Building permits, zoning and land rules in Queen Anne's County, Maryland

At a glance

Building permit

Required; the Planning & Zoning Building Official issues it under the county's adopted 2021-generation codes¹²³

Zoning

Yes, countywide, administered by the Department of Planning & Zoning⁴⁵

Septic

County-issued: Health Department Environmental Health, Sewer Program, under Maryland delegation⁶⁷

Well permit

Required statewide; the Health Department's Environmental Health division is the county's approving authority⁸⁷

Owner-builder

Maryland exempts an owner's own home-improvement work from the contractor-license rule, but not new-home construction; the county's own application of this is unconfirmed⁹¹⁰

Manufactured home (AG district)

A single-wide is allowed only to replace a legal existing unit, for temporary shelter, or as a farm's primary residence¹¹

Short-term rental

Permitted in every zoning district since January 11, 2025, with occupancy caps and an annual zoning certificate¹²

Floodplain

A permit is required; new construction in a flood zone must sit at least 2 feet above Base Flood Elevation¹³

Who to call

Contact details are copied from each office’s official page and were checked against it on September 25, 2026.

Do you need a building permit in Queen Anne's County, Maryland?

Yes. Queen Anne's County has adopted its own building, residential, mechanical, existing-building, energy, plumbing, electrical and fire codes, with the 2021 International codes effective May 1, 2024 and the 2023 National Electrical Code effective August 1, 2024². The Building Official, inside the Planning & Zoning Department's Permits, Licenses and Zoning Division, administers the building permit¹³. Maryland's general county-building-authority statute (Local Government Article §§ 13-901 and 13-902) does not apply to Queen Anne's County, which instead has its own separate county-specific building-code provisions¹⁴.

A final building inspection will not be approved without a passing duct-tightness test, and the owner is responsible for making sure every applicable final inspection is completed and approved before occupancy¹⁵. A Certificate of Occupancy from the Zoning Department is required and must be obtained by the owner after all final inspections and before occupying the building; without advance notice to the Zoning Department, allow 7 to 10 business days after the final inspection is requested¹⁶. Certain construction, like an above-ground fuel tank of 60 gallons or more, an electrical system, a fire alarm, a sprinkler system, or an LP-gas installation, needs its own separate permit from the Fire Marshal's office, on top of the building permit¹⁷¹⁸.

Who is the Queen Anne's County building department, and how do you reach them?

The Permits, Licenses and Zoning Division, at 110 Vincit Street, Suite 104 in Centreville, is open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; call 410-758-4088³. Since October 21, 2024, permit applications can be submitted, paid for, and tracked online through the county's Citizen Self Service Portal, in addition to the in-person option¹⁹³. The Planning line at the same address, 410-758-1255, handles zoning, subdivision, critical area and forest conservation questions on weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.⁵.

Inspections themselves are not done by county staff: Queen Anne's County contracts building, electrical, plumbing and HVAC inspections to the Middle Department Inspection Agency (MDIA), reached at 410-822-8300²⁰. Fire-related permits and inspections, including for fire alarms, sprinklers and fuel tanks, go through the Office of the Fire Marshal instead; call 410-758-4500, extension 1144, at least three working days ahead to schedule¹⁸.

Does Queen Anne's County have zoning?

Yes, countywide. The Department of Planning & Zoning administers the zoning ordinance along with subdivision, critical area and forest conservation regulations⁴⁵. The Zoning Ordinance is the part of the county code that regulates the physical development of land within each specific zoning district, so the rules that apply to a parcel depend on which district it sits in²¹. Forest Conservation Act updates took effect July 1, 2026, and applications received after that date must meet the new standards, so check with Planning & Zoning before assuming an older forest-conservation rule still applies⁵.

Minimum lot sizes are also district-specific: the county's own housing-strategy summary lists examples ranging from 4,000 square feet for a manufactured home to 15,000 or 20,000 square feet for a single-family cluster lot, and up to 20 acres for a large-lot standard, but these are illustrative and depend on the parcel's actual district²². In the Critical Area's Limited Development Area and Resource Conservation Area, lot coverage is capped at a limit set by the State of Maryland rather than the county²³. Major and minor subdivisions require engineered plans and may also trigger critical-area, forest-conservation, stormwater, adequate-public-facilities and septic review²⁴. Queen Anne's County's own zoning materials do not establish a general setback schedule or a building-height limit that applies countywide; ask Planning & Zoning for your specific district's numbers⁵.

How do septic and well permits work in Queen Anne's County?

