# Business Regulation (GBR)

## Title 19. Miscellaneous State Business Regulation

### Subtitle 4. Boat Sales

#### Section 19-401

(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated.

(b) "Beneficial owner" means a person for whose benefit a boat broker is entrusted to hold money.

(c) "Boat" means any vessel that is propelled by sail or machinery in the water.

(d) "Boat broker" means a person who provides boat brokerage services for another person.

(e) "Boat broker trust account" means an account that a broker maintains at a financial institution for the deposit of trust money.

(f) "Boat brokerage services" means to engage in any of the following activities for an expectation of compensation:

  (1) selling a boat, offering to sell a boat, or negotiating to sell a boat;

  (2) buying a boat, offering to buy a boat, or negotiating to buy a boat;

  (3) soliciting or obtaining a listing of a boat; or

  (4) negotiating the purchase, sale, or exchange of a boat.

(g) "Trust money" means a deposit, payment, or other money that a person entrusts to a boat broker to hold for the benefit of the person or a beneficial owner.

#### Section 19-402

(a) A boat broker shall place any trust moneys received in anticipation of a boat purchase into a boat broker trust account until the boat broker:

  (1) disburses the  trust moneys to the beneficial owner on completion of the boat purchase; or

  (2) returns the trust moneys to the purchaser if the boat purchase is not completed.

(b) A boat broker trust account established under this section shall be separate from the boat broker's operating account.

---

Md. Code Ann., Bus. Reg. (as displayed at mgaleg.maryland.gov, October 16, 2026)