Maine · Statute

Maine Private Roads & Road Associations

Maine has no general homeowners association statute — but if your home sits on a private road shared with three or more other parcels, this is the law that governs how the road gets fixed, who decides, and what you can be made to pay.

23 M.R.S.Ch. 305, subch. 2 & 2-A§§ 3101 – 31218 SectionsCurrent through 2025 · source generated 20 Oct 2025
What this means for homeowners

Most Maine owners outside a condominium have no association statute above their deed. What many of them do have is a private road, and Title 23 gives the owners on it a statutory machinery for running it: calling a meeting, voting, choosing a commissioner or board, setting each owner's share, and collecting from anyone who does not pay. In practice this is the closest thing Maine has to a homeowners association law for non-condominium owners.

Two separate subchapters are reproduced below. Subchapter 2 (§§ 3101 to 3106) is the road association machinery. Subchapter 2-A is a single section, § 3121, added in 2021, which supplies a default cost-share where there is no association and no agreement.

When the road association machinery is available

Section 3101(2) sets the threshold: four or more parcels must be benefited by the private road, private way or bridge, as an easement or by fee ownership. Then the owners of any three or more parcels — provided at least three of those parcels are owned by different people — may apply in writing to a notary public to call a meeting. The notary may issue a warrant or similar written notice setting the time, place and purpose — the statute is permissive, not automatic.

Notice goes by US mail to the owners of all the benefited parcels, at the addresses in the municipal tax records, at least 30 days before the meeting. It must set out the agenda and specify all items to be voted on — including any proposed budget items or amendments that will determine what each owner pays. E-mail may be used instead of post where the recipient agrees, so long as the message carries the sender's current address and telephone number (§ 3101(3)).

This does not apply to every private road. Section 3101(6) excludes a private road, way or bridge constructed or primarily used for commercial or forest management purposes.

Voting, and what the association may decide

  • One parcel, one vote — unless the association's bylaws authorise more, and even then no more than two votes per parcel (§ 3101(4)). An owner may elect in writing to appoint another owner to vote in their stead if the call to meeting says so. Absentee voters must be polled on any voting item that was not on the agenda, and the final tally reported.
  • A commissioner or board, to be sworn, may be chosen at the meeting (§ 3101(5)).
  • By majority vote of owners present and voting in person, by written proxy or by absentee ballot, the owners decide what repairs and maintenance are necessary and what each owner pays — and may also set amounts for other costs, expressly including liability insurance for officers, directors and owners, and administration.
  • Each owner's share must be “fair and equitable and based upon a formula” in the association's bylaws or adopted by the owners at a meeting. It is not at the board's discretion.
  • The commissioner or board must report the outcome of all votes to all the owners by US mail within 30 days.
  • Emergency special assessments may be made at a meeting called for that purpose. Emergency repairs are those necessary to maintain or restore the road's functionality.
  • A road association continues until dissolved by a majority vote of its members (§ 3101(4-A)).

What counts as “repairs and maintenance” — and the paving rule

Section 3101(1)(B) is unusually specific, and the paving rule is the part owners argue about. “Repairs and maintenance” does not include paving, with three exceptions: where pavement does not already exist, if approved by an affirmative vote of at least three quarters of the owners of all the parcels benefited, at a meeting called in accordance with § 3101(2); where limited paving is shown to be a cost-effective way of fixing an erosion problem; or to repair and maintain pavement that has existed for at least eight years.

“Maintenance” expressly includes snowplowing, snow removal, sanding and ice control; grading and adding gravel and surface material; installing reclaimed asphalt or grinding existing pavement for reuse; installing, cleaning and replacing culverts; creating and maintaining ditches, drains and other storm water infrastructure; creating and maintaining sight distances on curves and at intersections; and cutting brush, trees and vegetation in the right-of-way.

The 1% cap — the number most owners have never heard of

Section 3102 gives the commissioner or board the powers of a road commissioner, and then limits them: “[t]he commissioner's or board's apportioning of the cost of repairs to the road undertaken pursuant to the provisions of section 3101 may not exceed 1% of an individual owner's municipal property valuation in any calendar year.”

Read it carefully. The ceiling is measured against the town's valuation of that owner's own property, not against the cost of the work, and it applies to the apportioning of the cost of repairs in a calendar year.

