How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in Maine?

No fixed statutory period (see notice standard). Maine requires 'reasonable notice' before entry, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary (14 M.R.S. §6025(2)). Treat 24 hours as the safe default: it is a rebuttable presumption, not an express minimum, and entry must also be at reasonable times.

What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in Maine?

A landlord may enter to inspect the premises, make repairs or improvements, supply agreed services, or show the unit to prospective purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, or contractors. For those purposes the tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent (§6025(1)).

Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in Maine?

Yes — Maine recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.

Are there time-of-day limits on when a landlord can enter in Maine?

None by the clock — entry must be at 'reasonable times' only; the statute sets no hour windows.

How much notice must a landlord give before entering in Maine?

Verified October 1, 2026 All Maine topics →

Check your municipality. Maine does not preempt local rent regulation — city or county ordinances may impose rent caps, notice periods, and fee limits that are stricter than the state law on this page. Verify your municipality's ordinances before relying on any figure below. Verified local pages: Portland, South Portland.

What the state record says

Maine does not preempt local rent control, and at least two cities, Portland and South Portland, regulate rents. Portland has run voter-initiated rent control since 2021, allowing 2.2% for calendar 2026, one increase per 12 months, and 90 days' notice; South Portland caps annual increases at 10% for units whose owner, counting affiliates, owns 16 or more housing units. There is no statewide rent control or percentage cap (§6016's habitability bar is a condition on increases, not a cap). Portland's ordinance is Portland City Code ch. 6, secs. 6-231 to 6-239: an annual Allowable Increase Percentage published each September 1 (2.2% for calendar 2026), one increase per 12 months, +5% of base rent on voluntary turnover, banked increases, a hard 10% ceiling per increase, Rent Board review, and 90 days' written notice, plus a local one-month deposit cap and application-fee ban. South Portland's is a council-enacted rent stabilization ordinance (Ordinance No. 17-22/23 of February 21, 2023; a 10% annual cap for units whose owner, counting affiliates, owns 16 or more housing units; automatically repealed May 27, 2030 unless renewed). The former state enabling chapter (30-A ch. 167, 'Municipal Rent Control') was repealed in 1995 with nothing enacted in its place; municipalities act under home rule (30-A §3001).

Maine landlords must give reasonable notice before entering a rental unit, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable unless the evidence shows otherwise, so 24 hours is the safe default, but the statute stops short of a flat 24-hour minimum.

Cited to 14 M.R.S. § 6025 (subsection 3 as amended by P.L. 2025, c. 767, § 2) (1)-(4) and 3 more cited sources · Verified October 1, 2026

Entry must be at reasonable times, and a tenant may not unreasonably refuse entry for the listed purposes (inspection, repairs and improvements, providing services, and showings to buyers, lenders, or prospective tenants and contractors), with no-notice entry permitted in an emergency, when giving notice is impracticable, or when an animal's welfare is at risk. A tenant cannot waive these protections; any waiver is void. A landlord who enters unlawfully, enters in an unreasonable manner, or harasses the tenant with repeated demands owes the greater of actual damages or $250 (raised from $100 by P.L. 2025, c. 767, effective July 29, 2026), faces an injunction, and pays attorney's fees if the tenant wins a contested case. Also since July 29, 2026, a landlord, a landlord's agent, or anyone acting under the landlord's direction may not disclose the personal information of a tenant, prospective tenant, occupant or prospective occupant (a defined list covering name and contact details, racial or ethnic origin, religion, health, sexual activity, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, immigration status and alien registration number, Social Security, driver's license and ID numbers, financial and payment data, and crime-victim status) with the intent to harass, intimidate or otherwise force a move-out outside the court eviction process, without a legitimate business purpose and without the person's express consent. The remedy is the greater of actual damages or $1,000, plus an injunction and attorney's fees after a contested hearing (14 M.R.S. § 6025-B, with exceptions for court process, law enforcement, sale or refinancing, affordable-housing programs, and municipal code officers). Tenants who change the locks must give the landlord a duplicate key within 48 hours (72 hours for a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking); refusing to hand over a key is ground for a 7-day termination.

