Are Home Inspectors Licensed in Maryland?

A home inspector license issued by an appraisal commission

Maryland has no home inspectors' board. Home inspectors are licensed by the Commission of Real Estate Appraisers, Appraisal Management Companies and Home Inspectors, which sits in the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing at the Maryland Department of Labor. The governing statute, Title 16 of the Business Occupations and Professions Article, covers all three groups together.

The shared structure creates a specific verification trap. The public license query is a single portal returning appraisers, appraisal management companies and home inspectors. A name search in a state where one person may hold more than one credential can produce a record that looks like a match and is not the credential you need. Confirm the license type on the record itself, not merely the name on it.

The same caution applies to secondary sources. Guidance describing what "the Commission requires" may be describing appraiser requirements. The home inspector rules sit at COMAR Title 09, Subtitle 36.

Seventy-two hours, in a room, with no online option

An applicant must complete 72 hours of a Commission-approved home inspector training course delivered on site in a classroom. Maryland does not accept virtual delivery for prelicensing education. Applicants must also document a high school diploma, GED or higher credential.

The in-person requirement is a deliberate constraint at a time when most professional education has moved online, and it has a real effect on supply: a candidate must be physically present for an approved course on a provider's schedule rather than working through material at home. Continuing education is treated differently, as set out below.

The examination is the National Home Inspector Examination, and a score report verifying a passing result must accompany the application.

The apprenticeship stage Maryland removed

Maryland once imposed a work-experience requirement. It does not now. COMAR 09.36.02, the Work Experience Requirements chapter, has been repealed, and there is no longer an apprentice tier or a minimum number of supervised inspections standing between passing the examination and inspecting homes independently.

That is worth holding on to when reading older guidance, much of which still describes Maryland as an apprenticeship state. It also sharpens what the license actually certifies: classroom hours, a national examination, an insurance certificate and a clean application. Nobody in Maryland is required to have watched an experienced inspector work before doing the job alone.

So ask directly. How many inspections has this person performed, and how long have they been inspecting in this housing stock? That information is not embedded in the credential and cannot be inferred from it.

Maryland wrote its own standards of practice

Unlike states that adopt a national association's standards by reference, Maryland publishes Minimum Standards of Practice at COMAR 09.36.07 with a Code of Ethics at COMAR 09.36.06. Every licensee works to the same published scope, so the scope of a Maryland home inspection does not vary by individual.

That document determines what a home inspection here must include and what it may exclude, and it is the benchmark a complaint will be measured against. Complaints must be filed in writing on the Commission's own form.

Maryland mandates no report form, though, so two reports built to the same standard can look nothing alike. The standard governs what must be examined and reported, not how the resulting document is organized, illustrated or prioritized. A redacted sample report remains the quickest way to see that difference before you book.

Two dates already fixed in Maryland's rules

Licenses run two years from the effective date shown on the license. Continuing professional competency education under COMAR 09.36.08 requires 30 hours per renewal after the first renewal, of which up to 30% may be earned outside a classroom setting, with two hours devoted to report writing. Two dated items sit either side of that:

• January 1, 2027 — a separate two-hour standards of practice continuing education requirement takes effect.
• Five years after expiration — a license expired for more than five years cannot be reinstated at all. Below that threshold, a lapsed license is reinstated on completing 30 hours of continuing education.

The five-year point is a permanent bar rather than a penalty period. An inspector returning to the market after a long absence starts again as a new applicant, with the classroom hours and the examination in front of them. That makes a long gap in a licensee's history a fair thing to ask about.

Verifying the license, then looking past it

The Commission's public query searches active licensees by name, by city or ZIP code, or by license registration number. In a shared portal the registration number is much the cleanest search, so ask the inspector for theirs. Check the license type, the status and the expiration date on the record you pull.

Then consider what Maryland's floor leaves open.

• Insurance. The minimum is $150,000 of general liability, with the applicant's own name on the certificate of insurance. That is general liability rather than errors and omissions; the cover that answers for a missed defect is not required by the state, so ask whether it is carried and at what limit.
• Experience. No longer any part of licensure. Ask for the count and the years.
• Specialty services. Wood-destroying insect inspection, radon measurement and sewer scoping are separate engagements with separate qualifications.
• The agreement. Scope exclusions, liability caps and notice requirements are contractual, and they control everything the license is silent about.

A license is a floor, not a rating. Maryland's tells you the holder cleared a classroom requirement and a national examination and filed an insurance certificate. Nothing on this page is legal advice.

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