[Adopted by the City Council of the City of Bangor 2-27-2023 by Ord. No. 23-086. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to address housing insecurity
in the City of Bangor; to minimize the potential adverse impacts of
un-noticed or short-noticed rent increases; to educate at-will tenants
of their rights; and to help bring about, through fair, orderly procedures,
the opportunity of each person within the City of Bangor without regard
to, among other things, receipt of public benefits, to rent, enjoy
and retain secure housing.
This chapter shall apply to any and all rental housing units
in the City limits of Bangor.
Means a prospective tenant for a rental housing unit, who
signs or intends to sign a lease or other contractual agreement in
relation to the unit.
Means the unjust, prejudicial treatment of different categories
of people, when those categories are protected from discrimination
by municipal, state and federal law, including, but not limited to,
categories based on race, color, religious creed, sex, sexual preference,
national origin, age, physical or mental handicap, and receipt of
public assistance, as provided in 5 M.R.S.A. § 4581-A, as
amended from time to time.
Means one or more rooms forming a single unit, including
food preparation, living, sanitary, and sleeping facilities, used
or intended to be used by two or more persons living in common or
by a person living alone.
Means an owner, manager, lessee, sublessee, managing agent
or other person having the right to rent, sell, or manage any housing
unit or rental property, or any agent of these individuals or entities.
Means the written document used by a landlord to determine
if an applicant is qualified to become a tenant of the rental housing
unit.
Means any cost, payment, charge, or any other kind of expenditure
or renumeration that an applicant is asked to pay in order to be considered
by the landlord for a rental housing unit.
Means any cost, payment, charge, or any other kind of expenditure
or remuneration, excluding administrative costs, that an applicant
is required to pay in order to offset a landlord's hard costs of screening
that particular applicant who has been accepted as a tenant. Costs
that may be included in a screening fee include but are not limited
to national, state, and local criminal background checks, credit reports,
rental history records, eviction records, and employment verification.
Means an individual, individuals, an entity, entities, a
lessee or sub-lessee, or other persons having the right to rent any
housing unit or rental property, or any agent of these individuals
or entities. This definition includes a tenant at will as described
in 14 M.R.S.A. § 6002, as amended from time to time.
A.
An applicant
or tenant shall have the right to secure a rental housing unit without
being refused that right on the basis of discrimination on or because
of race, color, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, physical
or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, or familial
status, pursuant to 5 M.R.S.A. § 4581-A et seq., as amended
from time to time.
B.
A landlord
shall not refuse to rent or impose terms of tenancy on any applicant
or tenant who is a recipient of federal, state or local public assistance,
including medical assistance and housing subsidies, primarily because
of the individual's status as a recipient as described in 5 M.R.S.A.
§ 4581-A, Subsection 4, as amended from time to time.
Notwithstanding 14 M.R.S.A. § 6015, a landlord shall
give 60 days' written notice of any rent increase to a tenant.
A.
Rental
application fees. Landlords shall not charge a rental application
fee.
B.
Screening
fees. Screening fees for rental housing units shall not exceed the
actual cost of the screening process or $75, whichever is less. Landlords
may only require that a screening fee be paid by a successful applicant
who is to be a tenant in the housing unit, and the screening fee may
only be required to be paid when the first month's rent is due and
not before. Landlords may not charge a screening fee to any applicant
who is not accepted as a tenant. The actual cost of the screening
process includes only the hard costs associated with a background
check. Labor costs and other soft costs associated with the application
process must be excluded. Hard costs may include, but are not limited
to, the following: national, state, and local criminal background
checks, credit reports, rental history records and/or reference checks,
eviction records, and/or employment verification. Each adult who will
be residing in the rental housing unit may be charged a screening
fee. In the event that a screening fee collected by a landlord ends
up being more than the amount of the actual screening cost incurred
by the landlord with respect to that particular tenant, the landlord
shall give that tenant a credit on the tenant's rent equal to the
difference between the amount of the screening fee collected and the
actual screening cost incurred. A landlord who collects a screening
fee shall keep a record of the amount of the fee collected from each
tenant and any amount returned to each tenant, for a period of not
less than two years, and shall make such records available for inspection
at the request of the City of Bangor.
C.
Current
tenants. A current tenant of a rental housing unit shall not be charged
a screening fee to move to another rental housing unit owned by the
same landlord.
D.
Real estate
marketplaces. This section does not prevent landlords from listing
residential housing units on internet real estate marketplaces which
may charge application fees and/or screening fees to the users of
the marketplace.
A.
The City's
Legal Department or its designee shall create and make available on
the City's publicly accessible website a plain-language document that
explains tenancy at will and the rights and responsibilities of tenants
and landlords of rental housing units. That document shall also include
a checklist of required notices concerning environmental lead hazards,
energy efficiency, or radon testing, pursuant to 14 M.R.S.A §§ 6030-B,
6030-C, and 6030-D, respectively, as amended from time to time.
B.
The document
referenced above shall be provided by landlords to all tenants in
the City of Bangor at the commencement of the rental of a housing
unit and shall be provided again upon any update to the document made
by the City's Legal Department.
C.
An acknowledgement
of receipt of the documents described above must be signed by all
tenants, and a copy of the acknowledgement must be kept on file by
the landlord for at least two years and made available for inspection
at the request of the City of Bangor.
No provision of, or right conferred by, this chapter may be
waived by an applicant or tenant, by agreement or otherwise, and any
such waiver shall be void. Any attempt to require, encourage or induce
an applicant or tenant to waive any provision hereof or right hereby
shall be a violation of this chapter. Nothing herein shall be construed
to void any term of a lease that offers greater rights to tenants
than those conferred hereby.
The provisions of this chapter are severable. If any of its
provisions are held invalid by act of competent jurisdiction, all
other provisions of this chapter shall continue in full force and
effect.
