A buyer under contract on a unit in Downtown Silver Spring used to open the resale package and mostly see paperwork: bylaws, meeting minutes, a budget that looked reasonable enough on its face. If the association's reserve fund was thin, that fact tended to stay buried until a special assessment notice showed up in a mailbox two years after closing.
That is no longer quite true. Maryland's condominium law now requires boards to compare, in writing, what they are actually depositing into reserves against what a professional reserve study says they should be depositing. That comparison lands in the annual disclosures owners receive, and it flows into the resale package a buyer reviews before closing. The gap between "collecting" and "should be collecting" is no longer something a board can quietly manage. It is a number on a page.
What actually changed, and when
Maryland's reserve study requirement did not start as a statewide rule. For years it applied only in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, where local law required condominiums, HOAs, and co-ops to get an independent reserve study and update it every five years. House Bill 107 took that county-level rule and extended it statewide starting in 2022, and the statute spells out a specific timeline for condominiums that already existed in Montgomery County before October 1, 2021: if the association had a reserve study done on or after October 1, 2017, it needed an update within five years of that study; if it had not, it needed a first study completed by October 1, 2022, with updates every five years after.
That was step one. Step two came in 2025, when Maryland went beyond simply requiring a study to exist. Property management firm FirstService Residential summarizes the change directly: boards must now adopt a funding plan and make the required annual deposits, with five fiscal years to reach the study's recommended funding level, and resale contracts must include written notice explaining that obligation to buyers.
In plain terms, a board can no longer file a reserve study away and quietly underfund the account it describes. The law now expects the money to follow the math, on a clock, with the shortfall disclosed along the way.
The reserve study used to be a document a board could commission and shelve. Now it drives a funding plan that shows up in the numbers owners see every year.
Why this lands hardest on Downtown Silver Spring's 2003 to 2006 buildings
The timing matters most for buildings old enough to be hitting their second or third reserve-study cycle right now, and Downtown Silver Spring has a well-documented cluster of exactly that vintage. Five condo projects delivered during the area's condo boom between 2003 and 2006: The Aurora, The Crescent, The Silverton, 8045 Newell Street, and Mica Condominiums, according to UrbanTurf's coverage of that development wave. Mica stands apart from the others in that report because it was originally built as apartments in the 1970s and converted to condos in 2006, which means its shared systems (roofs, elevators, mechanical infrastructure) are older than the conversion date suggests.
Run the statutory clock against that list. If any of these buildings needed their first mandatory reserve study by the October 1, 2022 deadline, the next required update falls around October 1, 2027, putting several of them squarely inside the window where boards are now supposed to be years into a funding plan, not just starting one. That is the moment a shortfall that used to be invisible becomes a number a board has to write down and a buyer gets to read.
None of this means any specific building in that group currently has a funding gap. It means the legal mechanism that would surface a gap, if one exists, is now active for buildings of exactly this age, in exactly this part of Silver Spring.
What actually shows up in your resale package now
Maryland's resale package rules for condominiums have not changed on the timing side. Attorneys who handle these transactions consistently describe the same mechanics: the seller must deliver the resale package to the buyer at least 15 days before closing, and the buyer has 7 days from receipt to cancel the contract without penalty, as outlined by Stewart Sutton's overview of Maryland Real Property Code section 11-135. What has changed is the content inside that package. Beyond the declaration, bylaws, and rules, buyers are now entitled to a reserve study summary and a real answer to how the association's actual funding compares to what the study recommends.
The cost of the package itself is capped by statute, a protection that traces back to a 2016 update discussed by Thomas Schild Law Group, which notes the association may charge up to $250 for the disclosure certificate and documents, with limited add-ons of up to $100 for a rush request and up to $100 for a unit inspection. No later amendment has repealed that cap, so it remains the ceiling a seller should expect to pay.
If you're buying into one of these buildings
Ask for the reserve study and the funding comparison before you are inside your rescission window, not during it. Specific questions worth putting to the listing agent or property manager directly:
- When was the last reserve study completed, and is the association inside its five-year update cycle or coming up on the end of one?
- What does the most recent annual disclosure show for actual reserve contributions versus the study's recommended amount?
- Has the board adopted a funding plan, and if there is a gap, what is the timeline to close it?
- Is there a pending or recently completed special assessment tied to a funding shortfall?
A funding gap does not automatically mean walk away. It means you now have real numbers to negotiate with, whether that is a price adjustment, a seller credit, or simply going in with clear eyes about what your monthly costs could look like in three years.
If you're selling in one of these buildings
Order the resale package the moment you sign a listing agreement. The reserve study and funding disclosure are financial documents that reflect a point in time, and a stale one can create the same rescission risk a slow one does. If your building's board has not yet adopted the funding plan the 2025 amendments require, get ahead of that conversation with buyers rather than letting it surface as a surprise seven days before your closing date.
This is also where staging and marketing dollars matter less than paperwork discipline. A buyer who receives a clean, current resale package with a fully funded reserve and a documented plan is far less likely to use those seven days to renegotiate. If your building's numbers need context, The Foley Group of Go Brent Realty can help you get that story straight before it ever reaches a buyer's inbox, and walk through whether Compass Concierge makes sense for any pre-list work that touches shared systems.
FAQ
Does this reserve-funding rule apply to townhomes in an HOA, or only high-rise condos? It applies to HOAs as well, not just condominium associations, though HOAs with minimal common-area obligations under a $10,000 threshold can fall outside the requirement. Most Silver Spring condo and townhome associations with shared amenities or structures are covered.
Can a board get out of fully funding the reserve if it would create real hardship for owners? Maryland law includes a hardship exception, but it requires the board to document the hardship, describe an alternative plan, and disclose the risks of underfunding to owners in writing rather than simply skipping the requirement quietly.
If I am selling and my building's reserves look strong, does any of this affect me? Less directly, but the annual disclosure still becomes part of your resale package, and a buyer's lender may look at it during condo project approval. A well-funded reserve is one less thing for either side to negotiate over.
If you are weighing a purchase or a listing in one of Silver Spring's condo buildings and want a clear read on what the numbers actually say, get your free home valuation or reach out to The Foley Group directly. We will help you read the resale package the way it is meant to be read, before it reads you.
