State attorney-general restitution · Open
Maryland Home Improvement Guaranty Fund
Maryland runs a state fund that reimburses homeowners for money lost to a licensed home improvement contractor whose work was unworkmanlike, inadequate, incomplete or abandoned. Unusually, no court judgment is needed first: the Home Improvement Commission investigates and decides the claim itself, and pays actual losses up to $30,000 per claimant, with $250,000 the most it will pay to everyone claiming against the same contractor. Homeowners who live in the property, or who own no more than three residences, may be eligible if they bring the claim within three years of discovering the loss; relatives and employees of the contractor are excluded, as are attorney's fees, court costs and work by an unlicensed contractor. Filing costs nothing: you start with a complaint to the Commission, and the investigator assigned to it provides the separate Guaranty Fund claim form.
Facts from the official materials
- Status
- Open
- Type
- State attorney-general restitution
- Category
- Housing
- Defendant / company
- Maryland Home Improvement Commission
- Administrator
- Maryland Home Improvement Commission, Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing
- Claim deadline
- See official notice
- States
- MD
- Proof
- See the official notice for proof rules
- Possible amount
- Up to about $30,000 (not guaranteed)
- Source confidence
- high
- Last verified
- October 17, 2026
Covered products and services
- Home improvement work performed by an MHIC-licensed contractor
- Home improvement contracts in Maryland
The award is the claimant's actual loss — the cost of restoring, repairing, replacing or completing the work — capped at $30,000 per claimant or the amount actually paid to that contractor, whichever is lower. The Commission will not pay more than $250,000 in total to all claimants against the same contractor, so a contractor with many claims can exhaust the fund. Consequential damages, attorney's fees and court costs are excluded, as is any work done by an unlicensed contractor. Amounts are estimates drawn from the Commission's own published rules and nothing is guaranteed.
Eligibility questions
These questions help you decide whether to read the official notice. They are not a legal determination.
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