For more information or to have a counselor contact you, please complete the rental counseling intake form below.
Are you searching for safe and affordable rental housing? Are you having trouble making rent payments or experiencing issues with your landlord? Are you at risk of being evicted from your current rental home or apartment?
Penquis offers Rental Counseling and Eviction Prevention services to residents in Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo, and Washington counties in Maine. We can support tenants, and their landlords, in the following ways:
- Assist with understanding tenants’ rights and responsibilities and good rental practices, such as renter’s insurance and maintaining the home
- Help tenants understand rental leases, utility bill responsibility, and security deposits
- Offer guidance on how to build and maintain good communication with landlords and help resolve tenant-landlord disputes
- Improve tenants’ budgeting and credit skills
- Assist in the creation and negotiation of realistic and practical payment plans for back rent and other late payments
- Help tenants navigate the formal eviction process in the courts, understand their rights, and work toward a swift and fair conclusion in partnership with other services, such as free legal services
- Help tenants understand and resolve Fair Housing issues related to possible discrimination for protected classes including race, color, national origin, religion, disability, family status, sex/gender, and, in Maine, sexual orientation
- Guide renters on eventual home buying through Pre-Purchase Counseling
We welcome partnerships with landlords in supporting tenants and helping them remain responsible and punctual renters. We do not see the tenant-landlord relationship as adversarial by default and prefer to work with both sides to come to a mutually beneficial conclusion.
For more information, please contact our certified housing counselor, Heather Massow, at (207) 974-2403.
