Maine Rental Application
The Maine Rental Application provides landlords and property owners with an efficient method of screening rental applicants. The form requires prospective tenants to answer in-depth questions regarding their income, rental, and criminal history. This permits the landlord to compare all applications against a set of pre-determined criteria, securing that only dependable tenants occupy their properties.
The rental application complies with all applicable Maine laws and the Federal Fair Housing Act. This is important, as landlords are required to make their selections for tenants solely based on the merits included in the form. Judging tenants by their race, skin color, disabilities, age, religion, nationality, sex, and family status are all unacceptable. If a landlord is caught acting in discriminatory ways, they can find themselves in legal hot water. The best tip landlords can have when conducting screening is to stay consistent. This gives more weight to whatever decision a landlord makes in regards to their tenants. However, it’s when a landlord finds themselves using different screening criteria randomly, they can invite themselves to accusations of discrimination.
What’s Included
The rental application contains the following sections:
- Contact information
- Rental history
- Employment history
- Credit history
- References + emergency contacts
- Misc. questions regarding their past rental experiences
- Dated signature of the applicant
State Laws
Maximum Application Fee: None.
Maximum Security Deposit (§ 6032): Cannot be greater than two (2) months’ rent.
Returning Security Deposits (§ 6033): For leases without a set end-date (“tenancies at will”), landlords have twenty-one (21) days to return all (or a portion) of the security deposit. For leases with a set end date (written rental agreements), landlords have thirty (30) days to return the deposit. Landlords are prohibited from keeping a portion of the deposit for damage that is considered “normal wear and tear.”