Tenant Abandoned Property Notice, Storage, and Disposal Requirements in Maine

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Store the property safely after the tenant leaves

14 M.R.S. § 6013 begins with property left after a landlord's judgment or abandoned or unclaimed after the tenant vacates. Once the tenant has vacated, the landlord must use a safe, dry, secured storage location.

For a vacated tenant, the mailed notice must itemize both individual items and containers of items. The statute does not prescribe photographs, witnesses, packaging, a warehouse, or a particular distance from the rental.

Match the notice to whether the tenant has vacated

If the tenant still possesses the unit, the landlord mails written notice with proof of mailing to the rental-unit address. It states the intent to dispose of property remaining after the tenant later vacates. That notice cannot provide less than seven days after mailing or 48 hours after service of the writ of possession, whichever is longer.

If the tenant has already vacated, the landlord instead mails notice with proof of mailing to the tenant's last-known address. The notice itemizes the property and warns that the landlord may use the statutory disposal remedies if the tenant does not respond within seven days.

Keep the claim clock separate from the retrieval clock

A claim may be oral or written and is due within seven days after the notice is sent. A timely response extends storage through at least the 14th day after the notice. If the tenant makes retrieval arrangements by that day, release cannot be conditioned on a fee, rent arrears, damages, storage costs, or another debt.

Missing either step changes the result. No timely claim, or no retrieval by day 14 after a timely claim, permits the landlord to use one or more of § 6013(5)'s conditional-release, sale, or disposal remedies.

Use fair-market value to choose sale or disposal

The statute authorizes sale at a reasonable fair-market price. Proceeds are applied to rental arrears, damages, storage costs, and sale costs, and every remaining balance is forwarded to the Treasurer of State.

Direct disposal is limited to property having no reasonable fair-market value. Section 6013 does not create a dollar cutoff, short route for listed property types, auction requirement, publication process, or landlord-purchase rule.

What trips people up

The two notices are not interchangeable. The recipient address, required content, and minimum clock differ depending on whether the tenant is still in possession when notice is sent.

Seven days is the response deadline, not always the final pickup day. A timely claimant has through day 14 after notice to arrange retrieval without a debt-payment condition.

Low value alone does not authorize disposal. The statute says no reasonable fair-market value, not merely a value below an unstated threshold.

A lease clause does not replace notice. A lease or tenancy-at-will agreement may authorize no-liability disposal only when the landlord complies with the section's notice provisions.

Common questions

Can the tenant waive this procedure in the lease?

The tenant may waive statutory rights only after or upon vacating. If the waiver is oral, the landlord must confirm it in writing.

Does the landlord have to notify someone who appears to own an item?

Section 6013 directs notice to the tenant and does not state a separate notice procedure for an apparent third-party owner.

Must the landlord make a formal appraisal?

The section uses a reasonable fair-market-price standard for a sale but does not prescribe an appraisal or valuation procedure.

When must the surplus reach the Treasurer of State?

Section 6013 requires every remaining balance to be forwarded to the Treasurer but does not state a remittance deadline or accounting form.

Statutes and sources

• 14 M.R.S. § 6013, opening paragraph and subsections 1-4. Trigger, storage, the two notice routes, seven-day claim, unconditional timely release, and continued storage through day 14. Maine Legislature (accessed July 22, 2026).

• 14 M.R.S. § 6013(5)-(6). Conditional release, fair-market sale, no-value disposal, proceeds, waiver, and lease-clause limits. Maine Legislature (accessed July 22, 2026).