How to Evict in Maine
- 1). Start the eviction process if your tenant is not paying rent seven days after the due date. Write a notice of eviction, or Notice to Quit in which you must indicate the amount owed. This is a count with a lease. When the tenant pays within seven days, you the Notice to Quit becomes void.
- 2). Serve your tenant a 7-day notice before beginning eviction. You can only evict your tenant if he has failed to pay rent, caused extensive damage to the property or has become a nuisance to the neighbors. Clearly indicate the reasons why you want to remove the tenant from the property.
- 3). Give 30 days notice if you care evicting someone for other reasons than rental payment default. Allow the tenant to live in the property 30 days from the day he paid his last rent. Legally, you must let the renter live out the rent already paid.
- 4). Go to court if your tenant is not leaving the property within the time given in the Notice to Quit to seek a Forcible Entry and Detainer by filing with the district court. The sheriff will serve the tenant with a hand-delivered summons. Based on the evidence, the judge can decide if the renter should be evicted.
- 5). Remove from the premises property worth up to $750 if the tenant has left it behind. Store it in a safe place and mail the tenant an itemized list of the property in your possession and a notice indicating your intention to sell it in a bid to recover unpaid rentals, damages, cost of storage and sale. Give the tenant 24 days in which to respond. You can sell if the tenant is not responding within the given time. Report to the Treasury if property is worth more than $750 to seek authorization to sell it.