If an owner does not pay

Where an owner, on requirement of the commissioner or board, neglects to furnish their proportion of labor, materials or money, the others may furnish it and recover from that owner in a civil action, together with costs of suit and reasonable attorney's fees. The action may be brought in the name of the road association, and the decision to bring it rests with the commissioner or board or as the bylaws provide (§ 3102).

Whether the debt follows the land changed on 30 June 2018. Under section 3104, money owed is a personal obligation of the owners, jointly or severally, and also burdens the parcel and runs with the land. But “[a]fter June 30, 2018, any money owed pursuant to section 3101, 3102 or 3103 is not an obligation that burdens the parcel or runs with the land upon the transfer of any owner's interest unless a notice of claim is recorded in the county's registry of deeds prior to the transfer”. So whether a buyer inherits an unpaid share now turns on whether anyone recorded.

The rest of section 3104 sets out the mechanics, and they cut both ways:

  • The commissioner or board may record a notice of claim for money more than 90 days delinquent, and add the recording costs to the amount owed. Recording it does not constitute slander of title.
  • A recorded notice of claim expires six years from the date of recording unless extended before it lapses, and may be extended for further six-year periods until paid.
  • There is a notice-to-cure requirement. Before recording a notice of claim or serving a collection complaint, the commissioner or board must give the owner written notice — in the same manner as meeting notices — of the intended action if the debt is not paid within 20 days. That written notice must be sent at least 30 days before the recording or the service of process.
  • Process is not abated by an owner's death or by a transfer of an owner's interest, and describing owners by name with each parcel's deed book and page number is sufficient.

Insurance, immunity and easements

  • An association may purchase liability insurance to defend and indemnify its officers, directors and owner members, and may include the cost in each owner's share (§ 3101(9)).
  • A commissioner, board or owner who undertakes association activities is immune from civil liability in actions by owners or lessees of other lots, for four things: deciding what repairs and maintenance to undertake; deciding the materials or money each owner must provide; collecting that money; and awarding a contract under section 3103 (§ 3101(7)).
  • That immunity has a limit. Section 3101(8) preserves liability for enforcement action for a violation of law under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Protection or a municipality.
  • An association may negotiate an easement for a ditch, drain, culvert or other storm water infrastructure. It must specify when the infrastructure is to be maintained, include reasonable performance standards, and be recorded at the registry of deeds. The infrastructure is then under the association's control and maintained by it (§ 3101(5-A)).
  • Owners may authorise a contract for repairs by the year or for less, and establish a reserve account holding funds solely for repairs and maintenance (§ 3103).

No association? Then section 3121 supplies the default

Subchapter 2-A, added in 2021, answers the commonest question of all: who pays when there is no road association and no agreement.

Under section 3121(1), if more than one property shares a common benefit from a private road, each owner sharing that benefit is responsible for a share of the cost of reasonable and necessary repairs and maintenance, determined by whatever agreement, deed restriction, covenant, declaration or road association applies. In the absence of any of those, each residential property owner — after reasonable due process and notice — shares equally, where the private road is the primary means of access to the benefited property. Each residential property may be assessed only one share however many owners of record it has.

Three things about it matter as much as the rule itself:

  • Enforcement is by legal claim for the amount owed, brought jointly or severally by a residential property owner or owners who share a common benefit in the road, after a demand in writing (§ 3121(3)).
  • Your documents win. Section 3121(4) provides that in any conflict between the section and an agreement, restriction, covenant, declaration, road association or section 3101 method — existing on or entered into after the section's effective date — the agreement, covenant, declaration or association controls. This is a gap-filler, not a floor.
  • Exceptions (§ 3121(5)): a private road constructed or primarily used for commercial or forest management purposes, and a property owner who issues a ground lease to a third party who maintains a residence on the property.

“Repairs and maintenance” here has the same meaning as in section 3101(1)(B), so the paving rule above applies to this default too.

How this fits with Maine's other HOA law

This is not an HOA statute, and it does not pretend to be. It governs a road, not a community. It gives you nothing about architectural control, nothing about fines for a rule violation, nothing about records or budgets beyond the road. Maine has no planned community act and no common interest ownership act, so for everything this page does not cover you are back to your declaration.

If your association is incorporated, the Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act (Title 13-B) supplies meetings, notice, voting, directors and — importantly — the books-and-records right at section 715, which contains no clause letting the articles or bylaws vary it — though read the section itself: the right runs to voting members, and the only proper purpose a voting member may have is enabling the member to fulfil duties the articles, bylaws or law confer. A road association under this subchapter is not necessarily a corporation; section 3106 refers to a road association “organized under this subchapter or Title 13-B” which tells you both routes exist.

