Portland, ME

Portland caps what a wrecker may charge for a tow taken without your consent at $150.00, or $175.00 from an accident scene, and holds storage to $50.00 a day beginning twenty-four…

On streets posted for it, Portland bars overnight street parking between 12:01 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., under a rule the traffic engineer applies for narrow streets, snow removal, or…

Portland caps street parking of boats, campers, trailers, RVs and snowmobiles at 24 cumulative hours in any 7-day period. Oversized vehicles over 20 feet also can't sit on residential…

Portland's Land Use Code bars parking a vehicle in the front yard of most lots: spaces must sit to the side or rear of the principal structure, behind the front building line. The only…

Portland's traffic code bars any gas-powered car from occupying a designated EV charging space, and bars electric vehicles too if they're just parked there without plugging in. The…

Portland's city council can designate residential parking permit zones where a $50 annual sticker lets residents park past posted 1- and 2-hour limits. A separate Bayside Student…

Leaving an old, worn-out or junked motor vehicle on a Portland street or public place is banned outright under Chapter 12, and the city can tow and dispose of it without any liability…

Portland requires every vehicle parked on a public street to sit parallel to the curb, headed in the direction of traffic, with its curb-side wheels within 18 inches of the roadway…

Portland's city manager can declare an emergency parking ban for plowing, with at least 6 hours' notice to media before it starts. Vehicles blocking snow removal, or left parked during…

Portland restricts marked truck loading zones to commercially-plated vehicles actually loading or unloading materials, only between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Any single stop is capped at…

From November through March, Portland bars parking any motor vehicle over 20 feet long on a public street, way, or publicly owned property in residential zones. The rule targets large…

Portland bans creating noise on any public right-of-way that draws attention to its source, expressly naming rapid throttle revving and motor vehicles with straight-pipe or cutout…

Licensed outdoor entertainment in Portland must shut down by midnight Sunday through Thursday and by 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, unless the venue holds an Expanded Entertainment…

Portland bars loud construction work near homes, hospitals, and nursing homes during set overnight hours: 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. from September through May, 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. in…

Construction noise above 50 decibels is barred in Portland's residential zones between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. from September through May under Sec. 17-18(a); the evening cutoff moves…

Portland's Land Use Code sets numeric decibel ceilings by zoning district and time of day. Table 6-H fixes daytime/evening (7 a.m.–9 p.m.) and nighttime (9 p.m.–7 a.m.) sound limits…

Per 7 MRS Section 3950, Maine municipalities may adopt or retain more stringent barking-dog ordinances than state law; less restrictive local rules are invalid. State law also…

Portland charges short-term rental registrants a tiered annual fee that climbs with the number of units one owner registers, from $100 for a first owner-occupied unit up to $4,000 for…

Portland treats a short-term rental as a 'disorderly house', and enforces against it, once police respond to noise complaints like loud music, boisterous parties, or sounds audible…

Booking services such as Airbnb or Vrbo cannot take a fee for a Portland short-term rental unless the listing already displays the unit's city registration number. Platforms must also…

Portland caps overnight guests at any short-term rental at two people per bedroom plus two additional guests. Sec. 6-153(a) sets the formula citywide, applying equally to…

Portland's short-term rental code defines 'Owner-Occupied' as a unit the registrant actually owns and occupies as their primary residence, and bars registering a short-term rental in…

Portland limits, not nightly stays, but the number of non-owner-occupied short-term rentals it will register. Sec. 6-153(b) capped mainland units at 400 in 2025 and now allows only…

Portland's short-term rental ordinance imposes an escalating two-strike penalty on properties designated a 'disorderly house.' Under Section 6-156(c) of the Code of Ordinances, a first…

Portland requires every short-term rental to register annually with the Permitting and Inspections Department before renting begins. Registration is due by January 1st each year, or…

Portland bans dogs at large citywide, defining that as unleashed on public streets or city property beyond an eight-foot leash. Fines escalate from $75 for a first violation to $500…

Portland's Land Use Code defines veterinary services as an establishment for treating animals, with room to board patients during convalescence, and lists the use across the City's…