The Queen Anne's County Health Department's Environmental Health division runs both programs: the Sewer Program evaluates and inspects new and existing sewage disposal systems and investigates illegal sewage disposal, and the Water Program inspects proposed well sites and new or replacement wells, tests water samples, and issues certificates of potability⁶⁷. The state has designated this office, QACHD, as the county's Approving Authority under both the sewage-disposal regulations (COMAR 26.04.02) and the well-construction regulations (COMAR 26.04.04)²⁵⁸. Reach Environmental Health at 206 N. Commerce St. in Centreville, 410-758-2281⁷.

Statewide, a septic permit is required before you may construct or alter an onsite sewage system, the permit is valid for no more than 2 years, and it can be denied if a safe water supply is unavailable²⁶. No part of the system may be covered or used until it passes inspection²⁷. A well construction permit is required for any well built in Maryland, and a Certificate of Potability is required before it can supply drinking water²⁸. If your parcel sits in one of the county's community sewer service areas (Kent Narrows/Stevensville/Grasonville, Cloverfields, Bay City or Prospect Bay), an interim individual system must be disconnected and hooked to the community system once that system becomes available²⁹.

Can you live in an RV or tiny home on your land in Queen Anne's County?

Queen Anne's County's official zoning, ordinance and manufactured-home materials do not directly address tiny-home occupancy, so this is unconfirmed; ask Planning & Zoning about your parcel before assuming a small dwelling qualifies⁵. The one manufactured-home rule that is confirmed is narrow: in the Agricultural (AG) zoning district, a single-wide manufactured home is allowed only as a replacement for a legal existing mobile home or single-wide home, to provide temporary shelter, or as a farm's primary single-family residence¹¹.

If you plan to rent the home out short-term instead of living in it full time, short-term residential rentals have been permitted in dwelling units in every zoning district since January 11, 2025, subject to conditions: the owner or manager must be within 25 miles and available during the stay, overnight occupants 18 or older are capped at up to 10 or 2 per bedroom (whichever is less) with public sewer and water, non-overnight guests must leave by 11:00 p.m., outdoor amplified music must stop by 8:00 p.m., and an annual zoning certificate plus a county inspection every 5 years is required¹².

Building a home in Queen Anne's County: the steps, in order

1. Confirm your parcel's zoning district and any critical area or forest conservation overlay with the Planning line at 410-758-1255 before you design⁵.
2. Contact Environmental Health at 410-758-2281 to start septic and, if needed, well approval; a well construction permit and a septic permit are both required before you build⁷²⁸.
3. If your parcel is in a flood zone, plan for construction at least 2 feet above Base Flood Elevation and budget for an Elevation Certificate from a Maryland licensed surveyor or engineer before occupancy³⁰.
4. Apply for any needed driveway permit through Planning & Zoning ($55 fee); disturbing over 5,000 square feet also needs Soil Conservation District sign-off at 410-758-1671³¹.
5. Submit your building permit application to the Permits, Licenses and Zoning Division, in person at 110 Vincit Street or online through the Citizen Self Service Portal³¹⁹.
6. If your project needs fire-related work (fire alarm, sprinkler, fuel tank, kitchen suppression), apply separately with the Fire Marshal's Office; these permits are not automatic with the building permit¹⁸¹⁷.
7. Schedule building, electrical, plumbing and HVAC inspections through MDIA at 410-822-8300, and Fire Marshal inspections at 410-758-4500 ext. 1144, at least three working days ahead²⁰¹⁸.
8. After every required inspection passes, including a duct-tightness test, get your Certificate of Occupancy from the Zoning Department; allow 7 to 10 business days unless you notified Zoning in advance¹⁵¹⁶.

What should you check before you buy land in Queen Anne's County?

Ask Environmental Health whether the parcel can support a septic system and whether it already has an approved well site, since both go through the same office before you can build⁷. Check whether the parcel sits in a mapped flood zone: all construction or fill in a floodplain needs a permit, and Queen Anne's County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program along with the rest of Maryland¹³³². If the parcel is in the Critical Area's Limited Development or Resource Conservation Area, expect a state-set lot-coverage limit on top of the county's other zoning rules²³.

Queen Anne's County is on Maryland's Eastern Shore: it gets about 44.6 inches of rain a year, sees severe drought in only 1.5% of years, and 99.1% of its land sits at 15% slope or less³³³⁴³⁵. That gentle, well-drained-sounding land comes with a catch for septic: the NRCS rates 0% of the county's soils free of severe limits for a conventional drain field, so budget for a site evaluation and likely an alternative or engineered system rather than assuming a standard drain field will work³⁶. The county is suburbanizing: population density is 141.3 people per square mile across 52,508 residents, and the nearest metro area is about 36 miles away³⁷³⁸³⁹. Farmland averages $8,163 an acre and the typical home value is $530,449; the median property tax bill is $3,503 a year at an effective rate of 0.8%, and a typical home insurance premium runs $1,571 a year^4041424344.

