Free Maine Residential Lease Agreement

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A configurable Maine residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to Title 14, chapters 709, 710 and 710-A — the two-month deposit cap, the 21-day and 30-day return split, the mandatory radon test, and the two acts that took effect 29 July 2026.

Maine 14 M.R.S. 6021 Radon Test Required Free PDF 2026 Edition

A Maine residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by Maine Revised Statutes Title 14 — the eviction and notice rules in chapter 709 at sections 6000 to 6017, the rental-property duties in chapter 710 at 6021 to 6030-K, and the security-deposit rules in their own separate chapter, 710-A, at 6031 to 6039. Maine is a strong tenant-protection state and it has legislated hard and often: the deposit is capped at two months’ rent and comes back in either 21 or up to 30 days depending on whether the tenancy was written down; rent is not late until fifteen days after it is due and the penalty is capped at four per cent; a rent increase takes 45 days notice and 75 if it reaches ten per cent; and Maine actually requires a landlord to test the building for radon, not merely to disclose what is known. Two more changes took effect on 29 July 2026 and are not yet in the state’s own codified text: mold is now part of the implied warranty of habitability, and the unlawful-entry remedy rose to two hundred fifty dollars alongside a brand-new ban on disclosing a tenant’s personal information.

Complete the fields below to generate a Maine residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations, the radon result, the deposit account and each disclosure you check, and the generated lease cites the controlling Maine section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening — and note that Maine regulates the screening step itself and bans the application fee outright. Pair the signed lease with a Maine move-in / move-out checklist, because a documented move-in condition is the only practical defence to the 6034 double-damages claim.

Maine recognises the ordinary range, but the distinction that carries the most legal weight is between a written rental agreement and a tenancy at will. A written fixed-term lease runs for a stated period and expires on its own terms. A tenancy at will is the default where no written agreement fixes a term, and Title 14 refers to it constantly — 6002 is headed “Tenancy at will”, and 6022-A, 6024, 6030-C, 6030-E, 6030-J and 6033 all draw a line between a lease and a tenancy at will agreement.

The practical consequences are real. A tenancy at will ends on a minimum of 30 days’ written notice by either party under 6002. Its security deposit comes back in 21 days under 6033(2)(B), not in whatever period a written lease might have set. And 6002(1) gives the landlord a set of 7-day for-cause notices that sit alongside the 30-day notice and may be combined with it in a single document.

A room or roommate arrangement and a sublease both work in Maine, but note that the security deposit chapter applies to whoever is holding the money as landlord. A mobile home tenancy is expressly within the habitability section — 6021(1) names mobile homes in the definition of a dwelling unit — though mobile home park tenancies carry their own additional rules outside this form. A commercial lease is not governed by these chapters at all; 14 M.R.S. 6017 handles commercial tenancies separately, and nothing on this page applies to one.

One drafting note. Nothing in Maine law requires a residential lease to be notarized or witnessed. But writing the arrangement down changes its legal character, because an unwritten arrangement is a tenancy at will, with the shorter deposit deadline and the 30-day termination mechanics that go with it. If the parties intend a year, the year should be on paper.

Two months’ rent. 14 M.R.S. 6032 says it in one sentence: a lease or tenancy at will agreement for a dwelling intended for human habitation may not require a security deposit equivalent to more than the rent for two months. Section 6031(2) defines a security deposit as any advance or deposit of money the primary purpose of which is to secure performance of the agreement — a functional test, so relabelling deposit money as something else does not move it outside the chapter.

There is a second ceiling most coverage misses entirely. 14 M.R.S. 6022-A caps the total initial payment: on entering a lease or tenancy at will agreement, a landlord, a landlord’s agent or a real estate broker may not require the tenant to pay an initial amount of money in excess of the total of the rent for the first full month of occupancy, plus a security deposit within the 6032 cap, plus any mandatory recurring fee as defined in 6000(1-A) that is properly disclosed under 6030-J. Last month’s rent collected at signing, a move-in fee, an administration fee, a redecoration fee — none of them is on that list, and none may be demanded to start a Maine tenancy.

Maine also permits a surety bond in place of some or all of the deposit under 14 M.R.S. 6039, with one important asymmetry: the landlord may offer it, but may never require it, and is never obliged to accept one. The bond may not exceed two months’ rent, and where a tenant provides both a bond and a cash deposit the aggregate may not exceed two months’ rent. A landlord who demands more faces recovery of up to three times the excess plus reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs, on the same seven-day pre-suit notice the deposit sections use, with the burden of proof on the landlord. The surety must also disclose in writing that the premium is nonrefundable and that the bond is not insurance for the tenant.

It depends on the kind of tenancy, and this is the single most commonly mis-stated figure in Maine coverage. 14 M.R.S. 6033(2) sets two deadlines and lets the tenancy type choose between them:

• Written rental agreement — 6033(2)(A): within the time stated in that agreement, not to exceed 30 days. A written lease that states no return period has nothing shorter to fall back on, so the statutory ceiling governs.
• Tenancy at will — 6033(2)(B): within 21 days after termination of the tenancy or the surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever occurs later.

Whichever applies, the landlord must return the full deposit or provide a written statement itemizing the reasons for retention — and that statement must be accompanied by full payment of the difference between the deposit and the amount retained. Sending an itemization now and the balance later is not compliance. The statute names some permitted reasons expressly: the costs of storing and disposing of unclaimed property, nonpayment of rent, and nonpayment of utility charges the tenant was required to pay directly to the landlord. Mailing the statement and any payment to the tenant’s last known address is treated as compliance, which is why a forwarding address is worth putting in writing.

