An Act to Facilitate Property Redevelopment and Encourage Affordable Housing by Allowing the Conveyance of Unfinished Commercial Condominium Units Reference to the Joint Select Committee on Housing suggested and ordered printed.
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1289
Committee: Housing
Sponsors: POULIOT, CAMPBELL
Amends: 33 MRSA §1602

Legislative Document
No. 1289
S.P. 526
In Senate, March 23, 2023
An Act to Facilitate Property Redevelopment and Encourage 
Affordable Housing by Allowing the Conveyance of Unfinished 
Commercial Condominium Units
Reference to the Joint Select Committee on Housing suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator POULIOT of Kennebec.
Cosponsored by Representative CAMPBELL of Orrington.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  33 MRSA §1602-101, as amended by PL 2009, c. 261, Pt. B, §16, is further 
amended to read:
§1602-101.  Creation of condominium
(a)  A condominium may be created pursuant to this Act only by recording a declaration 
executed in the same manner as a deed, by all persons whose interests in the real estate will 
be conveyed to unit owners and by every lessor of a lease the expiration or termination of 
which will terminate the condominium or reduce its size.  In the creation of a condominium, 
the declaration shall must be recorded in the same manner as a deed and plats and plans 
shall must be recorded in the same manner as plats and plans generally.  All such 
documents, shall must be indexed in the name of the condominium and the parties thereto 
and may be included in such other indices as shall be determined by the Register of Deeds.
(b)  No Except as provided in subsection (c), interest in any unit may not be conveyed 
to a purchaser until the unit is substantially completed as evidenced by a certificate or 
statement of substantial completion executed by an engineer or architect, or until a 
certificate of occupancy is issued by the municipal building official; except that this 
limitation does not apply to contracts, options or reservations for sale of units later to be so 
completed or to mortgages or transfers of units as security for an obligation, deeds in lieu 
of foreclosure, foreclosures and foreclosure sales, conveyances to successor declarants or 
to any person in the business of selling real estate for that person's own account, or to 
financial institutions.
(c)  A condominium unit described in this subsection may be conveyed to a purchaser 
or transferee, whether or not the unit is constructed and whether or not the unit is completed, 
in accordance with this subsection. A condominium unit:
(1)  To be used for nonresidential purposes may be conveyed by a declarant in any 
stage of completion to a purchaser or transferee.  The purchaser or transferee and the 
declarant shall enter into a written agreement establishing the rights and responsibilities for 
completion of the unit and the common elements. The agreement must indicate whether 
the purchaser or transferee is treated as a successor declarant of the uncompleted unit;
(2)  That includes land on which improvements will be constructed and become part of 
the unit may be conveyed to a purchaser or transferee.  The purchaser or transferee is 
responsible for completing the improvements, even if the improvements will include an 
individual dwelling unit; and
(3)  That contains multiple dwelling units that are to be held and maintained as a single 
condominium unit containing multiple dwelling units may be conveyed by a declarant in 
any stage of completion to a purchaser or transferee.  The purchaser or transferee and the 
declarant shall enter into a written agreement establishing the rights and responsibilities for 
completion of the unit and the common elements.  The agreement must indicate whether 
the purchaser or transferee is treated as a successor declarant of the uncompleted unit.
SUMMARY
This bill allows the conveyance of certain unfinished commercial condominium units 
to a purchaser or transferee for completion by the purchaser or transferee.