Breaking a lease in Maine

A tenant who moves out early and stops paying stays liable for rent and damages, but your recovery is reduced by the net rent you get, or could get, through reasonable efforts to re-rent. A lease term that charges a fee just for ending the tenancy is unenforceable, except to recover reasonable re-letting costs when the tenant broke the lease's notice terms, unpaid rent, or the cost of repairing damage the tenant caused. Such a term is also an unfair trade practice under 5 M.R.S. 207.

14 M.R.S. § 6010-A(1), (2) 14 M.R.S. § 6030(2)(E)

• Entering to inspect, preserve, repair or show the unit, or re-renting it, does not by itself accept a surrender. 14 M.R.S. § 6010-A(4)
• A victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking may end the tenancy with the required documentation and 7 days' written notice (tenancy at will or a lease under one year) or 30 days' written notice (a lease of one year or more). A tenant sexually harassed by you or your agent has the same right. 14 M.R.S. § 6001(6)(D), (D-1), (H) 14 M.R.S. § 6002(4)
• If a radon test shows 4.0 picocuries per liter or more, either of you may end the tenancy with at least 30 days' notice. 14 M.R.S. § 6030-D(8)
• If you substantially breach a written lease that has no termination provision, or no written notice of termination for a material breach, the tenant may end it on 7 days' written notice. 14 M.R.S. § 6001(1-B)(B)
• Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a tenant may end a lease after entering military service or receiving qualifying orders. 50 U.S.C. § 3955

A rental with no fixed term is a tenancy at will in Maine. Either side ends it with at least 30 days' written notice, and if the tenant has paid rent past the date a 30-day notice would expire, the notice must run at least to the paid-through date. A landlord's notice must tell the tenant of the right to contest the termination in court.

14 M.R.S. § 6002

• The 30 days may be waived in writing only at the time the notice is given. 14 M.R.S. § 6002
• Accepting money after serving a 30-day notice does not undo the termination until a writ of possession issues. 14 M.R.S. § 6002
• A 30-day notice and a 7-day notice may be combined in one notice. 14 M.R.S. § 6002
• Attach the Judicial Branch form notice to the notice to terminate. 14 M.R.S. § 6001(7)
• Leaving out the right to contest language does not get an eviction dismissed, but if the tenant misses the hearing it is grounds to set aside the default judgment. 14 M.R.S. § 6002