What may not be deducted is normal wear and tear (6033(1)). Section 6031(1) defines it as deterioration occurring from intended use without negligence, carelessness, accident or abuse — and then does something unusually helpful for landlords: it expressly excludes from normal wear and tear the landlord’s costs of removing property the tenant abandoned and of restoring the unit to a habitable condition, unless those costs were caused by the landlord’s own actions, by unforeseeable events, or by third parties.

Two separate sanctions run, and most summaries mention only one of them.

The first is forfeiture, in 14 M.R.S. 6033(3): if the landlord fails to provide the written statement or to return the deposit within the 6033(2) period, the landlord shall forfeit the right to withhold any portion of the security deposit. This is not a rule that makes the deductions disputable — it removes the entitlement to make them at all. A landlord who was owed genuine damages and simply filed the paperwork late loses the claim against the deposit entirely.

The second is double damages, in 14 M.R.S. 6034, and it comes with a procedure the tenant must follow. Where the landlord has missed the deadline, the tenant must give the landlord notice of intention to bring a legal action no less than seven days before commencing it. If the landlord then fails to return the entire deposit within that seven-day window, it is presumed that the landlord is wrongfully retaining it. Wrongful retention renders the landlord liable for double the amount of the portion wrongfully withheld, together with reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs. And 6034(3) reverses the usual burden: in any action brought by a tenant under the section, the landlord has the burden of proving that the withholding was not wrongful.

There is a third exposure that has nothing to do with the deadline. Under 14 M.R.S. 6038, a security deposit may not be treated as an asset commingled with the assets of the landlord or of any other entity or person, and on the tenant’s request the landlord must disclose the financial institution and the account number where it is held. One account may hold deposits for several tenants, including tenants of separately owned buildings, provided the same landlord controls them. A landlord who violates 6038 owes the tenant actual damages, five hundred dollars, or the equivalent of one month’s rent, whichever is greatest, plus the aggregate costs and expenses, and the court may add attorney’s fees. Those remedies applied to deposits collected after 1 June 2010 and, since 1 October 2010, to every deposit a landlord holds.

See our Maine security deposit laws guide and the Maine security deposit itemization form, which produces the written statement 6033(2) requires.

No — and the exemption is wide enough to change the answer for a large share of Maine’s housing stock. 14 M.R.S. 6037(2) provides that chapter 710-A shall not apply to any tenancy for a dwelling unit which is part of a structure containing no more than five dwelling units, one of which is occupied by the landlord.

Read that against the chapter it disapplies. In an owner-occupied duplex, triple-decker or five-unit building there is no statutory two-month cap, no statutory return deadline, no forfeiture rule in 6033(3), no double damages in 6034, and no commingling ban in 6038. Section 6037(1) adds a second exemption for a lessor who appears as mortgagor under a mortgage guaranteed by the United States, to the extent the chapter conflicts with that mortgage. The same owner-occupied exemption then reappears at 6022(3), taking those landlords out of the written rent-receipt duty as well.

What the exemption does not touch is everything outside chapter 710-A. Habitability under 6021, the radon test under 6030-D, bed bug duties under 6021-A, entry under 6025, notice periods under 6002 and 6015, late fees under 6028, the disclosures in chapter 710 and the prohibited-provision rules in 6030 all continue to apply in full. This is why the builder above asks whether the landlord occupies a unit: a lease that recites a statutory deposit cap in a building where none applies is misleading, while a lease that says nothing leaves the tenant with no protection at all. The generated document states the position and makes the deposit terms a contractual promise the landlord agrees to be bound by.

Reasonable notice — and 14 M.R.S. 6025(2) says that “twenty-four hours is presumed to be a reasonable notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary”. The wording matters. Maine does not grant a landlord an absolute right to enter on 24 hours’ notice; it creates a presumption that 24 hours is reasonable, and a presumption can be displaced by evidence in either direction. Entry must also be at reasonable times, and the notice requirement gives way in an emergency or where notice is impracticable. Under 6025-A an emergency in which the welfare of an animal is at risk is separate grounds for entry without the 24 hours.

The tenant’s side of 6025(1) is that the tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent to entry to inspect, make necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements, supply necessary or agreed services, or exhibit the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workers or contractors. A tenant may not change the lock without notifying the landlord and supplying a duplicate key within 48 hours — except that a victim, as defined in 6000(4), may change the locks at the victim’s own expense and has 72 hours to supply the duplicate. A tenant who changes the lock and refuses the duplicate can be given a 7-day notice to terminate.

The remedy figure changed on 29 July 2026 and no competing page carries it. Public Law 2025, chapter 767 amended 6025(3) to strike one hundred dollars and insert two hundred fifty dollars. The remedy is not confined to a naked unlawful entry: it runs where the landlord makes an entry in violation of the section, makes a lawful entry in an unreasonable manner, or makes repeated demands for entry that are otherwise lawful but have the effect of harassing the tenant. The tenant may recover actual damages or two hundred fifty dollars, whichever is greater, obtain injunctive relief to prevent recurrence, and recover reasonable attorney’s fees on a judgment after a contested hearing. Section 6025(4) makes any tenant waiver of the section against public policy and void.