Condominiums are elsewhere. The Maine Condominium Act (33 M.R.S. ch. 31) carries its own assessment, lien and records regime. A pre-1983 condominium is governed largely by the Unit Ownership Act (ch. 10), but not only by it: § 1601-102(a) reaches eleven Condominium Act sections back to every Maine condominium however old, and those include § 1603-116, the lien for assessments, and § 1603-118, the association records right.

One covenant override reaches you, and one probably does not. The Solar Rights chapter does: 33 M.R.S. § 1421(1)(B) names “[r]ules, bylaws or regulations of an association of property owners, including but not limited to a homeowners association” as a legal instrument, so a road association's rules are within it — but only if adopted or created after 30 September 2009. Low-impact landscaping is different. Section 1451 reaches only a condominium or “real estate subject to common ownership”, which § 1451(1)(C) defines as requiring the common portion to be held “in the form of undivided interests” by the owners of the separate portions. A parcel served by a private way as an easement, or by fee ownership of the road, is normally neither. On the face of those definitions § 1451 does not reach an ordinary road association.

Fair housing. The Maine Human Rights Act, 5 M.R.S. ch. 337, reaches an “owner, lessee, sublessee, managing agent or other person having the right to sell or rent or manage a housing accommodation”.

Contents · 8 sections ▾
  1. § 3101Call of meetings; maintenance; repairs
  2. § 3102Commissioner's or board's duties; neglect of owners to pay
  3. § 3103Contracts for repair; reserve accounts
  4. § 3104Penalties and process
  5. § 3105Use of town equipmentrepealed
  6. § 3105-AUse of town equipment
  7. § 3106Municipal assistance for purposes of protecting or restoring natural resources 1. Protection or restoration of great ponds through repairs to private roads, ways or bridges.
  8. § 3121Responsibility for cost of repairs to and maintenance of private roads that benefit residential properties

No sections match that filter.

SUBCHAPTER 2 PRIVATE WAYS

§ 3101 Call of meetings; maintenance; repairs

1. Definitions. As used in this subchapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

A. "Private way" means a public easement as defined in section 3021, subsection 2.

B. "Repairs and maintenance" does not include paving, except in locations where pavement does not exist if approved by an affirmative vote of at least 3/4 of the owners of all the parcels benefited by the private road, private way or bridge at a meeting called in accordance with subsection 2 or in locations where limited paving is demonstrated to be a cost-effective approach for fixing an erosion problem or to repair and maintain pavement existing for at least 8 years. "Maintenance" includes, but is not limited to, snowplowing, snow removal, sanding and ice control; grading and adding gravel and surface material; installing reclaimed asphalt or grinding existing pavement for reuse; installing, cleaning and replacing culverts; creating and maintaining ditches, drains and other storm water management infrastructure; creating and maintaining sight distances on curves and at intersections; and cutting brush, trees and vegetation in the right-of-way.

2. Call of meeting. When 4 or more parcels of land are benefited by a private road, private way or bridge as an easement or by fee ownership of the private road, private way or bridge, the owners of any 3 or more of the parcels, as long as at least 3 of the parcels are owned by different persons, may make written application to a notary public to call a meeting. The notary may issue a warrant or similar written notice setting forth the time, place and purpose of the meeting. Copies of the warrant or similar written notice must be mailed by means of the United States Postal Service to the owners of all the parcels benefited by the private road, private way or bridge at the addresses set forth in the municipal tax records at least 30 days before the date of the meeting. The notice must inform the owners of the planned meeting's agenda and specify all items to be voted on, including, but not limited to, all proposed budget items or amendments that will determine the amount of money to be paid by each owner pursuant to subsection 5. Subsequent meetings may be called in the same manner or by a commissioner or board appointed at a previous meeting pursuant to subsection 5.

3. E-mail. E-mail may be used as an alternative to United States mail for sending notices and other materials under this section with the agreement of the receiving party as long as the communication includes the current address and telephone number of the sender for purposes of verification.

4. Voting. Each parcel of land benefited by a private road, private way or bridge represents one vote under this section; except that, if the bylaws of the association authorize more than one vote, then each parcel may represent no more than 2 votes under this subsection. The call to a meeting may state that an owner may elect in writing to appoint another owner to vote in the owner's stead. Owners voting by absentee ballot must be polled on all voting items that were not included in the agenda and the final tally must be reported to the owners.