Maine entry notice at a glance

Advance notice required	No fixed statutory period (see notice standard)
Notice standard	Maine requires 'reasonable notice' before entry, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary (14 M.R.S. §6025(2)). Treat 24 hours as the safe default: it is a rebuttable presumption, not an express minimum, and entry must also be at reasonable times. The statute provides that, except in case of emergency 'or if it is impracticable to do so,' the landlord 'shall give the tenant reasonable notice of the landlord's intent to enter and shall enter only at reasonable times. Twenty-four hours is presumed to be a reasonable notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary.' No fixed number of hours appears above, because Maine sets a statutory presumption rather than a fixed requirement.
Permitted reasons	A landlord may enter to inspect the premises, make repairs or improvements, supply agreed services, or show the unit to prospective purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, or contractors. For those purposes the tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent (§6025(1)). The full statutory list is inspecting the premises; making necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements; supplying necessary or agreed services; and exhibiting the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workers or contractors (§6025(1)). Emergency entry is additionally permitted without notice when an animal's welfare is at risk as described in §6025-A (cross-reference added by PL 2023, c. 336).
Emergency exception	Yes
Time-of-day restrictions	None by the clock — entry must be at 'reasonable times' only; the statute sets no hour windows.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Maine Landlord Entry Notice Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/entry-notice/maine/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

24 hours is a presumption, not a fixed minimum — the statute requires 'reasonable notice' and presumes 24 hours is reasonable 'in the absence of evidence to the contrary.' Treat 24 hours as the safe default; many summaries overstate it as a hard rule.
When no notice is needed — an emergency, when notice is 'impracticable', or — since 2023 — when an animal's welfare is at risk (§ 6025-A).
New since July 29, 2026 (PL 2025, c. 767) — the recovery for unlawful entry, unreasonable entry, or harassment by repeated demands rose from $100 to $250, and the new § 6025-B disclosure ban (described above) carries a $1,000 floor.
Effective-date trap — some summaries give July 28, 2026; the Legislature's published effective date for this session's nonemergency laws is Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Official pages lag the law — The Revisor's § 6025 page, last generated on October 20, 2025, still shows the old $100 figure, and there is no § 6025-B page yet. The chaptered law, linked in the citations, controls.
Lock changes — a tenant who changes the locks must give the landlord a duplicate key within 48 hours (a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking may change the locks at the victim's own expense and has 72 hours). Refusing permits a 7-day termination; with no key, emergency forced entry is allowed at the tenant's cost.
No waiver — any lease clause waiving § 6025 rights is void.
Verified — the only other access rule in chapter 710 is the bedbug section: on reasonable notice under § 6025, a tenant must give the landlord and its pest control agent access to inspect for or treat bedbugs, and a court order granting access must be served at least 24 hours before the landlord enters (§ 6021-A(3)(B), (4)). Every cited section states the law as it stood on August 2, 2026.

Common questions: Maine entry notice

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in Maine?: No fixed statutory period (see notice standard). Maine requires 'reasonable notice' before entry, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary (14 M.R.S. §6025(2)). Treat 24 hours as the safe default: it is a rebuttable presumption, not an express minimum, and entry must also be at reasonable times.
What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in Maine?: A landlord may enter to inspect the premises, make repairs or improvements, supply agreed services, or show the unit to prospective purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, or contractors. For those purposes the tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent (§6025(1)).
Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in Maine?: Yes — Maine recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.
Are there time-of-day limits on when a landlord can enter in Maine?: None by the clock — entry must be at 'reasonable times' only; the statute sets no hour windows.

Citations

14 M.R.S. § 6025 (subsection 3 as amended by P.L. 2025, c. 767, § 2) · (1)-(4) (verified 2026) Official source
14 M.R.S. § 6025-A (verified 2026) Official source
PL 2025, c. 767 (LD 2176) — raises the § 6025(3) remedy to $250 and enacts § 6025-B, effective 2026-07-29 · §§ 1-3 (verified 2026) Official source
P.L. 2025, c. 767, § 3 (14 M.R.S. § 6025-B, disclosure of information) · § 6025-B(1)-(4) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the Maine Revisor of Statutes site (legislature.maine.gov). October 1, 2026: every section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee, entry and eviction answers rest on was read there with its history line: 14 M.R.S. §§ 6000 to 6017, 6021-A, 6022-A, 6024-A, 6025 to 6026, 6028, 6030, 6030-H and 6031 to 6039; 1 M.R.S. § 71; 10 M.R.S. §§ 9091 to 9100; and 30-A M.R.S. § 3001, with the repealed municipal rent control chapter (former §§ 3601 to 3606). The statute pages were current through October 1, 2025 that day and do not yet print the 2026 session, so each 2026 public law that changes these answers was read in its chaptered text: P.L. 2025, c. 767 (the entry remedy and the personal-information section, in force July 29, 2026), c. 691 (lot rent in a manufactured housing community) and c. 650, Part GGGG (the Maine Eviction Prevention Program). P.L. 2023, c. 594 was read in its chaptered text for its January 1, 2025 effective date. Rule 80D of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure was read on the Judicial Branch's site, and the Portland and South Portland rent ordinances in the cities' own publications.