The same 2026 act created something entirely new. 14 M.R.S. 6025-B bars a landlord, the landlord’s agent, or anyone acting under the landlord’s direction from disclosing a tenant’s, prospective tenant’s or occupant’s personal information where the disclosure is made with the intent to harass, intimidate or otherwise cause a person to vacate outside the judicial process of chapter 709, and without a legitimate business purpose, and without express consent. The definition is broad: identifying details, information about racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health conditions, sexual orientation or gender identity, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, social security or licence numbers, financial and payment information, and a person’s status as a victim of a crime. Five exceptions cover discovery and subpoenas, Maine law enforcement in exigent circumstances, a sale or refinancing, affordable-housing programme administration, and a request from a municipal code enforcement officer or fire inspector. The remedy is actual damages or one thousand dollars, whichever is greater, plus injunctive relief and attorney’s fees — and the same act made a 6025-B violation grounds for a protection-from-harassment complaint. See our Maine landlord entry laws guide and the Maine notice to enter form.

No more than four per cent of one month’s rent, no earlier than fifteen days after the due date, and only if the tenant was told in writing at signing. 14 M.R.S. 6028 has three subsections and every one of them bites.

Subsection (1) fixes when rent is late: “A payment of rent is late if it is not made within 15 days from the time the payment is due.” A Maine lease cannot make rent late on day two by saying so. Subsection (2) fixes the ceiling: a landlord may not assess a penalty for late payment which exceeds 4 per cent of the amount due for one month. And subsection (3) is the one landlords lose on: a landlord may not assess a penalty for late payment at all unless the landlord gave the tenant written notice at the time they entered into the rental agreement that a penalty of up to 4 per cent of one month’s rent may be charged.

That third requirement is a precondition, not a formality, and it cannot be cured later. A tenancy papered without the notice cannot acquire a late fee halfway through — which is why the generated lease treats the late-payment notice as a numbered disclosure in section 12 as well as a clause in section 5. Our Maine late fee laws guide covers the mechanics, and the Maine late rent notice handles the demand itself.

Forty-five days — and seventy-five if the increase reaches ten per cent. 14 M.R.S. 6015(1) requires at least 45 days’ written notice before rent is increased, and note the scope: the section covers rent and any mandatory recurring fee, so raising a monthly common-area or services charge needs the same notice as raising the rent itself.

Subsection (2) adds the second tier. Where rent is increased by 10 per cent or more, the landlord must provide at least 75 days’ written notice. And the anti-salami rule: where the landlord increases rent more than once in a 12-month period and the increases add up to 10 per cent or more, the 75-day notice must precede whichever increase carries the running total across that line. Subsection (2) does not reach rental housing subject to affordability requirements, a housing subsidy, or a subsidy conditioned on the tenant.

A written or oral waiver of 6015 is against public policy and void, and a landlord in violation is liable for the return of any sums unlawfully obtained, with interest, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

There is a separate, absolute bar that almost nothing in circulation mentions. 14 M.R.S. 6016 provides that rent charged for residential estates may not be increased if the dwelling unit is in violation of the warranty of habitability. A violation caused by the tenant, the tenant’s family, guests or invitees does not bar the increase. Waiver is void, and the landlord is again liable for the return of any sums unlawfully obtained with interest, attorneys’ fees and costs. Read together with the new mold standard below, an unremediated damp condition now freezes the rent as well as breaching the warranty. See our Maine rent increase laws guide and the Maine rent increase notice form.

Yes — and this is the obligation that most separates Maine from the rest of the country. Nearly every state that mentions radon requires a landlord to disclose what is already known. 14 M.R.S. 6030-D requires the landlord to have the building tested.

The testing rule in 6030-D(1) runs like this: by 1 March 2014, and — unless a mitigation system has been installed in that building — every ten years thereafter when requested by a tenant, the landlord shall have the air of the residential building tested for the presence of radon. A building constructed or beginning operation after 1 March 2014 must be tested within 12 months of occupancy by a tenant. The test must be conducted by a person registered with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services under 22 M.R.S. chapter 165, except in the limited circumstances where 6030-D(5) permits a landlord to test — only in a building without an elevator shaft, unsealed utility chase or open pathway, forced hot air or central air system, or untested private well water, and only using department protocols. Buildings used exclusively for short-term leases of 100 days or less with no renewal or extension fall outside the section under 6030-D(1-A).

The notice rule in 6030-D(2) is equally specific. Within 30 days of receiving results with respect to existing tenants, or before a tenant enters into a lease or tenancy at will agreement or pays a deposit, the landlord must provide written notice on the form prescribed by the department stating the date and results of the most recent test, whether mitigation has been performed, that the tenant has the right to conduct a test, and the risk associated with radon. Oral notice must also be given to a prospective tenant on request. The department publishes the standard disclosure form, including a tenant acknowledgment, on its website, and results must be reported back to the department within 30 days of receipt under 6030-D(7).

Two consequences follow. Under 6030-D(6), where a tenant’s own test shows radon at or in excess of 4.0 picocuries per liter of air, the landlord must either disclose that result or have a registered person test and disclose that result. And under 6030-D(8), where a test reveals 4.0 picocuries per liter or above, either the landlord or the tenant may terminate the lease or tenancy at will on a minimum of 30 days’ notice, and except as 6033 allows the landlord may not retain any part of the deposit for a tenancy ended that way.

The penalty in 6030-D(4) has two halves. Violation is a civil violation carrying a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars per violation. Separately — and this is the part with teeth — failing to give the 6030-D(2) notice, or falsifying a test or test results, is itself a breach of the implied warranty of fitness for human habitation under 6021, which opens the whole 6021(4) remedy set including a judicial reduction of the rent.