Portland allows up to six female chickens per lot for personal, non-commercial use, no permit required since 2017. Roosters, egg sales, breeding, and slaughtering are all barred, and…

Portland outlaws traveling animal acts featuring wild or exotic species. City Code Article VI (§§ 5-506–5-509) bans any circus, exhibition, ride, or similar act that requires a wild or…

Portland bars feeding wildlife like pigeons and squirrels on public property within the Downtown District, but the rule is narrow: it excludes dogs and deer, doesn't apply to Lincoln…

Portland bars pet shops from selling breeder- or broker-sourced dogs and cats. Under City Code § 5-501, a licensed pet shop may offer for sale only dogs and cats obtained from or…

Maine regulates honey-bee colonies through statewide inspection and disease control administered by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry; residential beekeeping…

Maine state law expressly preempts all breed-specific dog ordinances: no Maine city or town may ban pit bulls, Rottweilers, or any other breed. Dangerous-dog rules must be based on…

Maine does not define 'animal hoarding' as a standalone offense, but the conduct is prosecuted under cruelty-to-animals (17 MRS § 1031) and proper-shelter (7 MRS § 4015) statutes…

A small shed or detached accessory structure of 250 square feet or less can sit as close as 5 feet to the rear lot line in Portland's RN-1 through RN-4 zones (3 feet in RN-6), with…

Portland's Land Use Code lets homeowners build up to two accessory dwelling units per qualifying property, by right, on any lawfully conforming or nonconforming lot with an existing…

Maine adopted Appendix Q of the International Residential Code through MUBEC, providing statewide construction standards for tiny houses 400 square feet and under. The standards apply…

Portland Code of Ordinances Sec. 17-32 bans using, possessing with intent to use, selling or offering to sell consumer fireworks anywhere in the city. The only carve-out is a fireworks…

Portland's Code of Ordinances bans burning or incinerating solid waste anywhere in the city, with narrow exceptions for licensed hazardous or infectious waste disposal and…

Portland's Fire Prevention Code amends NFPA 101 to require hardwired, interconnected, photoelectric smoke alarms in all new construction and major renovations. Existing one- and…

Campfires are allowed in Portland only with a valid burning permit under Sec. 10-92. Permitted fires must comply with state law, Chapter 10, and any rules the fire chief has issued for…

Maine has no statewide defensible-space brush-clearance distance requirement comparable to California PRC § 4291; clearance is voluntary under the FireWise program except WITHIN the…

Under 32 MRS Chapter 139 (Maine Fuel Board), persons who install, service, or set propane tanks and outside piping must hold a Maine Fuel Board license; per 32 MRS § 18135 plant…

Running a home occupation in Portland is allowed by right as an accessory use under Land Use Code Section 6.6.2(E), but only if it stays truly incidental to residential life. The…

A Portland home occupation may display exactly one sign, and it has to be modest: Land Use Code Section 6.6.2(E)(2) caps exterior signage for home businesses at one non-illuminated…

A licensed family childcare provider gets two carve-outs other Portland home businesses don't: Land Use Code Section 6.6.2(E) exempts it from the floor-area limit that applies to other…

Portland caps the traffic a home business can generate: Land Use Code Section 6.6.2(E)(8) bars a home occupation from producing vehicular or pedestrian traffic in greater volumes than…

Maine licenses 'home food processors' under 22 MRS § 2167, administered by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Home food processors may produce…

Maine issues no statewide home kitchen operation permit. Instead the Maine Food Sovereignty Act, 7 M.R.S. chapter 8-F, lets a municipality, plantation or county adopt an ordinance…

Portland requires owners of property bordering a street to prune overhanging trees to a minimum clearance of 10 feet over sidewalks and 12 feet over streets, 16 feet over truck…

Before touching any tree on a Portland street, park or other public place, you need a permit from the City Arborist. The rule covers planting, spraying, fertilizing, pruning and…

Maine's Title 30-A, §3291 puts a roadside weed-and-brush duty on landowners whose property adjoins a public highway or town way. Once a municipality does the first clearing, the…