4-A. Road associations. A road association under this subchapter through its commissioner or board may address present and future repair and maintenance of a private road, private way or bridge as authorized by the owners at meetings called and conducted pursuant to this section until the association is dissolved by a majority vote of its members.

5. Commissioner or board; assessment for repair, maintenance and other costs. The owners of parcels of land benefited by a private road, private way or bridge at a meeting called pursuant to subsection 2 may choose a commissioner or board, to be sworn. By a majority vote of the owners present and voting in person or by written proxy or absentee ballot, the owners may determine what repairs and maintenance are necessary and the materials to be furnished or amount of money to be paid by each owner for repairs and maintenance and may determine the amount of money to be paid by each owner for other costs, including, but not limited to, the cost of liability insurance for the officers, directors and owners and costs of administration. The determination of each owner's share of the total cost must be fair and equitable and based upon a formula provided for in the road association's bylaws or adopted by the owners at a meeting called and conducted pursuant to this section. The commissioner or board shall report the outcome of all votes to all the owners by United States mail within 30 days. Special assessments for emergency repairs and maintenance may be made at a duly held meeting called for that purpose. Emergency repairs and maintenance are those actions necessary to maintain or restore the functionality of the private road, private way or bridge.

5-A. Easements. A road association under this subchapter may negotiate an easement for the installation of a ditch, drain, culvert or other storm water management infrastructure to benefit the private road, private way or bridge. The easement must specify when a ditch, drain, culvert or other storm water management infrastructure must be maintained and include reasonable performance standards to guide the timing and extent of its upkeep and repair. The easement must also be recorded at the registry of deeds in the county in which the property subject to the easement is located. A ditch, drain, culvert or other storm water management infrastructure subject to an easement under this subsection must be under the control of and maintained by the road association.

6. Commercial or forest management purposes. This section does not apply to a private road, private way or bridge constructed or primarily used for commercial or forest management purposes.

7. Immunity from suit. A commissioner, board or owner of a parcel of land who undertakes activities of a road association under this subchapter is immune from civil liability in all actions by owners or lessees of other lots for the following activities:

A. The determination of repairs and maintenance to be undertaken;

B. The determination of materials to be furnished or amount of money to be paid by each owner for repairs and maintenance;

C. The collection of the money from each owner; and

D. The awarding of a contract authorized under section 3103.

8. Environmental violations. Notwithstanding subsection 7, a commissioner, board or owner of a parcel of land is not immune from an enforcement action for a violation of law under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Protection or a municipality.

9. Insurance. A road association under this subchapter may purchase liability insurance to defend and indemnify the road association's officers, directors and owner members for any and all claims of liability or violation of law concerning the private road, private way or bridge and may include the costs of such insurance in the determination of each owner's share of the total cost under subsection 5.

History: PL 1995, c. 227, §1 (AMD). PL 1997, c. 682, §1 (AMD). PL 1999, c. 552, §1 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 162, §1 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 625, §1 (RPR). PL 2009, c. 238, §§1, 2 (AMD). PL 2009, c. 239, §§1-3 (AMD). PL 2013, c. 198, §§1-7 (AMD). PL 2023, c. 387, §1 (AMD).

§ 3102 Commissioner's or board's duties; neglect of owners to pay

The commissioner or board chosen under section 3101, with respect to the private road, private way or bridge, has the powers of a road commissioner. If any owner, on requirement of the commissioner or board, neglects to furnish that owner's proportion of labor, materials or money, the same may be furnished by the other owners and recovered of the owner neglecting to pay in a civil action, together with costs of suit and reasonable attorney's fees. Such civil action may be brought in the name of and by the road association created pursuant to this subchapter and the decision to bring that civil action may be made by the commissioner or board or as otherwise provided for in the road association's bylaws. The commissioner's or board's apportioning of the cost of repairs to the road undertaken pursuant to the provisions of section 3101 may not exceed 1% of an individual owner's municipal property valuation in any calendar year.

History: PL 1997, c. 682, §2 (AMD). PL 1999, c. 552, §2 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 625, §2 (AMD). PL 2013, c. 198, §8 (AMD).