Maine has one of the most prescriptive bed bug regimes in the United States, and it is timed to the day. 14 M.R.S. 6021-A(2) sets the landlord’s duties:

• On written or oral notice from a tenant that the unit may be infested, inspect within 5 days.
• On determining an infestation exists, contact a pest control agent within 10 days — meaning a commercial applicator of pesticides certified under 22 M.R.S. 1471-D — and employ one carrying current liability insurance.
• Take reasonable measures to identify and treat the infestation as the pest control agent determines.
• Before renting, disclose to a prospective tenant if an adjacent unit or units are currently infested or being treated; and on request from a tenant or prospective tenant, disclose the last date the unit or an adjacent unit was inspected and found free of infestation.
• Never offer for rent a dwelling unit the landlord knows or suspects is infested.
• Offer reasonable assistance to a tenant unable to comply with requested inspection or control measures, disclose what compliance may cost, and charge only a reasonable amount for that assistance on a repayment schedule not exceeding six months unless the parties agree otherwise — with no duty to provide alternate lodging or replace the tenant’s property.

The tenant’s duties in 6021-A(3) are the mirror image: notify the landlord promptly on knowing of or suspecting an infestation; grant access on reasonable 6025 notice, with the initial inspection limited to a visual and manual inspection of bedding and upholstered furniture and wider access only where the pest control agent considers it reasonable; and comply with reasonable control measures. A tenant’s unreasonable failure to comply makes that tenant financially responsible for all pest control treatments arising from the failure.

The remedies in 6021-A(4) stack. A landlord’s failure to comply constitutes a finding that the landlord unreasonably failed to take prompt effective steps under 6021(3) — which imports the habitability remedy set without the tenant having to prove it separately. The landlord is liable for two hundred fifty dollars or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney’s fees. The landlord may seek interim relief under 6030-A against a non-cooperating tenant, though any order granting access must be served on the tenant at least 24 hours before the landlord enters. And there is a rebuttable presumption of retaliation where an eviction action is commenced within six months after the tenant asserted rights under the section, provided the tenant asserted them before being served with the eviction notice, and excluding actions for nonpayment of rent or substantial damage.

Since 29 July 2026, yes — and the state’s own codified statute pages do not show it yet. Public Law 2025, chapter 515, “An Act to Add Mold to the Implied Warranty and Covenant of Habitability”, enacted a new subsection 6-B of 14 M.R.S. 6021. Its operative sentence: it is a breach of the implied warranty of fitness for human habitation when a landlord offers for rent a dwelling unit in which there is a leaking event, chronic moisture or humidity conditions outside of the control of a tenant that result in the growth of mold, bacteria or other biological organisms.

The same act repealed and replaced 6021(1) to add a definition. A “leaking event” means a water leak from flooding or a system or structural failure, such as a failure of a roof, window, door, plumbing system, foundation or appliance. The replacement subsection also restates that a dwelling unit includes mobile homes, apartments, buildings and other structures including the common areas. And the act closes with a grant of local authority: a municipality may adopt more stringent standards by ordinance than those the section provides.

Note what this is and what it is not. It is a habitability standard, not a disclosure duty — Maine still requires no mold disclosure in a residential lease, which is why the generated document offers one only as a clearly labelled voluntary block. But it changes the economics of a damp unit considerably. A breach of the warranty opens 6021(4), under which a court may order repairs, determine the fair value of use and occupancy from the date the landlord received actual notice, and authorise the tenant to vacate temporarily without an occupancy charge. It also interlocks with 6016: while the unit is in violation of the warranty, the rent may not be increased at all.

14 M.R.S. 6021(2) supplies the foundation: in any written or oral agreement for rental of a dwelling unit, the landlord is deemed to covenant and warrant that the unit is fit for human habitation. Section 6026(1) adds the operative prohibition — a landlord may not maintain or permit to exist any condition that endangers or materially impairs the health or safety of the tenants.

A tenant enforcing the warranty under 6021(3) must be able to state five things: a described condition endangering or materially impairing health or safety; that it was not caused by the tenant or someone under the tenant’s control; that written notice was given to the landlord or to the person who customarily collects rent, without unreasonable delay; that the landlord unreasonably failed to take prompt effective steps to repair; and that the tenant was current in rental payments when the written notice was given. That last element is the one tenants most often trip on.

The remedies in 6021(4) are judicial and unusually shaped. The court may issue injunctions ordering repair; determine the fair value of use and occupancy from the date of actual notice until repair, with a rebuttable presumption that the rent equals the fair value of a unit free from the defect; authorise the tenant to vacate temporarily during necessary repairs with no use-and-occupancy charge until the tenant resumes occupation; and enter such other orders as are necessary. But the section says plainly that the court may not award consequential damages for breach of the warranty — a real limit on what a habitability claim can be worth in Maine.

Alongside that sits Maine’s repair-and-deduct right in 6026(2), with a ceiling defined by a comparison: it is available where the reasonable cost of compliance is less than five hundred dollars or an amount equal to one half the monthly rent, whichever is greater. The tenant must notify the landlord in writing by certified mail, return receipt requested, of the intention to correct the condition at the landlord’s expense. If the landlord fails to comply within 14 days, or as promptly as conditions require in an emergency, the tenant may have the work done with due professional care and equivalent materials — using a professional licensed under Title 32 for electrical, oil burner or plumbing work — and after submitting an itemized statement may deduct the actual and reasonable cost from the rent up to that ceiling. Section 6026(4) bars reimbursement for the tenant’s own labour or that of an immediate family member: parts and materials only. The right lapses where the condition was caused by the tenant or the tenant’s invitee, where the landlord is unreasonably denied access, or where extreme weather prevents the repair.