Portland's Land Use Code treats any outdoor swimming pool, above-ground or in-ground, as an accessory structure with fixed placement rules: no pool may sit in the front yard, and no…

Per 22 MRS § 1623 et seq. and 10-144 CMR Chapter 202, Maine DHHS licenses and inspects public and semi-public pools: water chemistry, anti-entrapment drain covers (VGB Act), lifeguard…

Portland's Code of Ordinances bars anyone from erecting or maintaining a barbed-wire fence along the line of a street, way, or public place without a revocable permit from the building…

Portland limits residential fences near the street to four feet within 15 feet of the street line, with no height cap in this section for side or rear yards. A separate…

Portland's Land Use Code caps residential fences at four feet within 15 feet of the street, though taller fences are allowed once the fence sits in the side or rear yard. The Land Use…

Maine has no statutory partition-fence or shared-cost rule. Neighbor disputes proceed under common-law nuisance, trespass, and boundary-line actions in Title 14 and Title 33.

Every exterior light fixture installed under Portland's Land Use Code must use full cut-off optics that aim illumination onto the site itself, not onto the neighbors. Land Use Code §…

Portland's Land Use Code makes full cut-off fixtures the citywide standard for exterior lighting on developed sites, requiring light to be aimed down onto the property rather than…

Portland requires yard waste, leaves, grass and garden waste under Sec. 12-16, to go out in a biodegradable plastic bag designated by the Department of Public Works, not a regular…

Throwing or dumping garbage, tobacco waste, yard waste or any other waste matter on a Portland street, sidewalk, park, vacant lot or waterway is a flat-out violation of Chapter 12…

Portland's Code of Ordinances makes every property owner or occupant responsible for on-site waste containers. One- and two-family tenants must supply their own; owners of larger…

Portland requires recyclables to go in the lidded rolling carts or drop-off bins the city designates under Sec. 12-19.1, and bars putting any trash, garbage or other waste in or around…

Any Portland residential property that doesn't use the city's trash and recycling pickup must run its own recycling program under Sec. 12-17.1, single-stream, at least as convenient as…

Portland residents may not set solid waste or recycling containers at the curb until 3:00 p.m. the day before their scheduled pickup under Sec. 12-21(a), and empties must come back off…

Portland's municipal collection won't take certain wastes at the curb at all: hazardous, infectious and hospital waste, flammable liquids, pesticides, paint, construction debris…

Portland collects bulky waste, mattresses, couches, appliances and other oversized items, only under Sec. 12-17.2's tag program run by the Department of Public Works. Large items over…

Docks, piers, and wharves in Portland's Shoreland Overlay Zone, which reaches 250 feet inland from tidal and river shorelines, need Building Authority review before construction, and a…

Any construction, filling, grading or other development in a Portland special flood hazard area needs a Flood Hazard Development Permit from the Building Authority before work starts…

New residential construction and substantial improvements in Portland's Zones AE, AO and AH must set the lowest floor, including any basement, at least two feet above base flood…

Portland requires an approved post-construction stormwater management plan and best management practices (BMPs) before any qualifying development project gets approval, and owners must…

Portland caps gasoline-powered private passenger vehicle idling at five consecutive minutes in any sixty-minute period under Sec. 28-195, with a minimum $50 fine and a $25 waiver…

Grading, filling and excavation within Portland's Shoreland Overlay Zone that requires a permit and disturbs soil stability must come with a written erosion and sedimentation control…

Maine coastal development is governed by 38 MRS § 1801 (Coastal Management Policies declared under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972), the mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act…

Portland's Heritage Tree Ordinance names the exact species and trunk-diameter thresholds that trigger protection: named shade trees at 24 inches DBH, ornamentals at 12 inches DBH, and…

Portland's Heritage Tree Protection Ordinance bars removing a Heritage Tree, a privately owned tree in a designated historic district meeting size, species or Big Tree List criteria…

Portland's Land Use Code requires every development subject to site plan review to plant one street tree for every 25 to 35 linear feet of frontage along a city right-of-way or private…

A full street closure in Portland, the kind a block party or neighborhood street festival needs, runs $500.00 per day or any portion of a day under the Section 25-27 fee schedule, the…

