disclosure and then assign the contract, and the owner can rescind — without penalty — any time before closing. Miss the assignee disclosure and your end buyer can walk and take the assignment deposit back with him. No cure period, no cap, no notice requirement on their side. The deal simply stops being a deal, whenever they decide.
That is Md. Code, Real Property §10-715, in force for contracts signed on or after October 1, 2025.
Who it actually covers
This is where most summaries get careless. They say Maryland now regulates "residential property contracts." The statute is narrower than that, and the narrowness matters both ways.
§10-715 applies where a wholesale buyer contracts with the owner of owner-occupied residential property in order to assign the contract for a fee. Residential property means four or fewer single-family dwelling units. Two conditions, not one: residential, and owner-occupied.
So a vacant house, a tenant-occupied rental, a five-unit building — outside §10-715 on its face. The statute also does not apply to sales under Maryland Rule 14-215, a judicial sale provision.
Do not celebrate. Disclose anyway on every deal, for two reasons. Occupancy is a fact you are taking on the seller's word, and if you guess wrong about it you have guessed wrong about whether the owner can cancel on you in week six. And the disclosure costs you a sentence.
The statute is prospective only. Contracts signed before October 1, 2025 are not covered.
The two disclosures
No prescribed wording. No font rule. Maryland tells you what to communicate and when, and leaves the drafting to you.
To the owner, before contracting — a written statement that you may assign the contract. Delivered before the owner signs, not tucked into the signing packet as an afterthought.
Model clause (seller): Buyer may assign this Contract to another person, who may pay Buyer an assignment fee. Seller acknowledges receiving this notice before signing.
To the assignee, before the assignment — a written statement that you hold an equitable interest and may not be able to convey title.
Model clause (assignee): Assignor does not own the Property. Assignor holds only an equitable interest under a contract of sale and may not be able to convey title to Assignee.
Both are in §10-715(c). Maryland also folded §10-715 into Real Prop. §14-117(e)(24), the list of disclosures residential contracts of sale must comply with — which is how it reaches the title and settlement side of the transaction.
Prove the timing, because timing is the whole case
The seller disclosure is only worth anything if you can show it landed before signature. Date it. Have the seller initial it. Keep it separately dated or initialed on or before the contract date, not buried in an undated packet.
Think about how the fight goes. The owner does not have to prove you concealed anything. Under §10-715(d) the rescission right turns on two facts: the disclosure was not given, and the contract was assigned. Both, not either. If you disclosed, there is nothing to argue about. If you disclosed and cannot prove it, you are arguing about a date with a homeowner who has since decided he sold too cheap.
Same shape on the buyer side. §10-715(e) lets the assignee rescind before closing and recover any deposit paid for the assignment if the assignee disclosure was missing.
Two more file points:
- Your assignment should transfer both the rights and the obligations under the contract, not just the upside.
- Close through a Maryland title company or attorney. Deeds are reported to require preparation by or under an attorney's supervision under Real Prop. §3-104(f) — our research has that from a secondary source and has not confirmed it, so confirm with your settlement agent rather than taking it from a blog.
There is no cooling-off period — and that is not good news
People read "rescission right" and translate it into "Maryland has a three-day cancellation window." It does not.
A cooling-off period is a window that closes. Maryland's rescission right has no window at all. If the disclosure was missing and you assigned, the owner's right to rescind runs until closing. That is not a three-day risk. That is a risk that sits on the deal for its entire life, right up to the table, and it is at its most valuable to the seller exactly when the market has moved.
The fix is a paragraph delivered before signature. There is no version of this where skipping it makes sense.
Licensing, and a claim worth retiring
Maryland imposes no wholesaler license, no registration, no transaction-count threshold. HB 124 / SB 160 created none, and an earlier licensing proposal, HB 301, did not pass.
You will read that "consistently advertising properties" triggers a licensing requirement in Maryland. That is not the statutory test. Bus. Occ. & Prof. §17-301 requires a license to provide brokerage services for another person. It is about whose interest you are acting on, not how many ads you ran.
The practical guidance is unchanged: advertise the assignable contract, state plainly that the assignor is not the owner, and stay off the MLS and off property-specific public listings that read as though you own the house. The Commission's historical attention has been on unlicensed people marketing property they do not own, which is precisely the behavior that makes you look like you are acting for the seller rather than for yourself.
The trap nobody mentions: distressed sellers
One omission runs through almost every Maryland wholesaling write-up. If your seller is 60 or more days behind on the mortgage, you may be in the Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act, Real Prop. §7-301 and following — an entirely separate regime with its own contract requirements and its own rescission rules, aimed squarely at people buying from homeowners in default.
§10-715 compliance does not get you out of PHIFA. If your acquisitions funnel is built on pre-foreclosure lists, get Maryland counsel on that before your next contract, not after.
Red flags in a Maryland file
- A seller disclosure dated after execution, or undated.
- No assignment language in the contract at all.
- A seller who is behind on the mortgage and a file with no PHIFA analysis.
- Public advertising of the property itself by an unlicensed wholesaler.
- An assignment that moves the rights and leaves the obligations behind.
The short version
Two written disclosures — one to the owner before signing, one to the assignee before the assignment. Owner-occupied residential, four units or fewer, contracts from October 1, 2025. No prescribed form, no font rule, no license, no registration. Miss a disclosure and the other side can walk any time before closing. Distressed sellers are a separate statute.
Run the numbers first with the free MAO calculator, then spend the sixty seconds it takes to make your deal uncancellable.
Cut the noise. Catch the signal.
— Gren
This is general information about Maryland law as of September 2026, not legal advice. Statutes change and facts differ. Before you rely on any of it for a specific deal, talk to a Maryland real estate attorney. Citations: Md. Code, Real Prop. §10-715 (HB 124 / SB 160, 2025); Real Prop. §14-117(e)(24); Real Prop. §7-301 et seq.; Md. Bus. Occ. & Prof. §17-301.