Two safety duties sit outside Title 14 entirely and are consistently missed. 25 M.R.S. 2464 requires the owner to install smoke detectors in each unit of a building of multifamily occupancy and in a single-family dwelling completed after 1 January 1982; a detector installed or replaced within twenty feet of a kitchen or of a bathroom containing a tub or shower must be photoelectric, except that ionization detectors are permitted within bedrooms; and in multiapartment buildings more than three stories high detectors are also required in each corridor and hallway on each floor. Section 2464(6) protects an owner who inspected the detectors immediately after installation and reinspected them before occupancy by each new tenant, unless given at least 24 hours’ actual notice of a defect. 25 M.R.S. 2468 separately requires working carbon monoxide detectors at each new occupancy, with repair or replacement on the tenant’s written notification. Each statute carries a civil fine of up to five hundred dollars per violation, waivable on proof of correction within ten days. Our Maine habitability laws guide covers the enforcement route in more detail.

Sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit — measured in a specific place, at a specific outside temperature. Where the landlord is obligated by agreement or lease to provide heat, 14 M.R.S. 6021(6) makes it a breach of the implied warranty if the landlord maintains an indoor temperature so low as to be injurious to the health of occupants not suffering from abnormal medical conditions; if the heating facilities are not capable of maintaining a minimum of at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit at a distance of three feet from the exterior walls and five feet above floor level, at an outside temperature of minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit; or if the facilities are not operated so as to protect the building’s equipment and systems from freezing. The measurement points are part of the standard, not decoration — a system that manages 68 degrees in the middle of the room but not three feet from the wall does not comply.

Section 6021(6) also grants municipalities power to adopt or retain more stringent standards, and declares any less restrictive municipal standard invalid and suspended.

Maine does permit the parties to agree down, but only carefully. Under 6021(6-A), a landlord and tenant may agree for the landlord to provide heat at less than 68 degrees where the agreement is in a separate written document apart from the lease, is clear and conspicuous, readable in plain English in at least twelve-point type, and signed by both parties; states that it is revocable by either party on reasonable notice; and specifically sets a minimum temperature which may not be less than 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

Utilities carry two further Maine-specific rules. 14 M.R.S. 6024 forbids a landlord to enter a lease for a unit in a multi-unit building where the expense of furnishing heat, electricity or any other utility to the common areas is the sole responsibility of the tenant in that unit, unless both parties agreed in writing that the tenant will pay those costs in return for a stated reduction in rent or other specified fair consideration approximating the actual cost. Common areas expressly include hallways, stairwells, basements, attics, storage areas, and fuel furnaces or water heaters used in common. Violation costs actual damages or two hundred fifty dollars, whichever is greater, plus attorneys’ fees and costs, with a rebuttable presumption that the landlord knew. And 14 M.R.S. 6024-A lets a tenant whose landlord fails to pay for a utility service in the landlord’s name pay it and deduct the amount from the rent, with a court award of actual damages or one hundred dollars, whichever is greater, plus costs and expenses, and a rebuttable presumption that the failure was knowing.

Almost none — Maine bans the application fee outright. 14 M.R.S. 6030-H provides that a landlord may not require an applicant to pay a fee to submit an application, nor a fee for the landlord to review or approve one.

The single exception is tightly drawn. The landlord may require an applicant to pay the actual cost of only one of the following: a background check, a credit check, or a screening process other than those two. Not one of each — one in total. Three further conditions attach: the landlord shall provide the applicant with a complete copy of the information obtained; the landlord may not charge the fee at all unless the landlord first notified the applicant that the landlord is required by law to provide that copy; and the landlord may not charge an applicant more than one such fee in any 12-month period.

Two adjacent fee rules complete the picture. Under 14 M.R.S. 6030-I, an optional recurring fee — money for an added service or feature that is not essential to meet the basic health or safety requirements for habitability — may be imposed only where the landlord gives written notice before implementation that the tenant may opt in and may cease paying at any time without penalty, and the landlord may not deny or terminate a tenancy because the tenant opts out. And under 14 M.R.S. 6030-J, before entering the agreement the landlord must provide a written total price disclosure covering the total cost of rent, any mandatory recurring fee, any optional recurring fee, any utility service costs and any other cost — plain, readily understandable, and signed by both parties with a copy to each. See the Maine tenant screening laws guide for how 6030-H interacts with federal fair-credit rules.

A tenancy at will ends on a minimum of 30 days’ written notice by either party under 14 M.R.S. 6002. Two refinements matter. Where the tenant has paid rent through the date a 30-day notice would expire, the notice must expire on or after the date through which rent has been paid. And the 30 days may be waived in writing only at the time the notice is given, and at no other time before it — so a waiver buried in the lease at signing is ineffective.

Service is ordinarily personal, but where the landlord or the landlord’s agent has made at least three good faith efforts to serve the tenant, service may be accomplished by both mailing the notice by first class mail to the tenant’s last known address and leaving it at the tenant’s last and usual place of abode. Termination is deemed to occur at the expiration of the time fixed in the notice, and a 30-day termination is not undone by the receipt of money until a writ of possession issues.