Parades, marches, rallies, protests, and similar public gatherings that use city property in Portland need a Division 2 permit, and the fee isn't fixed in the ordinance itself. Section…

Anyone planning to gather 25 or more people at a Portland park or public ground must get a permit at least 30 days ahead from the recreation department or, for events over 2,000 people…

Sidewalk cafe seating in Portland costs $84.00 plus $2.00 per square foot of dining area per fiscal year under Section 25-27(b)(1): cheaper than dining in a park, which runs $84.00…

Portland allows restaurants to convert on-street parking into outdoor dining space under a revocable street occupancy permit. One dedicated parking space costs $3,000 for the full…

A Portland street festival or special event can only happen where the City Council designates the area, and vendors there still need their own licenses. The festival organizer must…

Portland's Land Use Code flatly bans repairing or servicing vehicles, heavy machinery, or engines as a home occupation. Section 6.6.2(E)(11) draws a bright line: small electronics and…

Anyone operating a massage business in Portland needs a therapeutic massage establishment license, and every therapist needs a separate massage therapist license unless the sole owner…

Portland requires any wrecker or towing business to hold a city license from the Department of Permitting and Inspections before towing a vehicle without the owner's consent, backed by…

Secondhand dealers in Portland need a city license, must record every purchase or exchange with the seller's signature, report it to the police within 48 hours, and hold acquired goods…

Portland prohibits self-service displays of tobacco and vape products citywide under Code of Ordinances § 17-82: customers cannot pull packages of e-cigarettes or vape liquid off an…

Pawnbrokers in Portland must hold a city license, keep sworn transaction statements on every article pawned or pledged, report to the police chief within 48 hours, and hold outright…

Portland's Land Use Code keeps adult business establishments at least 1,000 feet from each other and 500 feet from any residential zone, measured lot line to lot line in a straight…

Portland bans smoking, including e-cigarettes, in city parks and public grounds, within 20 feet of city playgrounds, beaches and athletic facilities, and in outdoor dining patios…

Portland doesn't ban panhandling outright, but Sec. 17-2 makes 'abusive solicitation' a violation: blocking or following someone who declined to give money, touching them without…

Portland lets the city council designate any sidewalk, street or public property off-limits to skateboarding, and it has used that power downtown: a 2007 council order bars…

Portland prohibits recreational marijuana use, and even the act of checking how much you're carrying, in public spaces, on school grounds, and on transportation infrastructure. Adults…

Public urination or defecation on any Portland sidewalk, street, public way, public place or public property, or in immediate proximity to one, is flatly barred under Sec. 17-15(a)…

Portland's loitering ordinance bans standing or lingering in a public place in a manner that blocks street, sidewalk or building access, interferes with a lawful business, solicits sex…

Portland's traffic code doesn't ban crossing mid-block outright, but Sec. 28-202 flips the right-of-way: a pedestrian who crosses anywhere other than a marked or unmarked intersection…

Portland's health authority or director of permitting and inspections can order abatement of an environmental lead hazard in any dwelling or premises under City Code § 6-115. The rule…

Portland requires a permit before installing, removing, or altering plumbing, plumbing fixtures, or subsurface waste water disposal systems. City Code § 6-92(a)(2) sets the…

Portland has adopted the 2020 National Electric Code for all electrical work citywide, and Sec. 6-99 requires a state-licensed master, limited, or special electrician for any…

No building, structure, or property in Portland may be used or occupied without a certificate of occupancy. City Code § 6-93 blocks a final certificate unless the property fully…

Portland requires a permit from the building authority before any construction, alteration, demolition, plumbing, or electrical work begins under City Code § 6-92(a). Occupying a…

Portland's amended Life Safety Code requires CO alarms or detection throughout every existing residential occupancy and all new occupancies except industrial and storage uses. Alarms…

Portland's Life Safety Code amendments exempt certain accessory dwelling units from automatic sprinkler mandates. An additional dwelling unit added to an existing detached one-family…

Portland's Green Building Code, Chapter 6 Article VII, requires new construction and renovation projects owned, occupied, or funded in part by the City of Portland to reach LEED Silver…

