Owners of short-term rentals, single-family residential homes or fee-based residential campsites operating in the state’s unorganized territories must now notify the Maine Land Use Planning Commission of the rental.
The commission’s new rule went into effect on Jan. 12.
Maine’s unorganized area includes parts of northernmost Aroostook County to the New Hampshire border, with 429 townships — including the Baxter State Park area and coastal islands — that do not lie within municipal bounds. In recent years, the number of short-term rentals in the unorganized territory have been increasing, as have the number of complaints related to the rentals, according to the LUPC.
In response, commission staff in 2023 gathered public comments from residents and property owners to better understand the status of short-term rentals and to develop regulatory approaches.
As part of the process, the commission reviewed information from the public, staff and other agencies before drafting the new rule that clarifies how a short-term rental is defined, establishes where short-term rentals are allowed, and requires short-term rental owners to notify the commission through an online registration system, according to the LUPC.
A short-term rental is defined as “a legally existing dwelling unit, portion of a dwelling unit, or single residential campsite that is rented for a fee or other compensation to a person or group for less than 30 consecutive days.”
Short-term rental does not include activities that are regulated as other use listings, such as recreational lodging facilities, home-based businesses, and commercial uses like a hotel or motel.
During the rulemaking process, the commission received only one written comment and no rebuttals. In the written comment, the owner of a camp in the UT asked that short-term rentals be regulated on a county by county basis, not statewide.
Nonetheless, according to the LUPC staff response, in the unorganized and deorganized areas of the state, the commission, rather than the counties, has the statutory authority to regulate land use in 13 counties. It would be impractical to relegate the short-term rental rules to each county, the LUPC said.
While owners of short-term rentals are now required to notify the commission, they do not need a permit and there is no notification fee, LUPC staff said.
The rule changes may be found on the LUPC’s rulemaking webpage. Background information on short-term rentals in the commission’s service area and on this rulemaking process may be found on the project webpage.
For information, contact the LUPC at lupc@maine.gov and visit maine.gov/dacf/lupc/.