Maine lawmakers have approved along party lines a bill to implement new regulations on the fees that landlords can impose upon their current and potential tenants.
Approved by Democrat lawmakers earlier this month, this bill puts in place a number of provisions pertaining to the types of fees landlords may charge current and future tenants, as well as those that may be imposed by the owners of mobile home parks.
It also adds into statute a mandatory 45-day notification requirement for any increase in recurring fees, mirroring that which is currently in place for rent increases.
This law would also require landlords to provide potential tenants with a total price disclosure before signing a lease that includes the cost of rent and any additional fees for which they would be responsible on a recurring basis.
These changes are set to go into effect on January 1, 2025.
As amended by the Housing Committee, this bill bars landlords from requiring a tenant to pay anything upfront beyond the first month’s worth of rent, a security deposit, and “any mandatory recurring fee.”
The bill defines mandatory recurring fees as those which are paid on a “predetermined recurring basis to fulfill requirements within a lease or tenancy at will agreement related to services or common areas.”
It also adds a clause explicitly prohibiting landlords from requiring tenants to pay “a fee, penalty or other charge” for “discontinuing tenancy” beyond those that are “to recover reasonable expenses related to securing another tenant in circumstances in which the initial tenant has breached provisions of the lease,” to collect unpaid rent, or to cover the cost of damages cause by the tenant.
Also included in the amended version of this bill is a requirement that landlords give potential tenants a “total price disclosure” outlining all costs that a tenant will “be responsible for paying,” such as the total cost of rent, recurring fees, and utility service costs.
This legislation also expands the 45-day notification requirement for rent increases to include any increase in mandatory recurring fees for which a tenant is responsible.
Click Here to Read the Full Text of LD 1490 As Amended
The House Amendment to this bill proposes to extend the restrictions on rent increases — and the notification requirements for such increases — to encompass mobile home park owners.
It also prohibits these owners from charging potential tenants an application fee beyond the cost of a background check, credit check, or other screening process.
Click Here to Read the Full Text of the House Amendment to LD 1490
The original draft of LD 1490 was much shorter than that which was ultimately adopted by the House and Senate, only containing language that prohibited landlords from charging prospective tenants an upfront fee beyond the first month’s rent, a security deposit, and the cost to purchase and install a lock and key.
Click Here to Read the Original Draft of LD 1490
Lawmakers in the House voted 74-63 along party lines in favor of accepting the Housing Committee’s Majority Ought to Pass As Amended report, with all present Democrats supporting the measure and all present Republicans voting in opposition.
Nearly the same group of lawmakers also voted in support of the House Amendment concerning the owners of mobile home parks — approving it in a roll call vote of 74-64 — with the exception of Rep. Stephen W. Moriarty (D-Cumberland), who voted against this particular amendment despite supporting the amended bill as a whole.
Similarly, the Senate voted along party lines to support this version of the bill in a roll call vote of 21-13, wherein all Republicans were in opposition and all present Democrats were in support. Sen. Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland) was excused from the chamber at the time of the vote.
Lawmakers must now complete their final votes to enact this bill before it goes to Gov. Janet Mills (D) for a signature.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="26811 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=26811">4 Comments
Talk about gov’t meddling. You’ll need a lawyer on retainer just rent to someone. Why would anyone want to be a landlord with the bs this bill will require. The meddling dems in Augusta just can’t leave anything alone. If there is some way they can interfere in your life they’ll find it. Just wait till squatters move in. Then as a landlord you’ll really have a headache. This country is turning into a 3rd world shit hole.
It will just increase the cost of all housing-Fools!
Just another step by Democrats to angrily strip away the rights of property ownership from Americans. They hate property owners because most of them can’t get their lives together enough to actually save to own a property. They call property ownership “racist” to mask the fact that property ownership is really just about not being a douchebag and taking responsibility for your life. Yes, they are ruining this once great country.
And yet they can’t understand why there’s a housing crisis.