Portland’s 2027 Rent Increase Percentage Is 2.6%
The City has confirmed the allowable rent increase for calendar year 2027 at 2.6%. For a January 1 effective date, remember that tenants are legally entitled to 90 days’ written notice of the increase.
If any of your Portland units are due for a rent increase effective January 1, 2027, here’s the number you’ve been waiting for: the City has confirmed the calendar year 2027 allowable increase percentage at 2.6%.
Portland’s rent control ordinance also requires 90 days’ written notice before an increase takes effect. For a January 1, 2027 effective date, that means getting notice letters out well before the end of the year — many owners aim for late September as a comfortable working target, though the actual requirement is simply 90 days’ notice, however you schedule it.
To increase rent on a covered Portland unit effective January 1, 2027, tenants must receive written notice at least 90 days in advance. There’s no separate “notice deadline” in the ordinance beyond that — just make sure whatever date you send letters, tenants actually have the full 90 days before the increase takes effect.
How the cap works
Portland voters approved rent control by referendum in November 2020. Under Portland City Code, Chapter 6, Sec. 6-234(a), the allowable increase percentage is set every September 1, calculated as 70% of the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for the Greater Boston metro area over the preceding twelve months, as published in August by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure set each September 1 governs the calendar year that follows.
The calendar year 2027 allowable rent increase percentage is 2.6%, per the City of Portland’s Rent Control & Rental Housing Rights page.
A few other things worth keeping straight about how the ordinance applies:
- Coverage. The ordinance generally applies to buildings with six or more units; smaller owner-occupied buildings are typically exempt.
- New construction. Newly built units are usually exempt for a set number of years after their certificate of occupancy.
- Exceptions process. Owners can petition the City’s Rent Board for an increase above the standard cap in specific circumstances — capital improvements or documented financial hardship, for example — through a formal application process.
What this means if you own property in Portland
With the 2.6% figure confirmed, renewal notices for January 1, 2027 can be finalized. A few practical steps:
- Update renewal notice templates to reflect the confirmed 2.6% cap before sending anything out.
- Identify every lease with a January 1, 2027 renewal or increase date now, so there’s plenty of runway to hit the 90-day notice requirement.
- Double-check which units are covered — new construction and small owner-occupied buildings may fall outside the ordinance entirely.
- Flag any units where you’re considering a capital-improvement exception; that process runs separately from the standard cap and takes lead time.
Check a unit against the 2027 cap
Want to see how this plays out for a specific unit? Our internal 6-year rent analyzer walks through Portland’s compounding rent-control formula year by year — including banked rent — using the confirmed 2.6% figure for 2027.
Portland Rent Control 6-Year Rent Analyzer
Use this internal screening tool to estimate whether a Portland, Maine covered rental unit is being charged at, below, or above the apparent maximum rent allowed based on the unit’s rent history.
Unit Information
6-Year Rent History
Enter the actual rent charged each year. If there was a voluntary new tenancy, select “Yes.” Banked rent used should be entered as a dollar amount for that year.
Note: This calculator does not account for the temporary property tax pass-through adjustment Portland allowed when rent control was first introduced. If a unit’s rent history includes a property tax pass-through from that period, the figures above will not reflect it — confirm separately before relying on this tool for that unit.
“2.6% is the number. 90 days’ notice is the rule. Everything else is just good scheduling.”
We track ordinance changes and notice requirements like this one as part of the job, so the properties we manage never cut it close. If you’re handling renewals on your own this year, now’s a good time to get letters drafted with plenty of runway.
Not sure how a compliance change like this affects your property?
Foreside manages rent-controlled, market-rate, and affordable housing communities across Maine. We track ordinance changes and notice requirements like this one as part of the job — so you don’t have to.
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