Montgomery County RV, Trailer & Commercial Vehicle Parking Laws

Under Montgomery County Code Sec. 31-14, households may park one recreational vehicle off-street on a surfaced area; heavy commercial vehicles  those over 10,000 lbs GVW, over one ton rated capacity, longer than 21 feet, or taller than 8 feet are banned from residential off-street parking entirely; and RVs and utility trailers cannot be parked on public roads beyond 18 hours for active loading (or 48 hours for an involuntary breakdown). Violations carry fines up to $500. If your vehicle or trailer doesn’t fit those limits, a secured yard like Pulse Offices at 9426 Stewartown Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 is the compliant place to keep it.

This is the plain-English reference: every key rule in Sec. 31-14, what the definitions actually mean, how on-street and off-street rules differ, what enforcement looks like, and your compliant alternatives.

• One recreational vehicle per household may be parked off-street on a surfaced area.

• Heavy commercial vehicles (over 10,000 lbs, one ton, 21 ft, or 8 ft) are banned from residential off-street parking.

• On-street RV/trailer parking is limited to 18 hours (loading) or 48 hours (breakdown); fines reach $500, often after a correction window.

What Sec. 31-14 Is — and Why It Exists

Section 31-14 of the Montgomery County Code is the county’s framework for regulating where recreational vehicles, utility trailers, and commercial vehicles can be parked in residential settings. Its purpose is to keep neighborhood streets passable and residential areas from becoming de facto parking lots for oversized rigs and work fleets.

The law works on two axes at once: what the vehicle is (an RV, a utility trailer, or a heavy commercial vehicle, each treated differently) and where it’s parked (off-street on your own surfaced property, versus on a public roadway).

Getting compliant means satisfying both axes — a vehicle that’s allowed off-street may still be barred from the street, and vice versa. One thing Sec. 31-14 does not do is override your HOA. County code is the floor; a homeowners association covenant can be stricter, and many in Montgomery County are. Both apply simultaneously, and the stricter rule wins. So treat this guide as the county layer of the answer — always check your covenant for the second layer.

Recreational Vehicles: The One-RV Rule

For recreational vehicles — motorhomes, travel trailers, campers, pop-ups, fifth-wheels — the core off-street rule is simple: a household may keep one RV parked off-street, and it must be on a surfaced area.

Two details matter. First, “one” is a hard count. A second RV (or an RV plus another item the code treats similarly) exceeds the allowance for at-home parking, even if your lot has room. Second, “surfaced area” means an improved, stabilized surface — a driveway or comparable paved or stabilized pad — not your lawn, a grass strip, or bare dirt. Parking on an unsurfaced area is its own violation even if you only have one RV.

If you clear both tests — one RV, on a surfaced area — and no HOA covenant says otherwise, the county generally allows home parking. Owners with a second RV, no qualifying surface, or a restrictive covenant need an off-site solution.

Heavy Commercial Vehicles: Banned From Residential Off-Street Parking

This is the rule that catches the most contractors and owner-operators off guard. Sec. 31-14 prohibits heavy commercial vehicles from off-street residential parking entirely — there’s no “one allowed” allowance the way there is for RVs.

A heavy commercial vehicle is defined by any one of these thresholds:

Threshold	Heavy commercial if…
Weight (GVW)	Over 10,000 lbs gross vehicle weight
Rated capacity	Over one ton
Length	Longer than 21 feet
Height	Taller than 8 feet

Hitting any one of these makes the vehicle “heavy commercial” — they’re not cumulative requirements. That definition sweeps in a huge share of working vehicles: many full-size contractor trucks, box trucks, loaded equipment trailers, dump trucks, and larger work vans. If your work vehicle trips even one threshold, it cannot be parked off-street in a residential neighborhood under county code — not in your driveway, not on your pad.

For tradespeople and small fleet owners, this is the rule that forces the question of where the truck actually lives. The answer is a compliant commercial-vehicle yard.

On-Street Rules: 18 Hours, 48 Hours, and No Long-Term Parking

The street is not a storage option. For RVs and utility trailers, Sec. 31-14 prohibits parking on a public roadway except in two narrow windows:

• Up to 18 hours for active loading and unloading.

• Up to 48 hours for an involuntary breakdown.

Outside those windows, parking an RV or utility trailer on a public road is a violation. The 18-hour loading allowance is exactly that — a window to pack or unpack around a trip — not a renewable permit to keep the rig near the house. Heavy commercial vehicles face their own restrictions on residential streets as well; the through-line is that public roadways aren’t a place to store any of these vehicles long-term.

In denser Gaithersburg-area neighborhoods, on-street violations are especially likely to draw a neighbor complaint, which is what typically triggers enforcement in the first place.

Fines and the Enforcement Window

Violations of Sec. 31-14 carry fines of up to $500. In practice, enforcement is generally complaint-driven and may follow a correction window — you receive a notice identifying the violation and a period to fix it before a fine is issued.