§ 3103 Contracts for repair; reserve accounts

The owners, at a meeting held under section 3101, may by a majority vote of the owners present and voting in person or by written proxy or absentee ballot authorize:

1. Contract for repair. A contract for repairs or maintenance to the private road, private way or bridge by the year or for a lesser time and may raise money for that purpose pursuant to section 3101, subsection 5; and

2. Reserve account. A reserve account to be established to hold funds solely to be used for repairs and maintenance.

History: PL 1997, c. 682, §2 (AMD). PL 2005, c. 479, §1 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 625, §3 (AMD). PL 2013, c. 198, §9 (AMD). PL 2023, c. 387, §2 (RPR).

§ 3104 Penalties and process

Money recovered under sections 3102 and 3103 is for the use of the owners. In any notice of claim or process for the money's recovery, a description of the owners as owners of parcels of land benefited by the private road, private way or bridge by name, clearly describing each owner's parcel of land by the book and page number of the owner's deed as recorded in the county's registry of deeds and the private road, private way or bridge, is sufficient. If the private road, private way or bridge is shown on a plan recorded in the county's registry of deeds, the plan's recording reference is sufficient. Such process is not abated by the death of any owner or by the transfer of any owner's interest. Any money owed pursuant to section 3101, 3102 or 3103 is an obligation that is personal to the owners of the subject parcels, jointly or severally, and also burdens the parcel and runs with the land upon the transfer of any owner's interest. After June 30, 2018, any money owed pursuant to section 3101, 3102 or 3103 is not an obligation that burdens the parcel or runs with the land upon the transfer of any owner's interest unless a notice of claim is recorded in the county's registry of deeds prior to the transfer. A notice of claim filed in the registry of deeds expires 6 years from the date of recording unless extended prior to the expiration by recording of a notice of extension of the notice of claim. A recorded notice of claim may be extended for additional 6-year periods until the claim is paid. The commissioner or board may cause to be recorded in the county's registry of deeds a notice of claim for money owed pursuant to section 3101, 3102 or 3103 that is more than 90 days delinquent and may add to the amount owed the recording costs for filing the notice of claim. The recording of such notice does not constitute slander of title. Before recording such notice or service of process of a complaint for collection in a civil action, the commissioner or board shall give the owner against whom such action is to be taken written notice, in the same manner as written notices of meetings are provided for in section 3101, of the intended action if the debt is not paid within 20 days of the date of the written notice. This written notice to cure must be sent at least 30 days before the recording of the notice of claim or the service of process of the complaint for collection in a civil action.

History: PL 1997, c. 682, §2 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 625, §4 (AMD). PL 2013, c. 198, §10 (AMD). PL 2017, c. 306, §1 (AMD). PL 2023, c. 387, §3 (AMD).

§ 3105 Use of town equipmentrepealed

Repealed

History: PL 2009, c. 239, §4 (RPR). PL 2009, c. 501, §1 (RP).

§ 3105-A Use of town equipment

The legislative body of any town or village corporation at a legal town or village corporation meeting may authorize the municipal officers of the town or assessors of the village corporation to use the town's or village corporation's highway equipment on private ways within such town or village corporation to plow, maintain or repair those private ways to the extent directed by the legislative body and whenever such municipal officers or assessors consider it advisable in the best interest of the town or village corporation for fire and police protection.

History: PL 2009, c. 501, §2 (NEW). PL 2023, c. 642, §2 (AMD).

§ 3106 Municipal assistance for purposes of protecting or restoring natural resources 1. Protection or restoration of great ponds through repairs to private roads, ways or bridges.

For the purpose of protecting or restoring a great pond, as defined in Title 38, section 480-B, subsection 5, a municipality may appropriate funds to repair a private road, way or bridge to prevent storm water runoff pollution from reaching a great pond if:

A. The private road, way or bridge is within the watershed of the great pond;

B. The great pond:

(1) Is listed on the Department of Environmental Protection's list of bodies of water most at risk pursuant to Title 38, section 420-D, subsection 3;

(2) Has been listed as impaired in an integrated water quality monitoring and assessment report submitted by the Department of Environmental Protection to the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act, 33 United States Code, Section 1315(b) at least once since 2002; or (3) Is identified as having threats to water quality in a completed watershed survey that uses a protocol accepted by the Department of Environmental Protection;

C. The Department of Environmental Protection or the municipality determines that the private road, way or bridge is contributing to the degradation of the water quality of the great pond based upon an evaluation of the road, way or bridge using a protocol accepted by the department;