Portland's public works authority, not the abutting property owner, repairs and maintains sidewalks and curbing that the city built or that were constructed under Chapter 25 of the…

Portland requires a revocable street and sidewalk occupancy permit before anyone places, suspends or leaves an object, tables, chairs, barricades, portable signs, on a street, way or…

Anyone who wants to place, keep, or suspend anything, from sandwich boards to construction barricades, in or over a Portland street, way, or sidewalk needs a revocable street and…

Portland bars marijuana cultivation, manufacturing, testing, retail, caregiver, and dispensary uses within 500 feet of any pre-existing public, private, or preschool program, and bars…

Portland caps marijuana retail stores and registered dispensaries at 2,000 square feet of gross floor area, and separately limits marijuana cultivation facilities to under 2,000 square…

Maine state law universally allows adults 21 and over to grow up to three mature cannabis plants for personal use and qualifying medical patients to grow more, with municipalities…

Portland's health authority enforces a citywide duty on every property owner to keep buildings and lots free of rodent harborage. Two-family-plus, single-family, commercial and…

Every food service establishment in Portland must designate at least one supervisory employee as a Certified Food Protection Manager under Sec. 11-10, and prove it before any Chapter…

Any food truck or pushcart selling on a Portland street, sidewalk or public place is a 'street vendor' under Sec. 19-16 and needs a license from the Permitting and Inspections…

Every street vendor doing business on a Portland street, way or public place needs a license from the Department of Permitting and Inspections, and the license is limited to selling…

Portland licenses street vendors under Chapter 19 and confines where they can set up: only in zones of the city where vending is a permitted or conditional use under the Land Use Code…

Before raising rent on a covered unit, a Portland landlord must deliver a signed written notice at least 90 days before the increase takes effect. Code of Ordinances § 6-234(d)…

Every rental unit in Portland, long-term or short-term, must be registered with the Permitting and Inspections Department under City Code §§ 6-150-6-151, renewed every January 1, with…

Portland's Housing Code sets minimum structural habitability standards for every dwelling in the city. Sec. 6-108 bars occupying or renting a unit whose foundations, walls, roof…

Portland landlords can't end a tenancy on short notice. Code of Ordinances § 6-236(a) requires a minimum 90-day written notice to terminate, dropping only for a 7-day for-cause…

Portland caps how much landlords can raise rent on most rental units under the voter-approved Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Code of Ordinances Chapter 6, Article VI. The Housing Safety…

Before evicting, a Maine landlord must serve the proper written notice: 7 days for nonpayment of rent, 7 days for cause such as serious property damage, nuisance, or violence, and 30…

Maine landlords must give tenants reasonable notice before entering and may enter only at reasonable times, except in emergencies. Twenty-four hours is presumed reasonable. Tenants may…

Maine caps residential late-rent penalties at 4% of one month's rent. A landlord may not charge a late fee until rent is at least 15 days overdue, and may only charge it if the lease…

Either party may end a Maine tenancy at will (month-to-month) with at least 30 days' written notice given for that purpose, regardless of cause. Shorter 7-day notices apply for…

Maine caps a residential security deposit at two months' rent. A landlord must return the deposit with an itemized statement of any deductions within 30 days under a written lease, or…

Maine requires 20 years of possession before a squatter can claim land by adverse possession. Under tit. 14 § 801 a real action to recover land must be brought within 20 years, and §…

Tenants in Portland's rent-stabilized units can take rent and habitability disputes to the Rent Board. Code of Ordinances § 6-263(c) gives the Board authority to hear and decide, de…

As a condition of the annual rental registration required citywide, Portland owners must let the city conduct onsite inspections of every registered unit, per City Code § 6-151(a)(5)…

When a Portland building must be secured under Chapter 6's housing article, the enforcement authority can secure it itself and bill the owner a flat $500 penalty plus the actual…

Portland Code § 25-173 splits sidewalk snow duty by property type: commercial owners must clear a four-foot path within 12 hours of snow stopping, residential owners within 18 hours…

