Baltimore City MD Property Records & Property Search (Free)
Baltimore City publishes more distress data than anywhere else in the region. Alongside the standard Maryland pair — SDAT for the assessment record, MDLandRec for deeds — the city puts out an open list of vacant building notices and a separate inventory of vacant lots, neither of which most jurisdictions publish at all. Here is the free route to each.
Official free sources for Baltimore City, MD property records
| What you need | Where to get it (official) |
|---|---|
| Owner, assessment, and sale history | SDAT Real Property Search (select Baltimore City) |
| Recorded deeds and liens | MDLandRec |
| Property tax bills and payments | Baltimore City Department of Finance |
| Annual tax sale (May) & delinquent list | bidbaltimore.com |
| Vacant building notices | Baltimore Housing (DHCD) · Open Baltimore |
| Vacant lot inventory and parcel maps | Open Baltimore GIS |
How Baltimore City identifies a parcel
Baltimore does not use a plain account number the way the surrounding counties do. Every parcel is keyed by a block and lot — 1605 010, 7567A013, 6436 005A. The block can carry a letter, and so can the lot. Carry the string exactly as published, spaces and letter suffixes included: dropping a suffix or trimming the padding silently points you at a different property, and in at least one case at two different properties.
Finding distressed properties in Baltimore City, MD
Baltimore is the deepest distress market in the region, and the reason is that it publishes what other jurisdictions keep internal. Three separate public records overlap here — the annual tax sale, open vacant building notices, and the vacant lot inventory — so a single parcel can carry more than one, which almost never happens in the Maryland suburbs or Northern Virginia. The city holds roughly 237,000 parcels; more than 31,000 of them carry at least one published distress signal, and several hundred carry two or more.
Watch the distinction between a vacant building and a vacant lot. A vacant building notice is an enforcement action against a standing structure. A vacant lot is land. They are different acquisitions, different rehab math, and different exit strategies — which is why they are kept as separate signals rather than pooled into one "vacant" number.
Every distress signal in Baltimore City, on one map
DMVDealFlow tracks tax-delinquency, vacancy, vacant-lot, blight, REO and foreclosure signals across 2 million parcels in Maryland, DC & Northern Virginia — compiled from the same public sources on this page, mapped to the parcel, refreshed as lists publish. Baltimore City has its own section in the jurisdiction picker.
See the live map →Frequently asked questions
How do I look up who owns a property in Baltimore City?
Use SDAT Real Property Search and select Baltimore City. It is free and returns the owner of record, mailing address, assessment, and last sale. Baltimore parcels are identified by a block and lot number (for example 1605 010), which is how city records key them.
Does Baltimore City publish a list of vacant buildings?
Yes — and it is unusual. The Department of Housing and Community Development issues Vacant Building Notices, and the open list of them is published through Open Baltimore. The city separately publishes an inventory of vacant lots, which is a different thing: land rather than an empty structure.
When is the Baltimore City tax sale?
Annually in May, by statute on the third Monday. The city runs it online through bidbaltimore.com, and the delinquent list publishes ahead of the sale. Buying a lien certificate is not buying the property — it starts a redemption clock.