130th MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2021
Legislative Document No. 1590
H.P. 1179 House of Representatives, April 27, 2021
An Act To Define Commercial and Noncommercial Purveyors of
Accommodations for Short-term Rental
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative SYLVESTER of Portland.
Printed on recycled paper
 1 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2 Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §3015 is enacted to read:
3 §3015. Definitions used in ordinances regarding short-term rentals
4 1. Application and scope. If a municipality enacts an ordinance regarding or
5 regulating short-term rental units, commercial short-term rental purveyors, noncommercial
6 short-term rental purveyors or owners of short-term rental units, the municipality shall use
7 the definitions in subsection 2 when using or defining a term defined in subsection 2. The
8 definitions in subsection 2 must be made publicly available on the publicly accessible
9 website of the State and on the publicly accessible website of the Maine State Housing
10 Authority.
11 2. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the
12 following terms have the following meanings.
13 A. "Commercial short-term rental purveyor" means a person who offers a short-term
14 rental in a building owned by the person:
15 (1) Containing more than 2 short-term rental units owned or offered by the person
16 and in which the person does not reside; or
17 (2) Containing more than 3 short-term rental units owned or offered by the person
18 and in which the person may reside.
19 B. "Noncommercial short-term rental purveyor" means a person who offers a short-
20 term rental that does not meet the criteria of paragraph A.
21 C. "Owner of a short-term rental unit" means a person:
22 (1) Who owns or possesses a short-term rental unit; or
23 (2) Who owns more than 10% of shares or any other type of membership or
24 ownership interest in a business entity that owns or possesses a short-term rental
25 unit.
26 D. "Short-term rental unit" means living quarters offered for rental through a transient
27 rental platform as defined by Title 36, section 1752, subsection 20-C.
28 Sec. 2. Notice to municipalities. Upon the effective date of this Act, the Maine
29 State Housing Authority shall send electronically to all municipalities the provisions of this
30 Act.
31 SUMMARY
32 This bill defines terms to be used by municipalities when enacting ordinances regarding
33 or regulating short-term rentals of living quarters offered through a transient rental
34 platform, including definitions for "commercial short-term rental purveyor,"
35 "noncommercial short-term rental purveyor," "owner of a short-term rental unit" and
36 "short-term rental unit." This bill requires these definitions to be made publicly available
37 on the State's website and on the Maine State Housing Authority's website and to be sent
38 electronically to all municipalities in the State.
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