Portland's traffic code bars any motor vehicle from stopping or driving inside a bicycle lane or pedestrian lane the city traffic engineer has marked as such. The rule sits in Chapter…

Maine runs two completely separate tracks. A federally compliant low-speed vehicle can be registered with the Secretary of State for $25 a year under 29-A M.R.S. § 501(11), gets a…

Portland outlaws face surveillance by every city department, employee and contractor. Article XI of Chapter 17, adopted by referendum in 2020, bars the City from obtaining, using or…

Portland's Land Use Code designates individual buildings, structures, objects and sites of particular significance as historic "Landmarks" under Article 16, separate from historic…

Storefront window signage in Portland can't exceed 50% of the window's area: temporary and permanent signs, including painted or perforated-vinyl designs, all count toward that cap…

Portland's Land Use Code allows only one electronic message sign per lot, and it can't flash, blink, or show video: each changing message must hold for at least 30 seconds. Automatic…

Maine regulates political sign placement primarily through 23 MRS § 1913-A (signs within public ways) and 23 MRS § 1914-B (political signs at the polling place). Political signs are…

Portland's Land Use Code allows roof-mounted solar panels citywide without counting them toward maximum structure height, while ground-mounted systems are confined to the B-4, I-L…

Maine's Solar Rights Act, 33 M.R.S. chapter 28-A, bars a homeowners association, condominium association, deed restriction or even a municipal ordinance from prohibiting an owner from…

Portland's Land Use Code fixes front, rear and side setback minimums zone-by-zone in Table 7-A of Article 7, not as one citywide number. In the RN-1 Residential Neighborhood zone the…

Portland's Land Use Code caps residential structure height at 35 feet across the RN-1, RN-2, RN-3, and (as a base figure) RN-4 zones, drops to 18 feet in the low-density RN-5 zone, and…

Portland bars any parent, guardian or caretaker from letting a child under fifteen be out on the city's streets, ways or public places after 9:00 p.m. under Sec. 17-16, unless the…

Portland bars loitering in any city park or public ground between 10:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., including staying parked in a car on park roadways during those hours. Tommy's Park and Post…

Bars, clubs, and other licensed entertainment venues in Portland can't exceed 85 dBA or 95 dBC on the licensed premises without an Expanded Entertainment Addendum. Section 4-57 of…

Portland exempts garage and yard sales from the Land Use Code's temporary use permit process. Held on residential property, a garage sale counts as a permitted temporary use outright…

Portland's Land Use Code lets eligible affordable-housing projects build more units than the base zoning allows. Under Section 17.2.2(D), density bonuses scale from 1.1x base at 10-19%…

Anyone going door-to-door in Portland selling consumer merchandise or services as a transient seller must hold a city license before doing business. The city license cannot even be…

Maine's minimum wage statute at 26 MRS section 664 sets a state floor while expressly permitting municipalities to enact higher local minimum wages above the state level.

Maine's Earned Paid Leave law at 26 MRS section 637 grants employees one hour of paid leave per 40 hours worked, capped at 40 hours per year for covered employers.

Maine is a permitless carry state for residents 21 and older, while still issuing concealed handgun permits recognized for reciprocity and certain restricted areas.

Maine preempts local firearms regulation under 25 MRS section 2011, with limited municipal authority allowed for discharge ordinances and certain public buildings.

Maine generally permits open carry of firearms by lawful possessors, governed primarily by state law with municipalities preempted from imposing additional carry restrictions.

Maine permits handgun carry in motor vehicles by lawful possessors under 25 MRS section 2001-A, with permitless concealed carry available to qualifying residents 21 and older.

