Portland, ME Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

' Section 6-151(a) requires every rental unit, long-term or short-term, to be registered by January 1st of each year, with new units entering the market registering within 14 days. A unit rented as both short-term and long-term must be registered separately for each use, and a rental isn't legally 'registered' until the city receives all required information and the fee is paid in full. Owners, managers, and any responsible property manager are jointly obligated to register, and a new owner or manager has 30 days after a purchase or transfer of responsibility to apply.

As a condition of registration, owners must allow the Permitting and Inspections Department to conduct on-site inspections. Section 6-152 sets registration fees on a sliding scale by unit count: owner-occupied, tenant-occupied, seasonal, and island STRs start at $100 for the first unit and climb to $2,000 for a fifth unit in the same year; non-owner-occupied mainland units start at $200 and climb to $4,000. Late registrations filed after January 15 (or 14 days after market entry) draw a $50-per-unit fee, rising to $200 per unit after February 15.

5% of the prior year's registered long-term units, no new tenant-occupied STRs are allowed starting January 1, 2026, and any one individual or entity may register no more than five STR units per calendar year. Section 6-154 allocates the capped mainland slots first-come, first-registered, with a waitlist once the cap is reached, and bars transferring or assigning a registration to another party.