Maine real estate law covers how property is bought and sold, what sellers must disclose, who controls land use, how property is taxed, and what landlords and tenants owe each other. The rules sit across several titles of the Maine Revised Statutes and a handful of agency regulations, and the details carry real money: a state transfer tax on every deed, a $25,000 homestead exemption, strict shoreland setbacks, and eviction procedures a landlord cannot shortcut.
Buying and Selling a Home in Maine
Most residential deals start with a purchase and sale agreement setting the price, closing date, and contingencies for financing or inspection. The Maine Association of Realtors publishes a standard form, but buyers and sellers can negotiate custom terms with an attorney.
Earnest Money
The earnest money goes into the brokerage’s real estate trust account. The designated broker must deposit those funds within five business days of acceptance and cannot commingle them with brokerage money. The account itself has to be labeled “real estate trust account” on both checks and bank statements.1LII / Legal Information Institute. Maine Code of Regulations 02-039-400-2 – Real Estate Trust Accounts
If a deal collapses and both sides claim the deposit, the broker must notify each party in writing of the other’s demand and can hold the funds until the parties agree or a court orders disbursement. A broker cannot skim commission out of the deposit on a failed closing unless the party being charged authorizes it in writing.1LII / Legal Information Institute. Maine Code of Regulations 02-039-400-2 – Real Estate Trust Accounts
Title, Closing, and Recording
A title search verifies ownership and turns up liens, easements, or other encumbrances. Attorneys or title companies handle this in Maine, and title insurance covers defects the search missed. That protection matters more than most buyers assume: old land grants along the coast and through rural areas can produce overlapping claims and ambiguous boundaries.
At closing, the seller signs the deed before a notary, who must verify the signer’s identity through personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence.2Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 4 Section 1905 – Requirements for Certain Notarial Acts The deed is then recorded at the registry of deeds in the county where the property sits. An unrecorded deed is only effective between the grantor and the grantor’s heirs; it does not protect the buyer against someone who records first.3Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 33 Section 201 – Priority of Recording
Real Estate Transfer Tax
Maine charges $2.20 per $500 of value on every deed, split evenly between buyer and seller. A $300,000 home generates $1,320 total, or $660 per side.4Maine State Legislature. Real Estate Transfer Tax – 36 MRSA Chapter 711-A Exempt transfers include those ordered by a court, transfers between co-owners, and conveyances to a spouse or someone in the seller’s direct family line.5Maine Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 33 Section 172 – Applicability and Exemptions
When the seller is a nonresident, the buyer withholds 2.5% of the sale price and remits it to Maine Revenue Services as an estimated income tax payment on the seller’s gain, filed on Form REW-1.6LII / Legal Information Institute. Maine Code of Regulations 18-125-806-10 – Income Tax Withholding Obligations
What Sellers Must Disclose
Maine sellers complete a property disclosure statement before closing. The required contents run longer than most buyers expect. The form covers the water supply system (type, location, any malfunctions, most recent test results), the heating system (type, age, service history, annual fuel consumption, and chimney inspection dates), and the presence or prior removal of hazardous materials including asbestos, lead-based paint in pre-1978 homes, radon, underground oil storage tanks, and methamphetamine.7Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 33 Section 173 – Required Disclosures
The methamphetamine disclosure was added in 2019. If a property was ever used as a meth lab, or if meth contamination was identified and remediated, the seller must say so.7Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 33 Section 173 – Required Disclosures Sellers of nonresidential property accessed by something other than a public road must also describe the access and identify who is responsible for maintaining it, including any road association.
Not every sale triggers disclosure. Exempt transactions include court-ordered transfers such as foreclosures and estate distributions, transfers from a borrower to a lender in default, conveyances between co-owners, transfers by inheritance, and sales to a spouse or someone in the seller’s direct family line.5Maine Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 33 Section 172 – Applicability and Exemptions Sellers who fill out the form dishonestly can be liable for damages a buyer suffers from an undisclosed defect.
Agency Relationships With Real Estate Licensees
Maine law separates customers from clients. Until you sign a written brokerage agreement, a licensee owes you honest dealing, disclosure of known physical defects, and proper handling of money. Once you sign, you become a client, and the agent takes on a duty to promote your best interests and keep your bargaining information confidential.8Maine Real Estate Commission. Maine Real Estate Commission Brokerage Relationships Form
Licensees must give you the Real Estate Brokerage Relationships Form the first time they have substantive contact with you as a prospective buyer or seller, whether in person, in writing, or electronically. The form is not required for transactions involving land without a residential dwelling, properties with more than four residential units, or situations where another licensee has already delivered it.9LII / Legal Information Institute. Maine Code of Regulations 02-039-410-9 – Real Estate Brokerage Relationship Disclosure Procedures
Adverse Possession and Quiet Title
Maine recognizes adverse possession, which allows someone who occupies land openly, continuously, and without the owner’s permission for long enough to eventually claim title. The period is 20 years of continuous occupation combined with payment of property taxes.
