The Maine Landlord Checklist: Pre-Listing to Move-Out

Maine's landlord-tenant rules aren't unusually complicated, but they are unusually unforgiving. Most of the trouble small landlords get into traces back to a handful of forms, deadlines, and disclosures that were never built into the routine. This is the checklist Anchor runs against every Maine tenancy we open — start to finish.

General information for Maine landlords, not legal advice. Always confirm forms and figures against the current statute and your own attorney before relying on them.

Before you list the unit

• Rental registration. Portland and a growing list of other Maine municipalities require annual rental housing registration. Confirm whether your town requires it and get current.
• Working smoke and CO alarms. Maine requires hard-wired or sealed 10-year battery smoke alarms in every sleeping area and on every level, plus carbon monoxide alarms outside sleeping areas in any unit with fuel-burning appliances or an attached garage.
• Lead paint disclosure file. If the unit was built before 1978, assemble the federal lead disclosure and a copy of the EPA pamphlet before a prospective tenant ever walks through.
• Habitability sweep. Heat that holds the statutory minimum of 68°F in every habitable room, measured at least three feet above floor level (the standard under both Maine law and the Portland property maintenance code); plumbing that drains, no active leaks, locking exterior doors and ground-floor windows, no visible pests.
• Fair Housing review. Listing photos, the written ad, the application, and the screening criteria — all must comply with federal Fair Housing Act and the Maine Human Rights Act, including the source-of-income protections.

Showing and screening

• Identical written screening criteria applied to every applicant — no ad-hoc adjustments mid-process.
• Income, credit, prior landlord, and identity verification, with written authorization from the applicant.
• Source-of-income protected: you cannot refuse a Section 8 voucher holder solely because the rent comes from a voucher.
• Adverse-action notice if you decline based on a consumer report, delivered in writing with the bureau's contact information.

At lease signing

• Written lease, signed by every adult occupant who will live in the unit.
• Maine-specific addenda: lead paint, bedbug history, radon notification (if applicable), and any local addenda required by your town.
• Security deposit collected at signing — capped at two months' rent statewide, and at one month's rent for Portland units and for tenancies where the tenant is elderly or has a disability. Deposit goes into a trust account at a Maine institution within a reasonable time.
• Written acknowledgment of where the deposit is held, with the institution name.
• First month's rent collected before keys change hands.

Move-in (first week of occupancy)

• Move-in inspection checklist, signed and dated by both landlord and tenant.
• Date-stamped photographs of every room, appliance, wall, and floor.
• Smoke and CO alarms tested in the tenant's presence; the test logged on the checklist.
• Copy of the signed checklist returned to the tenant; original to the unit file.
• Welcome packet with emergency contact, maintenance request channel, and after-hours protocol.

During the tenancy

• 24 hours' notice before any non-emergency entry, in writing or by a channel the tenant has agreed to.
• Rent ledger updated within the day. Partial payments documented and applied against oldest balance unless your written policy says otherwise.
• Late fees only after the 15-day grace period and capped at 4% of monthly rent — and only if the late fee was disclosed in writing in the lease (14 M.R.S. § 6028).
• Maintenance requests acknowledged the same day, triaged for life- safety issues, and tracked to completion.
• Annual inspection of the unit — heat, plumbing, alarms, evidence of unauthorized occupants or pets.
• In Portland, annual rent control registration filed on time and the rent ledger reconciled against allowable increases.

Raising the rent

• Statewide minimum: 45 days' written notice for any rent increase on a tenancy at will, with the new amount and effective date.
• In Portland: 90 days' written notice (Rent Control Ordinance Sec. 6-234), capped at the current CPI allowance, with the basis of the increase and the tenant's right to dispute spelled out.
• For any fixed-term lease, you cannot raise rent mid-term unless the lease expressly authorizes it.

Ending a tenancy

• Tenancy at will, no cause: 30 days' written notice to either side. (Portland just-cause rules apply on top of this — see the Portland guide.)
• Non-payment of rent: 7-day notice to quit with the right-to-cure language.
• Cause beyond non-payment: 7 or 30 days depending on the conduct, with the basis spelled out.
• Fixed-term lease ending: written non-renewal notice well in advance of the lease end date (and just-cause in Portland).
• Never self-help. No lock changes, no utility shutoffs, no removing belongings — even when a tenant has clearly abandoned the unit, the abandoned-property procedure must be followed.
• A tenant who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking cannot be evicted for incidents related to that violence, and has early lease-termination rights on proper documentation (14 M.R.S. § 6001(6)).

Move-out and deposit return

• Move-out inspection using the same checklist as move-in, with photographs.
• Itemized deduction statement: condition, repair, dollar amount.
• Refund and statement returned within 21 days (tenancy at will) or 30 days (written lease) of the tenancy ending.
• Mail to the tenant's last known address or any forwarding address the tenant has provided in writing.
• Retain the full deposit file for at least six years after move-out.

Records to keep — every unit, every year

• Signed lease and all addenda.
• Lead paint disclosure and EPA pamphlet receipt.
• Move-in and move-out inspection checklists with photographs.
• Rent ledger with every payment and every increase.
• Every notice ever issued to the tenant, with proof of service.
• Maintenance log with date opened, date closed, vendor, and cost.
• Annual smoke and CO alarm test log.
• Insurance certificates and property tax bills.

How Anchor handles this for our clients

Every item on this checklist is built into Anchor's operating workflow. Registration, notices, inspections, deposit return deadlines, and annual filings are calendared the day a unit is onboarded. When something is due, the work is already queued — and the file is already built. That's the difference between a property management contract and a manager who is actually paying attention.