Portland Rent Control: A Landlord's Compliance Guide

Portland, Maine has had a voter-approved Rent Control Ordinance on the books since November 2020. If you own residential rental property within city limits, it almost certainly applies to you — and the penalties for getting it wrong are real. This guide walks through what the ordinance requires in practice: who's covered, how much you can raise rent, what notice you have to give, and how the Rent Board process actually works.

This is general information for Maine landlords, not legal advice. The ordinance has been amended several times since passage. Always cross-check current figures and forms with the City of Portland's Housing Safety Office and the Rent Board.

Who the ordinance covers

Portland's ordinance applies broadly to residential rental units in the city, with a handful of carve-outs. In general, you should assume you are covered if you rent out a residential unit in Portland and none of the following apply:

• The unit is an owner-occupied building with two units or fewer.
• The unit is in a building of four or fewer units where the owner occupies one unit as their principal residence (check current city guidance — this threshold has shifted).
• The unit is genuinely transient (true short-term lodging, licensed accordingly).
• The unit is government-owned or operated under a specific subsidy program that preempts local rent regulation.

Single-family homes, condos rented individually, and accessory dwelling units are generally not exempt. If you're unsure whether your property is covered, ask the city before you raise rent — not after a tenant files a complaint.

Annual registration

Every covered unit must be registered with the City of Portland. This is a separate filing from your standard rental housing registration and license. Expect to provide:

• Property address and unit number.
• Owner of record and a local contact for service of process.
• Current rent for each unit.
• Lease start date and tenancy type.

Registration is renewed annually. Failure to register is itself a violation, and an unregistered unit can complicate any future rent increase or eviction action.

How much you can raise the rent

The headline rule is simple: in any 12-month period, base rent for a covered unit can only increase by a percentage tied to the regional Consumer Price Index (CPI-U for the Northeast urban region). The City publishes the allowable percentage each year — confirm the current figure on the Rent Board's page before issuing any notice.

On top of the CPI-based increase, there are a few other narrow adjustments you may be entitled to, including:

• Property tax pass-through. A documented portion of an increase in the unit's property tax bill can be added.
• Capital improvement pass-through. Genuine capital improvements (not ordinary maintenance) may be amortized into rent, subject to caps and Rent Board approval.
• Banked increases. If you didn't take the full allowable increase in prior years, you may be able to carry forward a portion — but banking is capped and must be documented in writing.

Anything beyond these categories — a "market reset," recouping months of unpaid rent through a higher new rate, or rolling a new fee into base rent — is not permitted without going through the Rent Board.

Vacancy and reletting

Portland is not a vacancy-decontrol jurisdiction. When a tenant moves out, you generally cannot reset the rent to whatever the market will bear. The next tenant's starting rent is tied to the prior tenant's rent plus any allowable increases that could lawfully have been taken in the intervening period. Document the prior rent, the date of vacancy, and the math behind your new asking rent before you list the unit.

The 75-day notice rule

Any rent increase on a covered unit requires written notice to the tenant at least 75 days before the increase takes effect. That notice must include, at a minimum:

• The current rent and the new rent.
• The effective date of the increase.
• The basis for the increase (CPI allowance, property tax pass-through, banked increase, etc.) with supporting figures.
• A statement of the tenant's right to dispute the increase with the Rent Board.

A notice that omits the basis or the dispute language is defective. It is not enough to simply state a new dollar figure and an effective date.

Just-cause eviction

The ordinance is paired with just-cause eviction protections. You cannot end a tenancy — including by declining to renew a fixed-term lease — except for an enumerated reason such as material non-payment, substantial lease violation, owner move-in, removal of the unit from the rental market, or substantial rehabilitation. Each of these grounds has its own notice and documentation requirements. "I just want the unit back" is not one of them.

In certain owner-driven terminations (owner move-in, demolition, removal from market), relocation assistance is owed to the displaced tenant. The amount is set by the city and updates periodically.

The Rent Board process

The Portland Rent Board is the administrative body that hears disputes. The typical flow:

1. Landlord serves a written rent increase notice (75-day rule applies).
2. Tenant has a defined window to file a petition challenging the increase.
3. The Board reviews documentation from both sides and may schedule a hearing.
4. The Board issues a written decision. Either party may appeal to Superior Court within the statutory window.

Most disputes that go badly for landlords go badly for the same reason: missing or incomplete records. Keep clean ledgers, every notice you've ever issued, every property tax bill, and itemized invoices for any capital improvement you intend to pass through.

Penalties for non-compliance

Charging rent above the lawful maximum, issuing a defective notice, or evicting without just cause can expose you to:

• An order to refund overcharges to the tenant.
• Civil penalties payable to the city.
• Attorney's fees for a tenant who prevails in a Rent Board or court action.
• A reset of the lawful rent to a lower figure for the duration of the tenancy.

None of these are theoretical. Portland tenants and tenant advocates are aware of the ordinance and use it.

A practical compliance checklist

• Confirm whether each unit is covered before listing or renewing.
• Register every covered unit and renew annually.
• Maintain a rent history for each unit — current rent, prior rent, every increase and its basis.
• Use the current year's published CPI allowance. Re-check it every January.
• Issue any increase in writing, at least 75 days out, with the required disclosures.
• Document property tax increases and capital improvements contemporaneously, not after the fact.
• Treat non-renewal the same as eviction — you need a just-cause basis and the right notice.

How Anchor handles this for our clients

For every Portland unit we manage, the compliance module inside our operating stack tracks the rent history, the current allowable increase, the next eligible increase date, and the notice template with the required disclosures pre-filled. When it's time to raise rent, the math and the paperwork are already done. When the Rent Board calls, the file is already built.

If you'd like a second set of eyes on your current rent roll — whether or not you ever work with us — we're happy to do a no-cost compliance review.