That correction window is genuine breathing room, but it’s not a loophole. It assumes you have somewhere compliant to move the vehicle. If you don’t, the notice just resets the problem — the truck or RV comes back, the complaint comes back, and eventually the fine follows. The durable fix is to have a compliant home for the vehicle lined up before, or immediately after, the first notice.

Rules at a Glance

Vehicle type	Off-street (your property)	On-street (public road)
Recreational vehicle	One allowed, on a surfaced area	18 hrs loading / 48 hrs breakdown only
Utility trailer	Restricted by size/surface	18 hrs loading / 48 hrs breakdown only
Heavy commercial vehicle	Banned in residential areas	Restricted

Remember: this is the county layer only. An HOA covenant can prohibit more, and where it does, the covenant controls. Fines for county violations reach $500, typically after a correction window.

Your Compliant Alternatives

If your situation fails any of these tests — a second RV, a heavy commercial vehicle, a trailer with no compliant surface, or a covenant that bans it all — the compliant answer is off-site storage. A dedicated yard takes the vehicle out of the residential setting entirely, so neither the county code nor an HOA covenant governs where it sits.

Pulse Offices’ Gaithersburg yard is built for exactly this: gated, fenced, surfaced, lit, and rented month-to-month, with practical access hours for early-start crews. It accommodates RVs, utility and enclosed trailers, work trucks, and heavy commercial vehicles that can’t legally sit in a driveway. For the deeper dive on commercial-vehicle specifics, see our Gaithersburg commercial vehicle parking guide; for trailers, see the Gaithersburg trailer storage guide.

Common Ways People Get Caught Off Guard

Most Sec. 31-14 violations aren’t acts of defiance — they’re honest misreadings of the rules. A few patterns come up again and again, and knowing them helps you avoid an avoidable citation.

The first is treating the 18-hour loading window as a renewable permit. Owners park the RV at the curb, move it briefly, and assume the clock resets so they can keep it near the house indefinitely. It doesn’t work that way — the allowance is for genuine loading and unloading around a trip, not a standing reservation of public road space. Persistent on-street parking is exactly what neighbors notice and report.

The second is assuming a work truck is fine because it’s “just a pickup.” The heavy-commercial definition is triggered by any single threshold, and height (over 8 feet) or length (over 21 feet) catches many trucks that owners think of as ordinary. A truck with a tall service body, a rack, or a loaded bed can cross a threshold without weighing anywhere near 10,000 pounds. The vehicle’s everyday appearance isn’t the test — the measurements are.

The third is forgetting the surface requirement. Even a single, otherwise-permitted RV becomes a violation if it’s parked on grass, gravel, or dirt rather than an improved, stabilized surface. Owners with no room left on the driveway sometimes drift onto the lawn and assume it’s a gray area; under the code, it isn’t.

The fourth, and most consequential, is checking the county rule but never reading the HOA covenant. An owner confirms the county allows one RV, parks it proudly in the driveway, and then receives a covenant violation notice anyway — because the HOA layer, which they never checked, prohibits it. The county answer is only ever half the picture in a covenant-controlled community.

What It Costs to Stay Compliant

Directional pricing in this market: outdoor vehicle spaces generally run about $100 per month and up, and RV spaces about $100 per month and up, depending on size and whether the space is covered. Heavy commercial vehicles and larger rigs sit toward the upper end. Against a $500 fine — potentially repeated — plus the time lost to enforcement back-and-forth, a fixed monthly space is the cheaper and far less stressful path. Month-to-month terms mean no long lease for a seasonal RV or a between-jobs work truck.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many RVs can I park at my home in Montgomery County? One. Sec. 31-14 allows a household to park one recreational vehicle off-street, and it must be on a surfaced area such as a driveway. A second RV exceeds the county allowance and needs off-site storage. Note that an HOA covenant may prohibit even one.

What counts as a “heavy commercial vehicle”? Any vehicle over 10,000 lbs gross vehicle weight, over one ton rated capacity, longer than 21 feet, or taller than 8 feet. Meeting any single threshold qualifies it as heavy commercial — and those vehicles are banned from off-street residential parking entirely.

Can I park my work truck or box truck in my driveway? If it meets any heavy-commercial threshold (10,000 lbs, one ton, 21 ft, or 8 ft), no — Sec. 31-14 bans heavy commercial vehicles from residential off-street parking. Many contractor trucks and box trucks exceed at least one threshold, so a compliant yard is typically required.

How long can a trailer or RV sit on the street? Only up to 18 hours for active loading/unloading or up to 48 hours for an involuntary breakdown. Beyond those windows it’s a violation. The street is never a legal long-term parking spot for an RV or utility trailer.

What’s the penalty for violating Sec. 31-14? Fines reach up to $500. Enforcement is generally complaint-driven and may follow a correction window — a notice and a period to fix the issue before a fine is issued. That window assumes you have a compliant place to move the vehicle.

Does Sec. 31-14 override my HOA rules? No. County code and your HOA covenant both apply at once, and the stricter rule controls your property. Many Montgomery County covenants are stricter than the county code, so always check both layers before parking at home.

Don’t gamble on a $500 fine — park it where it’s legal. Stay compliant — reserve a space in Gaithersburg.