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Maine residential lease agreement

Answer the questions, download the lease. Free, no account, and it holds your figures to what Maine allows.

What Maine law does to your lease

These are the figures the builder holds you to. Each one is the statute's, not ours, and the citation is there so you can read it yourself.

RuleMaineWhere it says so
Most a landlord may take as a deposit2 months' rent14 M.R.S. 6032
Earliest a late fee may be charged15 days after rent is due14 M.R.S. 6028
Most a late fee may be4% of the rentThe fee is only chargeable if the landlord gave written notice at the signing that a penalty of up to 4% of a month's rent may be charged for late payment.14 M.R.S. 6028
Notice before the landlord may enter24 hoursMaine asks for reasonable notice and presumes 24 hours is reasonable.14 M.R.S. 6025(2)
Notice to end a month-to-month tenancy30 daysSeven days is enough where the ground is substantial damage, a nuisance, rent seven days in arrears, or violence. Either party may waive the 30 days in writing, but only at the time the notice is given.14 M.R.S. 6002(1)

What Maine makes you disclose

Radon test result
The landlord must have the building tested for radon and give the tenant written notice of the result before the lease is signed, or within 30 days of getting a result, along with information about the risk. At 4.0 picocuries per litre or above either party may end the tenancy on 30 days' notice and the landlord may keep none of the deposit for it. 14 M.R.S. 6030-D
Bedbugs next door
The landlord must tell a prospective tenant if an adjacent unit is infested with or being treated for bedbugs, and on request must say when this unit or an adjacent one was last inspected and found clear. 14 M.R.S. 6021-A(2)(D)
Residential energy efficiency disclosure
Where the tenant pays for the energy supply the landlord must give a signed residential energy efficiency disclosure statement before the tenant signs or pays a deposit, or name the previous energy suppliers and tell the tenant they may get a 12-month history of consumption and cost from them. The landlord keeps the signed statement for three years. 14 M.R.S. 6030-C

The clause most landlords get wrong

Rent stated as a base figure with mandatory fees bolted on beside it. If a fee is not optional, it is rent, and several states now say so outright: the lease has to carry one total figure that the landlord may not charge above. The builder asks for the total and then asks how much of it is fees, which is the same information in the order the law wants it.

The second is the assistance animal. A no-pets clause that does not carve one out is a fair-housing problem, not a pet problem, and no pet rent or pet deposit may be charged for one. Your lease says so whether or not you allow pets.

After it is signed

Download the PDF and it is yours, account or not. If you want the tenant to sign it without printing anything, a free Kouzr account sends it for signature, files the executed copy against the tenancy, and keeps it beside the listing, the rent record and the deposit accounting, so the paperwork for that home is in one place when the tenancy ends.

Is this Maine lease legally binding?

A written lease signed by the landlord and every adult tenant is a contract, and this one is built to say what Maine requires a residential lease to say. What it is not is legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it. It is a form you complete yourself, the same category as the fill-in-the-blank lease sold in an office supply shop, and it is worth having a lawyer in your state read it before you rely on it, especially on a property you will hold for years.

How much can a landlord charge as a security deposit in Maine?

Maine caps every deposit taken together at 2 months' rent (14 M.R.S. 6032). That is the total of the security deposit, any pet deposit, and any last month's rent held as a deposit, not each of them separately. The builder holds your figure to that ceiling and tells you when it has.

Can a landlord charge a late fee in Maine?

Yes, but not without limit. Maine allows no late fee until 15 days after rent is due, and caps it at 4% of the rent (14 M.R.S. 6028). A fee charged earlier or larger than that is not enforceable, and the rest of the lease still stands. The fee is only chargeable if the landlord gave written notice at the signing that a penalty of up to 4% of a month's rent may be charged for late payment.

How much notice does a landlord have to give before entering in Maine?

24 hours for anything that is not an emergency, at a reasonable hour (14 M.R.S. 6025(2)). A lease cannot shorten it, so the builder raises your figure if you enter a smaller one. Genuine emergencies need no notice anywhere. Maine asks for reasonable notice and presumes 24 hours is reasonable.

How much notice ends a month-to-month tenancy in Maine?

30 days of written notice from either side (14 M.R.S. 6002(1)). The builder writes that figure into the term clause. A lease may agree on longer notice than the statute; one that gives less is unenforceable to that extent, and the statutory period governs instead. Seven days is enough where the ground is substantial damage, a nuisance, rent seven days in arrears, or violence. Either party may waive the 30 days in writing, but only at the time the notice is given.

Do I have to include a lead-based paint disclosure?

Only if the home was built before 1978, and then yes, everywhere in the country. Federal law requires the landlord to disclose known lead-based paint, hand over any report they have, and give the tenant the EPA pamphlet before the tenant is committed to the lease (42 U.S.C. 4852d). Enter the year built and the builder attaches it for you.

Can I have the tenant sign it online?

Yes. Download the PDF and sign it however you like, or make a free Kouzr account and send it to the tenant for signature from here: they get a link, sign on a phone, and the executed copy files itself against the tenancy alongside rent and the deposit record. The PDF is free either way and does not require an account.

Kouzr is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. The builder produces a form you complete yourself, and no lawyer has reviewed the document it assembles. Have one admitted in Maine read it before you rely on it.