No Heat
14 M.R.S. § 6021 — heat that can hold 68 degrees, when the lease puts heat on the landlord
When the lease puts heat on the landlord, it breaks the warranty of habitability to keep the unit cold enough to injure the health of ordinary occupants, to have heat that cannot hold at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the conditions the section sets, or to let the building's systems freeze.
Who handles this in Maine: legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Maine directory.
A lower setting by agreement. A landlord and tenant may agree in a separate signed writing to heat as low as 62 degrees Fahrenheit for a fair reduction in rent, revocable on reasonable notice. No such agreement is allowed when anyone over 65 years of age or under 5 years of age lives there.
When the landlord fails on heat, heating fuel the tenant buys counts as a repair cost the tenant may deduct under the repair and deduct rules. When the landlord does not pay a utility in the landlord's own name, the tenant may pay it and deduct it from rent, and a court awards the amount paid or $100, whichever is greater, with costs.
Sources for this section (3)
- 14 M.R.S. § 6021 — Implied warranty and covenant of habitability
- 14 M.R.S. § 6026 — Dangerous conditions requiring minor repairs
- 14 M.R.S. § 6024-A — Landlord failure to pay for utility service
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Maine attorney.