Maine law confines legal casino gambling to two fixed locations under 8 M.R.S. § 1011: the Oxford County casino site and the Bangor commercial-track site. A new casino or slot facility…

Maine requires a license or registration from the Gambling Control Unit before any nonprofit, fraternal, religious, or civic group can run card games, raffles, tournament games, or an…

Maine's unlawful gambling statute, 17-A M.R.S. § 954, only punishes a person who 'advances' or 'profits from' unlawful gambling activity, not the act of playing itself. Section 952(8)…

Maine legalized sports wagering statewide in 2022, but mobile and online betting licenses under 8 M.R.S. § 1207 go exclusively to Maine's four federally recognized Indian tribes: no…

Maine condominium associations get an automatic statutory assessment lien on each unit under 33 M.R.S. § 1603-116. Non-condo HOAs have no general statute and rely on their recorded…

Maine condo associations must hold annual meetings and keep records open to owners under 33 M.R.S. §§ 1603-108 and 1603-118. Non-condo HOAs follow the meeting, voting, and…

Maine is a right-to-dry state, and the protection is written into the codified statute rather than borrowed from a solar definition. 33 M.R.S. § 1421(3) defines a "solar clothes-drying…

Since 2023 Maine has protected low-impact landscaping in condominiums and other common-ownership housing at 33 M.R.S. § 1451. A covenant, declaration, bylaw or rule may not place an…

Maine enacted a right-to-charge law in 2025. Under 33 M.R.S. § 576-A, added by PL 2025, c. 280, any provision of a declaration or bylaw that prohibits or places an unreasonable…

Maine puts no dollar cap on association fines. 33 M.R.S. § 1603-102(a)(11) lets a condominium unit owners association levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws…

Maine gives a condominium association an automatic lien on a unit from the moment an assessment or fine falls due, and 33 M.R.S. § 1603-116(a) lets that lien be foreclosed in like…

Maine calls the offence OUI, not DUI, and it has legislated about roadblocks without ever writing a sobriety checkpoint statute. The word "checkpoint" appears nowhere in the Maine…

Maine has no statute granting a right to record law enforcement. The phrases "law enforcement activity" and "record a law enforcement" return nothing in the Maine Revised Statutes, and…

Maine has no general stop-and-identify statute that attaches on suspicion alone. The duty in 17-A MRS §15-A(2) arises only where an officer has probable cause to believe you committed…

Maine has no statute on consent to search a vehicle. Full-text searches of the Maine Revised Statutes for "consent to search", "warrantless search", "search of a motor vehicle"…

Maine's Right to Farm and farmland-protection statutes in the Maine Agriculture Protection Act (7 MRS Chapter 6) limit local zoning that would impede agricultural operations meeting…

Maine's Right to Farm framework in the Maine Agriculture Protection Act (7 MRS Chapter 6) shields established farm operations from nuisance suits and restrictive local ordinances when…

Maine's LD 1532 enacted a statewide ban on single-use plastic carryout bags, codified in 38 MRS section 1611, with retailer fee requirements for paper alternatives.

Maine prohibits the sale and distribution of disposable polystyrene foam food service containers under 38 MRS § 1572 (Title 38, Chapter 15-A), the first such statewide ban in the…

Maine prohibits the sale of tobacco and electronic smoking devices to anyone under age 21 under 22 MRS section 1551-A and related Tobacco 21 statutes.

Maine has no statewide flavor ban, but several municipalities have adopted local restrictions on flavored tobacco and vape sales using their public health authority.

Maine regulates extra lighting by a dedicated section, 29-A MRS §1909-B, and it is strict. An auxiliary light must be white or amber on the front, amber on the side, and amber or red…

Maine has no statute that names dash cameras and no list of devices allowed on the windshield, so the question is decided by effect rather than by permission. Under 29-A MRS §2082(2) a…

Maine prohibits lane splitting twice over, in two separate subsections of 29-A M.R.S. § 2062. Subsection 5 bars a motorcycle operator from overtaking or passing in the lane occupied by…

Maine has no statute that names plate covers, tinted shields or frames, but it does something harsher than most states: 29-A M.R.S. § 2104(2) makes it a Class E crime to obscure the…

Maine has no statute prohibiting radar detectors in private passenger vehicles. A full-text search of the Maine Revised Statutes returns no section using the phrase radar detector, and…

Maine lets you run metal studs for seven months of the year with no permit at all. 29-A M.R.S. § 1919(1) makes it an offense to operate a vehicle with tires having metal studs, wires…

Maine sets one number for aftermarket tint: a side or rear window may not allow a light transmittance of less than 35% net of glass and material, under 29-A MRS §1916(1)(C). The…