Brunswick approves mobile home park rent limits to protect tenants

Brunswick mobile home park residents are set to get their first local rent limits after the Town Council approved an ordinance Monday night that ties annual increases to inflation and gives the town a formal way to review bigger hikes. The decision lands directly on household budgets in a community with more than 1,200 park lots housing thousands of residents, many at or below median income.

The ordinance is meant to do two things at once: slow rent and fee increases and force landlords to meet basic maintenance standards. Town officials said the framework was built after a “thorough study” found mobile home park residents were especially vulnerable to rising costs and poor or unsafe upkeep. The draft ordinance also says future rent and fee hikes should be tied to a landlord’s increased maintenance costs, while setting minimum standards for health and safety.

Those standards reach well beyond monthly rent. The town’s draft definitions cover dangerous roads, structural hazards, poor lighting, pest infestation, garbage accumulation, pooling water and inadequate water or wastewater management. Resident-owned parks, where tenants vote on their own rent increases, are exempt from the ordinance.

Brunswick first adopted an emergency moratorium on mobile home park rent increases on Nov. 17, 2025, after residents raised concerns about affordability and conditions. The council extended that freeze on May 5, 2026, for another 180 days while it worked on a permanent policy. Town staff also held a listening session on April 16, 2026, with residents and park landlords before the council moved ahead.

The new ordinance creates a Brunswick Mobile Home Park Rent Review Board with five members serving three-year terms. Town officials are now recruiting applicants for the board, with applications due by Aug. 3, 2026. Under the policy, annual increases are capped at a level tied to the Northeast Urban Consumer Price Index, and any increase above the affordability threshold must be approved by the board.

The vote also places Brunswick among a growing number of Maine towns using local rent stabilization to protect mobile home park tenants. State Rep. Cheryl Golek, who represents part of Brunswick and sponsored LD 1723, has pushed for stronger tenant protections. That law, enacted June 20, 2025, requires 90 days’ notice and mediation, but it does not stop rent increases outright. In Brunswick, park owners Legacy Communities and Sun Communities argued the draft would add administrative burdens and could slow improvements and home construction, while residents said rising rents had not been matched by fixes to failing water systems, falling trees and neglected roads. For Bay Bridge Estates residents, whom the town’s study identified as facing the highest financial stress, the ordinance could change the size of the next bill and the leverage tenants have when they challenge park conditions.