D. The repair complies with best management practices required by the Department of Environmental Protection; and

E. The private road, way or bridge is maintained by a road association organized under this subchapter or Title 13-B.

1-A. Protection or restoration of protected natural resources through repairs to certain private roads, ways, bridges or storm water management systems. For the purpose of protecting or restoring a protected natural resource, a municipality or a regional community and economic development organization may appropriate funds to repair a private road, way, bridge or storm water management system to prevent storm water runoff pollution from reaching a protected natural resource if:

A. The private road, way, bridge or storm water management system is within the watershed of the protected natural resource or is located within or immediately adjacent to the protected natural resource;

B. With respect to a protected natural resource that is a great pond only, the great pond satisfies the criteria listed in subsection 1, paragraph B;

C. The Department of Environmental Protection, the municipality or the regional community and economic development organization determines that the private road, way, bridge or storm water management system is contributing to the degradation of water quality within or immediately adjacent to the protected natural resource based upon an evaluation of the road, way, bridge or storm water management system using a protocol accepted by the department;

D. The repair complies with best management practices required by the Department of Environmental Protection; and

E. The private road, way, bridge or storm water management system is located wholly or partially within or immediately adjacent to a military installation closed pursuant to the federal Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990.

1-B. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

A. "Protected natural resource" has the same meaning as in Title 38, section 480-B, subsection 8.

B. "Regional community and economic development organization" means a quasi-governmental entity established in statute for the purpose of addressing the development needs, problems and opportunities of municipalities and regions. "Regional community and economic development organization" includes, but is not limited to, the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority established in Title 5, section 13083-G.

2. Rules. The Department of Environmental Protection may adopt rules to carry out the purposes of this section. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

History: PL 2009, c. 225, §1 (NEW). PL 2009, c. 501, §3 (AMD). PL 2023, c. 65, §1 (AMD).

SUBCHAPTER 2-A MAINTENANCE OF PRIVATE ROADS THAT BENEFIT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

§ 3121 Responsibility for cost of repairs to and maintenance of private roads that benefit residential properties

1. Cost sharing. If more than one property shares a common benefit from a private road, each property owner who shares the common benefit is responsible for a share of the cost of reasonable and necessary repairs to and maintenance of that private road determined pursuant to the terms of any agreement entered into to determine the share of the cost of reasonable and necessary repairs to and maintenance of the private road, any deed restriction, covenant or declaration applicable to the benefited property, any road association created pursuant to this chapter or otherwise or any method elected under section 3101, when applicable. In the absence of any such agreement, restriction, covenant, declaration, road association or method elected under section 3101, each residential property owner, after reasonable due process and notice, shall share equally in the cost of reasonable and necessary repairs to and maintenance of the private road when the private road is the primary means of access to the benefited property. For purposes of this section, each residential property may be assessed only one share toward the collective cost of repairs and maintenance regardless of whether there are multiple owners of record for one property.

2. Repairs and maintenance defined. For the purposes of this section, "repairs and maintenance" has the same meaning as set forth in section 3101, subsection 1, paragraph B.

3. Enforcement. If a residential property owner fails to pay that owner's share of the cost of reasonable and necessary repairs to and maintenance of the private road in accordance with subsection 1, after a demand in writing, a legal claim for payment of the amount owed may be brought against that owner by a residential property owner or owners who share a common benefit in the road, either jointly or severally.

4. Conflict. In the event of any conflict between the provisions of this section and an agreement, restriction, covenant, declaration, road association or method elected in section 3101 existing on or entered into after the effective date of this section, the terms of the agreement, restriction, covenant, declaration, road association or method elected in section 3101 control.

5. Exceptions. This section does not apply to:

A. A private road constructed or primarily used for commercial or forest management purposes; or

B. A property owner who issues a ground lease to a 3rd party who maintains a residence on the subject property. As used in this section, "ground lease" means an arrangement under which a property owner leases only land to a lessee and the lessee retains the rights to use the land and any improvements the lessee makes for the term of the lease.

History: PL 2021, c. 13, §1 (NEW).

Source. Reproduced from the official text of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, chapter 305, subchapter 2 (Private Ways) and subchapter 2-A (Maintenance of Private Roads that Benefit Residential Properties) (23 M.R.S. §3101 to §3121), as published by the Maine State Legislature and including enactments through 2025. General information, not legal advice; the statutes are amended every session, so confirm the current text against the official source.

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