Rent control rules in Portland, ME — also known as rent stabilization or rent cap ordinances — limit annual rent increases and protect tenants from displacement.
Maine has no statewide rent control and no statewide cap on rent increases, but it also has no statute preempting local rent control. Under their home-rule authority, municipalities may adopt their own ordinances. Portland enacted rent control by 2020 citizen referendum, administered by a Rent Board, and South Portland followed in 2023.
Maine sets no statewide limit on how much rent may rise, and no Maine statute preempts municipal rent regulation. Maine municipalities exercise broad home-rule authority under the Maine Constitution (art. VIII, pt. 2, §1) and 30-A M.R.S. §3001, which lets a town adopt any ordinance not denied by the Legislature. Using that authority, Portland voters approved a rent-control ordinance by citizen referendum in November 2020 (Portland City Code, Ch. 6, Art. V), making it Maine's first community to adopt rent control. It limits annual increases on existing tenants to a CPI-based percentage, requires advance notice of increases, and created a Rent Board to hear disputes and rule on landlord petitions for additional increases. South Portland adopted its own rent-stabilization ordinance effective 2023, capping annual increases for larger landlords. Several towns have also enacted mobile-home-park rent measures.
Because there is no statewide cap, there is no state-law penalty for the amount of an increase; enforcement is purely local. In Portland, the Rent Board can order rent reductions, require corrective action, and impose penalties on landlords who violate the ordinance, with tenants able to bring complaints for hearing.
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