www.courts.maine.gov

Evicting a Tenant

from a Residence

for not Paying Rent

For more information about eviction visit

www.courts.maine.gov/help/eviction

service (keep one copy for yourself). It’s up to the

landlord to make sure the sheriff has unimpeded

access to the front door of the unit to be able to

Either way you’ll need to file an affidavit (a sworn

statement) to show service was made this way.

Use form CV-204 to do this.

Remember you need to have the sheriff serve,

each defendant with all four forms at least 7

days before the hearing date.

“Return of service” is how you tell the court that

the defendant was served.

Step 4. File with the Court

At least 1 business day before the hearing, file:

ment, to prove the tenant was served) and

• The filing fee of $100.

Step 5. Go to the Hearing

Go to the hearing even if your tenant doesn’t. You

will get more instructions from the judge at the

hearing. Mediation is available at the court on the

day of hearing at no additional cost.

If you win in court

If the judge decides in your favor, you will be enti-

tled to a judgment for possession of the premises

After the writ is served, the tenant will have 48

hours to move out.

In court, many cases are decided by agreement

of the parties. A mediator is available to meet

with the landlord and tenant to talk about how

they might settle the case. Often tenants agree to

move out by a certain date, and landlords dismiss

the case or ask the court to continue the case to

a future date and leave open the option to seek

a judgment if the tenant has not moved out as

Back rent

Eviction is a process to get a tenant to leave the

rental unit. It is not a process to collect back rent.

To collect back rent you would need to file a sepa-

rate case. This is often done in Small Claims Court.

In Maine eviction is called “Forcible Entry &

Detainer” or “FED” and not paying rent is “non-

to get a judgment to evict a tenant for not pay-

ing rent.

Step 1. Notice to Quit

This notice tells the tenant that rent is past due

and they need to pay by a stated deadline or face

eviction. If you have a lease, you need to prepare

and serve the notice as required by the lease.

7-Day Notice to Quit (14 M.R.S. § 6002(1)):

Unless the lease states otherwise, if a tenant is

at least 7 days late paying rent, a 7-day notice

Contents of the 7-day Notice To Quit: Include the

following in the notice:

• That rent is 7 days or more past due

• The amount of rent that’s 7 days or more past

due

• That the tenant has the right to contest the

eviction in court

• The statement: “If you pay the amount of

Service of the Notice to Quit: To serve the notice,

you or anyone acting on your behalf as landlord

can give the notice to the tenant. If three good

faith efforts have been made to serve the tenant

by hand the notice can be served by both mailing

the notice to the tenant and leaving a copy of the

notice at the rental unit (neither of these, alone,

is enough).

Residential Forcible Entry and Detainer” is used

for a residential eviction. Important: Include

names of all tenants on the lines for Defend-

ant(s)”. If there are more people in the home

other than the named tenants, put “and all other

occupants” on the form.

Summons (form CV-034): The “FED Summons”

tells the tenant(s) when to come to court (the

hearing date). You must get a separate summons

for each defendant from the clerk’s office for $5