Breaking a lease in Maine

A tenant who moves out early and stops paying stays liable for rent and damages, but your recovery is reduced by the net rent you get, or could get, through reasonable efforts to re-rent. A lease term that charges a fee just for ending the tenancy is unenforceable, except to recover reasonable re-letting costs when the tenant broke the lease's notice terms, unpaid rent, or the cost of repairing damage the tenant caused. Such a term is also an unfair trade practice under 5 M.R.S. 207 (14 M.R.S. § 6010-A(1), (2); 14 M.R.S. § 6030(2)(E)).

• Entering to inspect, preserve, repair or show the unit, or re-renting it, does not by itself accept a surrender (14 M.R.S. § 6010-A(4)).
• A victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking may end the tenancy with the required documentation and 7 days' written notice (tenancy at will or a lease under one year) or 30 days' written notice (a lease of one year or more). A tenant sexually harassed by you or your agent has the same right (14 M.R.S. § 6001(6)(D), (D-1), (H); 14 M.R.S. § 6002(4)).
• If a radon test shows 4.0 picocuries per liter or more, either of you may end the tenancy with at least 30 days' notice (14 M.R.S. § 6030-D(8)).
• If you substantially breach a written lease that has no termination provision, or no written notice of termination for a material breach, the tenant may end it on 7 days' written notice (14 M.R.S. § 6001(1-B)(B)).
• Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a tenant may end a lease after entering military service or receiving qualifying orders (50 U.S.C. § 3955).

If a dangerous condition would cost less than $500 or half a month's rent, whichever is greater, to fix, the tenant may notify you in writing, by certified mail with return receipt requested, of the intent to fix it at your expense. If you do not act within 14 days (or as promptly as an emergency requires), the tenant may have the work done with due professional care and, after giving you an itemized statement, deduct the actual and reasonable cost from rent (14 M.R.S. § 6026(2)).

• Electrical, oil burner and plumbing work must be done by a licensed professional, and the tenant may not be reimbursed for their own or their family's labor, only for parts and materials (14 M.R.S. § 6026(2), (4)).
• The remedy is not available for damage the tenant or a guest caused, where you were unreasonably denied access, or where extreme weather prevents the repair (14 M.R.S. § 6026(3)).
• If you fail the heating standard, heating fuel the tenant buys counts as a cost of compliance (14 M.R.S. § 6026(9)).
• A tenant who was current in rent and gave written notice may ask the District Court or Superior Court to order repairs, set a reduced rent for the period after you had notice, or let the tenant move out temporarily during repairs (14 M.R.S. § 6021(3), (4)).
• In an eviction for unpaid rent, the tenant may defend on a habitability violation you had notice of and unreasonably failed to fix (14 M.R.S. § 6002(3)).
• If you fail to pay for utility service in your name, the tenant may pay it and deduct the amount from rent (14 M.R.S. § 6024-A(1)).
• The repair and deduct remedy does not apply to a unit in a building of five or fewer units where you live in one of them (14 M.R.S. § 6026(8)).

Maine has no statute that sets a general rule on subletting a home. The lease controls, so state in it whether the tenant needs your written consent (14 M.R.S. ch. 709; 14 M.R.S. ch. 710).

A rental with no fixed term is a tenancy at will in Maine. Either side ends it with at least 30 days' written notice, and if the tenant has paid rent past the date a 30-day notice would expire, the notice must run at least to the paid-through date. A landlord's notice must tell the tenant of the right to contest the termination in court (14 M.R.S. § 6002).

• The 30 days may be waived in writing only at the time the notice is given (14 M.R.S. § 6002).
• Accepting money after serving a 30-day notice does not undo the termination until a writ of possession issues (14 M.R.S. § 6002).
• A 30-day notice and a 7-day notice may be combined in one notice (14 M.R.S. § 6002).
• Attach the Judicial Branch form notice to the notice to terminate (14 M.R.S. § 6001(7)).
• Leaving out the right to contest language does not get an eviction dismissed, but if the tenant misses the hearing it is grounds to set aside the default judgment (14 M.R.S. § 6002).

Return the full deposit, or a written statement itemizing the reasons for keeping any part together with the balance, within the time the written lease states (never more than 30 days). For a tenancy at will, the deadline is 21 days after the tenancy ends or the home is surrendered and accepted, whichever is later. Mailing the statement and payment to the tenant's last known address complies (14 M.R.S. § 6033(2)).

• You may not keep any part of the deposit for normal wear and tear. You may keep amounts for actual causes such as unpaid rent, utility charges the tenant owed you directly, and the cost of storing and disposing of unclaimed property (14 M.R.S. § 6033(1), (2); 14 M.R.S. § 6031(1)).
• If you miss the deadline for the statement or the refund, you forfeit the right to keep any part of the deposit (14 M.R.S. § 6033(3)).
• Before suing, the tenant must give you at least 7 days' notice. If you still do not return the deposit, wrongful retention is presumed, you carry the burden of proof, and you can owe double the amount wrongfully kept plus reasonable attorney's fees and court costs (14 M.R.S. § 6034).
• When you sell or otherwise give up the property, either transfer each deposit to the new owner with an accounting and mail each tenant notice of the transfer, the new owner's name and address and a copy of the accounting, or return the deposits; on a sale this is done no later than the closing (14 M.R.S. § 6035(1)).
• A lease term that waives any of these deposit protections is void (14 M.R.S. § 6036).