This $125 Registration Could Be the Difference Between
a Landlord Saying Yes or No
You’ve fine-tuned your business plan, hunted for a space, and finally you are ready to sign a lease–but the landlord says no, not without your SDAT. SDAT? What’s that?
Landlords have one go-to tool for getting a quick snapshot of whether or not a small business is legit: the State Department of Assessment and Taxation database. Every business operating in Maryland must register with the state and annually update their account. Setting it up costs $125 and is easy to do online. The Maryland Business Express site walks you through how.
Skip this step in making your business official, and it could cost you the chance to rent the space you want. Registered businesses are ready for business. If the business name doesn’t show in the database, the landlord is taking a risk entering into a contract with a business that’s not real, legally speaking.
If you’ve followed all the filing instructions, up will pop the name of your business, when it was registered, applicable articles of incorporation, and best of all, one line in all caps, loud and clear:
“THIS BUSINESS IS IN GOOD STANDING.”