Every notice to terminate under 6002 must include language advising the tenant of the right to contest the termination in court. Omitting it is not itself grounds to dismiss the eviction action — but if the tenant then does not appear at the hearing, the omission is sufficient grounds to set aside any default judgment entered for failure to appear.

Alongside the 30-day notice, 6002(1) supplies 7-day for-cause notices where the landlord can show by affirmative proof that the tenant, the tenant’s family or an invitee caused substantial damage not repaired before the notice; caused or permitted a nuisance, caused the unit to become unfit, or violated the law regarding the tenancy; that the tenant is seven days or more in arrears in rent; that the tenant is a perpetrator of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking where the victim is also a tenant; that the tenant or a guest is the perpetrator of violence, a threat of violence or sexual assault against another tenant, a guest, the landlord or the landlord’s staff; or that the occupant is not an authorized occupant. The notice must state the specific ground, and a 30-day and a 7-day notice may be combined in one document.

The cure rights on arrears are generous. Paying the full amount due before the 7-day notice expires voids that notice. And afterwards, in all residential tenancies at will, paying all arrears, all rent due at the date of payment, and any filing and service fees actually expended before the writ of possession issues means the tenancy must be reinstated and no writ may issue. Payment or written assurance of payment through the general assistance programme has the same effect as cash. Section 6002(3) separately lets a tenant raise breach of the warranty of habitability as an affirmative defence to a nonpayment action, with the court either terminating without prejudice or assessing the reduced fair rental value for the period rent is owed.

A victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking may end the tenancy early under 6002(4): 7 days’ written notice for a tenancy at will or a lease of less than one year, 30 days’ for a lease of one year or more, with the documentation 6001(6)(H) requires. The victim is not liable for rent beyond the date the notice expires or the date of vacating, whichever is later. See our Maine lease termination laws guide, the Maine breaking-lease guide, and the Maine tenant notice to vacate.

Anything outside the court process. 14 M.R.S. 6014 declares that evictions effected without resort to chapter 709 are illegal and against public policy, and names three species of self-help:

• Utility interruption. No landlord may willfully cause, directly or indirectly, the interruption or termination of any utility service supplied to the tenant — water, heat, light, electricity, gas, telephone, sewerage, elevator or refrigeration — whether or not the utility service is under the landlord’s control, except for a temporary interruption necessary while actual repairs are in process or during a temporary emergency. The italicised words matter: a landlord who simply stops paying the bill is caught.
• Lockout. No landlord may willfully seize, hold or otherwise directly or indirectly deny a tenant access to and possession of the rented premises other than through proper judicial process.
• Seizing goods. No landlord may willfully seize, hold or otherwise deny a tenant access to and possession of the tenant’s property, other than by proper judicial process.

On a finding that an illegal eviction occurred, the court shall award the tenant actual damages or two hundred fifty dollars, whichever is greater, plus the aggregate costs and expenses reasonably incurred and a reasonable amount for attorneys’ fees. The remedies are expressly non-exclusive. A court may award fees to the landlord where the tenant’s action was not brought in good faith and was frivolous or intended only for harassment.

Property left behind has its own procedure in 14 M.R.S. 6013. Personal property remaining after judgment for the landlord, or abandoned after the tenant vacates, must be placed in storage in a safe, dry, secured location. Notice goes by first-class mail with proof of mailing: to the rental unit while the tenant is still in possession, and it may not limit the time to claim to less than 7 days after mailing or 48 hours after service of the writ, whichever is longer; or to the last known address once the tenant has vacated, with an itemized list of the items and containers. If the tenant claims the property within 7 days the landlord shall release it and may not condition release on payment of any fee or any other amount owed. Storage and disposal costs are, separately, one of the reasons 6033(2) permits a deposit to be retained.

Finally, 14 M.R.S. 6010-A imposes a duty to mitigate. Where a tenant unjustifiably leaves early and defaults, or is removed, the landlord’s recovery is reduced by the net rent obtainable by reasonable efforts to rerent — the steps the landlord would have taken had the unit been vacated in due course, in accordance with local rental practice. The landlord must allege and prove that efforts to comply were made; only then does the burden shift to the tenant to show they were unreasonable.

14 M.R.S. 6030 does the work, and Maine’s sanction is unusual. Subsection (1) makes it an unfair and deceptive trade practice in violation of 5 M.R.S. 207 — the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act — for a landlord to require a tenant to enter an agreement containing a provision that has the effect of waiving a tenant right established in chapter 709, chapter 710 or chapter 710-A, except where the law specifically allows the tenant to waive that right during negotiations.

Subsection (2) then names six provision types that are “specifically declared to be unenforceable and in violation of Title 5, section 207”:

• Any provision that absolves the landlord from liability for the negligence of the landlord or the landlord’s agent.
• Any provision that requires the tenant to pay the landlord’s legal fees in enforcing the agreement.
• Any provision that requires the tenant to give a lien upon the tenant’s property for the amount of any rent or other sums due.
• Any provision that requires the tenant to acknowledge that the provisions of the agreement, including tenant rules, are fair and reasonable.
• Any provision that requires the tenant to pay a fee, penalty or charge for the act of discontinuing tenancy — unless it recovers reasonable expenses of securing another tenant where the tenant breached the notice terms, collects unpaid rent, or recovers reasonable expenses of repairing tenant-caused damage. Retaining a deposit for a 6033 reason is not such a charge.
• Any provision requiring the tenant to pay an optional recurring fee in violation of 6030-I or 6030-J, or a mandatory recurring fee in violation of 6030-J.