Watch-outs

• Forest Conservation Act updates took effect July 1, 2026, and new applications filed after that date must meet the new standards; confirm which version applies to your project with Planning & Zoning⁵.
• Queen Anne's County contracts its building, electrical, plumbing and HVAC inspections to Middle Department Inspection Agency (MDIA) at 410-822-8300, not county staff, and fire-related permits and inspections go through a separate Fire Marshal's office at 410-758-4500 ext. 1144²⁰¹⁸.
• Almost none of Queen Anne's County's soil rates free of severe limits for a conventional septic drain field (0% under the NRCS rating), even though 99.1% of the land is gentle, 15% slope or less; plan for a site evaluation and likely an alternative system³⁶³⁵.
• Short-term rentals have been allowed in every zoning district only since January 11, 2025, and require an annual zoning certificate plus a county inspection every 5 years; renting before getting that certificate is not permitted under the ordinance¹².
• Queen Anne's County's own materials do not establish a countywide setback schedule, building-height limit, agricultural exemption, off-grid sanitation rule, tiny-home rule, or a confirmed county-specific owner-builder exemption; treat all of these as unconfirmed and ask Planning & Zoning or Environmental Health directly⁵⁷.

Sources

1. Fire Marshal's Inspection Information (2026 county census)
2. Current Adopted Codes, quoted and re-checked
3. Queen Anne's County Planning & Zoning: Permits, Licenses and Zoning Division (qac.org)
4. Planning & Zoning | Queen Anne's County, MD - Official Website (2026 county census)
5. Queen Anne's County Department of Planning & Zoning (qac.org)
6. Maryland Department of Health Appeal Process (2026 county census)
7. Queen Anne's County Health Department, Environmental Health Division (health.maryland.gov)
8. Water Well Construction, quoted and re-checked
9. Maryland Business Regulation Article § 8-504 (2026 county census)
10. Maryland Business Regulation Article § 8-504 (Maryland statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
11. Queen Anne's County zoning code materials, quoted and re-checked
12. County Ordinance No. 24-09, quoted and re-checked
13. Building in a Flood Zone, quoted and re-checked
14. Maryland Code, Local Government Article, §§ 13-901 through 13-906 (Maryland statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
15. Residential Building Code Inspections Guidelines, quoted and re-checked
16. Residential Building Code Inspections Guidelines, quoted and re-checked
17. Fire Marshal's Inspection Information, quoted and re-checked
18. Queen Anne's County Emergency Services, Office of the Fire Marshal (qac.org)
19. Planning and Zoning Citizen Self Service Portal, quoted and re-checked
20. Middle Department Inspection Agency (MDIA), the county's contracted building/electrical/plumbing/HVAC inspector (qac.org)
21. FAQs | Queen Anne's County, MD - Official Website, quoted and re-checked
22. Queen Anne's County Housing Strategy, quoted and re-checked
23. Environmental Planning FAQs, quoted and re-checked
24. Planning & Zoning, quoted and re-checked
25. Maryland Department of Health Appeal Process, quoted and re-checked
26. COMAR 26.04.02.03 On-Site Sewage Disposal Permits (Maryland statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
27. COMAR 26.04.02.02 General Provisions (Maryland statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
28. Well Construction Permit, quoted and re-checked
29. Sanitary Construction Application, quoted and re-checked
30. Queen Anne's County Public Works, Engineering & General Services (Floodplain Information) (qac.org)
31. Queen Anne's County Planning & Zoning: Paved Driveway Permit (qac.org)
32. Floodplain Permitting in Maryland (Maryland statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
33. Annual precipitation: Bolthole Index county data
34. Share of years in severe drought: Bolthole Index county data
35. Share of land at 15% slope or less: Bolthole Index county data
36. Share of soils without severe limits for a conventional septic drain field (USDA SSURGO): Bolthole Index county data
37. Population density: Bolthole Index county data
38. County population: Bolthole Index county data
39. Distance to the nearest metro area: Bolthole Index county data
40. Farmland value per acre (USDA census): Bolthole Index county data
41. Typical home value (Zillow): Bolthole Index county data
42. Median property tax bill: Bolthole Index county data
43. Effective property tax rate: Bolthole Index county data
44. Typical home insurance premium: Bolthole Index county data

Written September 25, 2026 from the rules quoted below, each taken from an official source and re-checked by an independent reviewer. This is research, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the office before you buy or build.