Quiet title actions are a separate tool. If you have been in uninterrupted possession for four years or more, you can file a summary proceeding to establish ownership and eliminate competing claims.10Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 14 Chapter 723 – Proceedings to Quiet Title They are also used to clean up ambiguous historical records rather than to take someone else’s land. If a chain of title looks murky, an attorney may recommend a quiet title action before closing.
Zoning and Land Use Rules
Most zoning power in Maine sits with individual municipalities. Each town and city adopts ordinances dictating what can be built where, and local planning boards and zoning boards of appeals hear applications for variances and special exceptions.
Roughly half of Maine’s land area falls in unorganized or deorganized territories with no municipal government. In those places the Maine Land Use Planning Commission serves as the planning and zoning authority, working to encourage appropriate development while preventing uses that would harm the land’s long-term ecological and economic value.11Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. About the Maine Land Use Planning Commission
Shoreland Zoning
The Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act restricts development near water bodies, rivers, and wetlands. Structures, permanent or temporary, must meet setbacks from the normal high-water line. Within 75 feet of that line, vegetation clearing is heavily restricted: cleared openings are generally prohibited, and a well-distributed stand of trees and other plants must remain intact to screen development from the water.12Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act Issue Profile The rules apply statewide, but municipalities implement them through their own ordinances.
Tree Growth Tax Law
Owners of at least 10 acres of forested land can enroll in the Tree Growth Tax Law program, which values the land on forest productivity rather than market value. Pulling land out of the program triggers a penalty. It is the greater of two figures: the taxes that would have been assessed at full market value over the preceding five years (minus taxes actually paid, plus interest), or a percentage of the difference between market value and the Tree Growth valuation. That percentage starts at 30% for land enrolled 10 years or less and drops one point for each additional year, bottoming out at 20%.13Maine Legislature. An Act to Amend the Penalty for Withdrawal of Land From the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law Program
Property Taxes and the Homestead Exemption
Maine property taxes are levied by municipalities using locally assessed values. Each town sets a mill rate, which fixes the tax per $1,000 of assessed value, and rates vary widely with local budgets and tax bases.
If you have owned and occupied a Maine home as your permanent residence for at least 12 months by April 1, you can apply for the homestead exemption, which reduces the home’s taxable value by $25,000. The application goes to your local assessor by April 1.14Maine Revenue Services. Property Tax Exemptions On a home assessed at $200,000 in a town with a 15 mill rate, that exemption saves $375 a year, and the savings scale with the local rate.
Miss a payment and Maine tacks on a penalty of 1% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month it is late, up to 25% of the unpaid amount.15Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Section 187-B – Penalties
Landlord and Tenant Rules
Maine’s landlord-tenant law lives mostly in Title 14 of the Revised Statutes. It sets deadlines for returning deposits, notice periods before an eviction, and minimum habitability standards, and skipping any of these steps can sink an eviction or expose a landlord to liability.
Security Deposits
The return timeline depends on the tenancy. Under a written lease, the landlord must return the full deposit or provide an itemized written statement of any deductions within the period stated in the lease, and that period cannot exceed 30 days. For a tenancy at will, the more common arrangement in Maine, the deadline is 21 days after the tenancy ends or the tenant surrenders the premises, whichever is later.16Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 14 Section 6033 – Return of the Security Deposit Deductions have to be for actual damage beyond normal wear and tear, and they have to be itemized in writing.
Evictions
A Maine landlord cannot change the locks or shut off utilities. The process starts with written notice, and the required period depends on the reason.
- For a general termination of a tenancy at will, either party must give at least 30 days’ written notice, and the notice has to state the specific ground.17Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 14 Section 6002 – Tenancy at Will
- For nonpayment, once a tenant is seven or more days behind on rent, the landlord can issue a seven-day written notice. If the tenant pays everything owed before the seven days run out, the notice is void.17Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 14 Section 6002 – Tenancy at Will
If the tenant does not leave or cure the problem after the notice period, the landlord has to file in court to get an eviction order. There is no shortcut. Self-help evictions are illegal, and a landlord who attempts one can be liable to the tenant.
Habitability
Every residential rental in Maine carries an implied warranty that the property is fit for human habitation. Title 14, Section 6021 sets basic livability standards, including a minimum heat level of no less than 62 degrees Fahrenheit.18Maine Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 14 Section 6021 – Implied Warranty and Covenant of Habitability If a condition endangers or materially impairs a tenant’s health or safety, the tenant can file a complaint, and landlords who ignore habitability problems risk rent withholding or court-ordered repairs.
Bed Bug and Radon Disclosures
Two disclosure duties catch some Maine landlords off guard. A landlord cannot rent a unit known to be infested with bed bugs and must tell prospective tenants if an adjacent unit is currently infested or being treated. If a prospective tenant asks, the landlord must also disclose the last date the unit was inspected and found free of bed bugs.19Maine Housing. Maine Bed Bug Law – Title 14 MRSA Section 6021-A
Landlords also must give written notice about radon hazards and share the results of any required radon testing. Once test results come in, the landlord has 30 days to notify the tenant in writing of the levels found.