The attorney-fee exception is narrower than it looks. Subsection (3) rescues one thing only: a provision “that provides for the award of attorney’s fees to the prevailing party after a contested hearing to enforce the lease or tenancy at will agreement in cases of wanton disregard of the terms” of the agreement. Three conditions, all cumulative. The fee must run to whichever party prevails; it must follow a contested hearing; and the case must be one of wanton disregard. A plain clause making the tenant pay the landlord’s fees fails all three, is void, and its inclusion is itself an unfair and deceptive trade practice. The optional clause in the builder above generates only the permitted version.

Two consequences follow that are worth stating plainly. First, because Maine routes the violation into 5 M.R.S. 207 rather than attaching a flat multiple of rent, the tenant’s remedy is the Unfair Trade Practices Act private action — restitution, equitable relief and reasonable attorney’s fees — with Attorney General enforcement available alongside it. Second, and separately, 14 M.R.S. 6030(4) provides that a lease or tenancy at will agreement is unenforceable if the landlord does not receive a signed copy of the total price disclosure required by 6030-J. A missing signature on a one-page form can therefore cost the landlord the enforceability of the entire agreement. No competing Maine template mentions it.

Eight under state law, plus the federal lead-paint disclosure — and two of the eight must be delivered before the tenant signs or pays a deposit, which is why they cannot be left to move-in day.

Radon test result and notice — 6030-D. Written notice on the Department of Health and Human Services form, before the tenant enters into an agreement or pays a deposit, stating the date and results of the most recent test, whether mitigation has been performed, that the tenant may conduct a test, and the risk. Covered in full above.

Residential energy efficiency disclosure statement — 6030-C. Where the tenant will pay for an energy supply, the landlord must provide the statement required by 35-A M.R.S. 10117(1), obtain the tenant’s signature on it, sign it, and retain the signed statement for a minimum of three years — all before the tenant enters into a contract or pays a deposit. Alternatively the landlord may put in the application the name of each supplier of energy that previously supplied the unit, with the statement that the applicant has the right to obtain a 12-month history of energy consumption and its cost from the supplier. Note a change already on the books: under 6030-C(3), added in 2025, beginning 1 January 2030 a tenant who does not receive a signed statement may terminate the lease on 30 days’ written notice, and the landlord may not retain any fee or deposit for that termination.

Smoking policy disclosure — 6030-E. Written notice stating whether smoking is prohibited on the premises, allowed on the entire premises, or allowed in limited areas — and where limited, identifying those areas. It may be given in the written lease itself. Before the tenant enters into a contract or pays a deposit, the landlord must obtain a written acknowledgment of the notification.

Total price disclosure statement — 6030-J. Total rent, every mandatory recurring fee, every optional recurring fee, utility service costs and any other cost the tenant will bear, in plain language, signed by both parties with a copy to each, before the agreement is entered into. Not required where the tenant owes no mandatory and no optional recurring fee. Backed by the unenforceability sanction in 6030(4).

Bed bug status and adjacent-unit disclosure — 6021-A(2)(D). Before renting, disclose whether an adjacent unit or units are currently infested or being treated; on request, disclose the last date the unit or an adjacent unit was inspected and found clear.

Late payment penalty notice — 6028(3). Written notice, at the time the parties enter into the rental agreement, that a penalty of up to four per cent of one month’s rent may be charged for late payment. Without it, no late penalty may ever be assessed under that tenancy.

Screening fee and applicant report notice — 6030-H. Before charging the single permitted screening cost, the landlord must notify the applicant that the landlord is required by law to provide a complete copy of the information obtained.

Security deposit separation and account disclosure — 6038. The deposit may not be commingled with the landlord’s assets, and the financial institution and account number must be disclosed on the tenant’s request.

Lead-based paint — federal, 42 U.S.C. 4852d. Here is a correction worth making loudly, because the ranking templates get it wrong. Maine’s own lease lead-hazard disclosure at 14 M.R.S. 6030-B(1), and its application subsection 6030-B(2), were both repealed in 2011. Citing 6030-B as “Maine’s lead disclosure” is citing a repealed subsection. What applies to a pre-1978 Maine rental is the federal disclosure at 42 U.S.C. 4852d and 24 C.F.R. Part 35 — our Maine lead-based paint disclosure form handles it. What Maine still requires, and what survives at 6030-B(3), is quite different: a landlord who undertakes or engages someone to undertake any repair, renovation or remodeling activity in a pre-1978 residential building containing rented units must give notice of the activity and the lead risk at least 30 days before it begins, by both posting a sign on the building’s exterior entry doors and sending notice by certified mail to every unit. Shorter notice requires a written waiver from one adult tenant of each unit, in plain language, in not less than twelve-point boldface type. Emergency repairs are exempt.

Maine does not require a flood-risk, asbestos, methamphetamine, military ordnance, demolition, shared-meter or sex-offender registry disclosure in a residential lease. Each of those comes from another state’s statute book. And note one Maine-specific resource: under 14 M.R.S. 6030-K, enacted in 2025, the Maine Attorney General has been required since 1 December 2025 to create and post a model residential lease complying with current law, including every required disclosure and attachment, and to update it biennially by 1 December of each odd-numbered year. Unlike some states, Maine does not make the model lease compulsory — but its refresh cycle is a standing signal that this disclosure set moves.

