Task force recommends that Bar Harbor inspect long-term rentals

BAR HARBOR — The Long-Term Rental Registration Task Force met July 25, for what was likely its last meeting, to fine tune the recommendations that it will make to the Town Council. Those recommendations will probably not be made until the fall according to Code Enforcement Officer Angie Chamberlain.

According to Chamberlain, since the registration process began on Jan. 1, 2023, there have been approximately 603 long-term rental dwelling units registered.

The major recommendation that the task force will be making to the Town Council is to add an inspection component to the program.

When the long-term rental ordinance was originally conceived and as it is currently written, there is no life safety inspection component. Chapter 130 reads: “Inspections are not currently required for LTRs.”

A long-term rental is “any dwelling unit that is rented or available for rent for a period of 30 consecutive days or more, in exchange for compensation.”

The task force felt that adding an inspection component to the ordinance will help “to ensure and maintain the quality and adequacy of the long-term rental housing stock and to partially meet the goal of ensuring that all residential rental units in the Town of Bar Harbor are maintained in a safe and sanitary condition and do not create a nuisance or derelict condition to the surroundings.”

In an effort to try and protect the long-term rental stock and keep property owners from having to possibly spend thousands of dollars, the long-term rental life safety inspection would be a minimal inspection rather than an inspection that demands meeting of the latest life safety codes like the stringent short-term rental life-safety inspection.

After making a few minor adjustments to wording, the task force voted unanimously at the July 25 meeting to make the life-safety inspection recommendation to the Town Council.

This story was originally published by The Bar Harbor Story . To receive regular coverage from the Bar Harbor Story, sign up for a free subscription here .