Prince George's County, and the addendum everyone forgets
A county addendum required on every residential contract, a seller disclosure set that is state plus county, and a rental license check that catches out-of-county agents.
Prince George's County has one requirement that is genuinely different from its neighbours, and it is the kind that produces a complete-looking file with a hole in it.
The addendum
The PG County addendum is required on all residential contracts. Not conditionally. Not on some property types. All of them.
That matters more than it sounds, because the failure is silent. A coordinator working from a generic Maryland checklist assembles a file where every item is present and correct, and the addendum is not on the list to be missing from. Nothing flags it. The file looks finished.
If you take one thing from this: county plus transaction type has to be established before the checklist is built, because the checklist is a function of both.
The disclosure set is state plus county
The second difference is in the same family. The pack expects PG County seller's disclosure, meaning Maryland forms plus PG forms. Not the Maryland set alone.
This is a difference in kind rather than degree, and it is the item most often gotten wrong by coordinators who are otherwise expert in Maryland files. Competence in Montgomery County does not transfer cleanly.
The rest of the offer side
- Buyer representation agreement
- Lead paint disclosure on pre-1978 homes
- Buyer pre-approval or proof of funds, agent-visible
- EMD wire instructions, agent-visible
The wire instructions being an explicit item is worth noting. Earnest money wire fraud is a real and recurring loss, and treating the instructions as a tracked deliverable rather than an email attachment is part of why.
The dangerous requirement is not the hard one. It is the one that is absent from the list you are checking against.
New listings, and the check that catches people
For a new listing the pack expects the PG County seller's disclosure set, the Bright MLS input form, at least twenty-five property photos, a signed listing agreement, and a rental license check.
The rental license check is the one that catches agents from other counties. Nothing about the property announces that the check is needed, and there is no equivalent step in the counties next door, so it is not a thing an experienced agent's instinct will surface.
Contract to close
Four items:
- PG County transfer and recordation tax, tracked to closing
- Title search ordered
- Home inspection contingency tracking, agent-visible
- HOA resale certificate where an association is involved
Note that the transfer tax item here is transfer and recordation, which is a different calculation from the Montgomery County transfer tax line. If your settlement statement reconciliation is a template, it needs to know which county it is reconciling.
Day one on a PG file
- Confirm the county before anything else, because the addendum requirement follows from it
- Build the disclosure set as Maryland plus PG, not Maryland
- Order the resale certificate if an association is involved
- Open title
- On listings, run the rental license check early rather than at the point of contract
A note on scope
These are the requirements our Prince George's County rule pack actually carries. Forms, taxes and disclosure timing change, and they should be verified with counsel for your jurisdiction. A working map of the file, not legal advice.