Security Deposits Protected

AUGUSTA - Renters and landlords will both enjoy new protections for security deposits on rental properties under a law sponsored by Rep. Herb Adams, D-Portland. The measure, LD 330, "An Act to Protect the Integrity of Security Deposits," officially became Public Law 332 on Sept. 20. Under the new law, when a building with rental units is sold or transferred, the old owner will have to present the new owner with written proof that the building's security deposits have been legally transferred to the new owner during the sale's final closing proceedings.

Adams introduced the bill in response to complaints from both landlords and tenants who discovered after the sale of buildings that the old owner had never turned over security deposit funds. New owners and tenants had no recourse but to pursue old owners--many long gone—in costly lawsuits, often in out-of-state courts.

"This is not pocket change," said Adams. "Security deposits can be in the thousands of dollars for just one apartment, and in the tens of thousands for one single building. Good landlords and good tenants both need protection in today's turbulent real estate market."

Supporters of the bill included the Maine Apartment Managers and Owners Association (MAOMA), the People's Regional Opportunity Program (PROP),and the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

"We strongly support LD 330," Assistant Attorney General James McKenna told the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which considered the bill. "It closes a loophole that is unfair and harmful to Maine's many hardworking families who struggle to come up with the sum for a security deposit."

Adams represents Portland's Parkside, Bayside, and East Bayside neighborhoods and the foot of Munjoy Hill, home to Maine's largest percentage of rental housing stock and some of the oldest, with large ethnic diversity and high turnover rates. Adams's bill received the unanimous support of the Legal and Veterans Committee and both bodies of the Legislature.