State Planners Grappling With Short-Term Rentals Consider New Regulations

7/25/2023

Maine’s Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) finished a series of summer community meetings last week as it considers how to regulate short-term rentals (STRs) across its over 10.4 million-acre expanse for the first time. While vacation hot spots like Bar Harbor and Kennebunkport have capped the number of STR licenses and charge an annual fee for their acquisition or renewal, LUPC planners recommended a system that would have property owners provide notice of their rentals to the commission and self-certify that their properties meet a set of standards. At the end of 2021, there were 569 active short-term rental listings in the LUPC service area, according to data from AirDNA. More recent AirDNA data on the Rangeley Lake area — including parts of Rangeley Plantation and up toward Kennebago Lake — show a 48 percent increase in available rentals between this June and three years ago, from 320 to 474.

Maine Monitor (07/22/23) Emmett Gartne

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