Yes, and it is one of the stronger ones in the country. 14 M.R.S. 6001(3) provides that in any action of forcible entry and detainer there is a rebuttable presumption that the action was commenced in retaliation if, within six months before it was commenced, the tenant has done any of the following:

• Asserted rights under 6015, 6016, 6021, 6030-D, 6030-I or 6030-J — rent-increase notice, the habitability rent freeze, the warranty itself, radon, optional recurring fees or the total price disclosure.
• Complained in good faith, individually or through someone acting on the tenant’s behalf, about conditions that may violate a building, housing, sanitary or other code to a body charged with enforcing it — or had such a body file a notice or complaint.
• Complained in writing, or made a written request in good faith, to the landlord or the landlord’s agent to make repairs required by a code, by 6021, or by the rental agreement.
• Filed a good-faith fair housing complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission or the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development before being served with an eviction notice.
• Given the landlord notice, before being served, that the tenant or the tenant’s minor child is a victim.
• Communicated to the landlord about, or filed a complaint of, sexual harassment by the landlord or the landlord’s agent, again before being served.

The consequence is stated with unusual force: a writ of possession may not issue in the absence of rebuttal of the presumption. And there is a subtlety worth knowing. Where the eviction is brought on a 6002(1) ground or for violation of a lease provision, the presumption ordinarily does not apply — unless the tenant has asserted a right under 6026, the repair-and-deduct section. So exercising repair-and-deduct keeps the retaliation shield alive in exactly the cases where it would otherwise lapse. A separate six-month presumption runs under 6021-A(4)(D) for the assertion of bed bug rights, and 6016-A addresses sexual harassment through the Maine Human Rights Act. See our Maine eviction notice laws guide and the Maine 7-day notice to pay rent or quit.

• Publishing one deposit return deadline. Section 6033(2) has two: the period stated in a written lease, capped at 30 days, and 21 days for a tenancy at will.
• Sending an itemization now and the money later. The written statement must be accompanied by full payment of the difference.
• Assuming double damages is the only sanction. Section 6033(3) separately forfeits the right to withhold anything at all.
• Suing for double damages without the seven-day notice. Section 6034(1) makes it a precondition of the presumption.
• Reciting a statutory deposit cap in an owner-occupied triple-decker. Section 6037(2) disapplies the whole chapter there.
• Holding the deposit in the operating account. Section 6038 bars commingling and carries damages, five hundred dollars, or a month’s rent, whichever is greatest.
• Requiring a surety bond. Section 6039 lets the landlord offer one and never require one.
• Collecting last month’s rent at signing. Section 6022-A caps the move-in total at first month plus deposit plus a disclosed mandatory recurring fee.
• Charging a late fee on day two. Rent is not late until 15 days after it is due under 6028(1).
• Charging a late fee that was not disclosed at signing. Section 6028(3) makes the written notice a precondition that cannot be supplied later.
• Giving 30 days’ notice of a rent increase. Section 6015 requires 45, and 75 once the increase reaches ten per cent.
• Raising a mandatory recurring fee on shorter notice than the rent. Section 6015(1) covers both.
• Raising the rent on a unit with an open habitability defect. Section 6016 forbids it outright.
• Treating radon as a disclosure. Section 6030-D requires an actual test by a registered tester, retested every ten years on request.
• Missing the radon notice before the deposit is taken. It is due before the tenant signs or pays, and failing to give it breaches the warranty of habitability.
• Handing over an unsigned energy efficiency statement. Section 6030-C requires both signatures and a three-year retention.
• Skipping the signed total price disclosure. Section 6030(4) makes the whole lease unenforceable without a signed copy.
• Charging an application fee. Banned outright by 6030-H, which allows the actual cost of one check and nothing else.
• Copying a flat attorney-fee clause. Void under 6030(2)(B); only the prevailing-party, contested-hearing, wanton-disregard version survives.
• Citing 6030-B as Maine’s lead disclosure. That subsection was repealed in 2011; the duty is federal, and 6030-B(3) is a renovation notice instead.
• Reciting one hundred dollars for an unlawful entry. The figure became two hundred fifty dollars on 29 July 2026.
• Assuming Maine has no mold rule. Section 6021(6-B) put damp-driven growth into the warranty of habitability on the same date.
• Shutting off a utility to move a tenant along. Section 6014 catches it even where the utility is not under the landlord’s control.
• Charging a tenant for common-area heat without a written rent reduction. Section 6024 forbids it.
• Holding a departed tenant’s belongings against unpaid rent. Section 6013 bars conditioning release on payment.

A well-drafted lease decides who wins a dispute; screening decides whether there is one. Maine’s remedies put real money on the outcome — double the deposit for a botched return, forfeiture of every deduction for a late statement, two hundred fifty dollars for an unlawful entry, one thousand for a privacy breach — and almost all of them turn on the landlord’s own compliance long before the tenant’s conduct is reached. Verifiable income, a clean payment history and no prior eviction filings remain the strongest predictors of a quiet tenancy. Note that Maine regulates the screening step itself under 6030-H: the application fee is banned, only the actual cost of one check may be passed on, the applicant is owed a complete copy of the report, and no applicant may be charged twice in 12 months. Our tenant screening report covers credit, eviction filings, criminal background and employment verification. Screen first, then paper the tenancy with this lease, and keep our Maine pet and assistance animal guide to hand before writing a pet clause.

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