Code of Maine Rules › 95 - INDEPENDENT AGENCIES › 648 - EFFICIENCY MAINE TRUST › Chapter 5 - COMMERCIAL PROPERTY ASSESSED CLEAN ENERGY (C-PACE) PROGRAM REGULATIONS › Section 648-5-10 - COLLECTION OF C-PACE ASSESSMENTS, RECORDING OF LIENS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
1. Priority of C-PACE Lien. A C-PACE Lien
				secures payment for any unpaid C- PACE Assessment and, together with all
				associated interest and penalties for default and associated attorney's fees
				and collection costs, takes precedence over all other liens or encumbrances
				except a lien for real property taxes of the Municipality and liens of
				municipal sewer, sanitary and water districts. From the date of recording, a
				C-PACE Lien is a priority lien against a property, subject only to liens set
				out in 35-A M.R.S. §
									6111- A, 36 M.R.S. §
									552 and
				38 M.R.S. §§
									1050 and
				1208, except that the priority of
				such a C-PACE Lien over any lien, except a lien for real property taxes of the
				Municipality or a lien of a municipal sewer, sanitary or water district, that
				existed prior to the C-PACE Lien is subject to the written consent of such
				existing lienholder.
2. Collection
				of C-PACE Assessments. A C-PACE Assessment constitutes a lien on the Qualifying
				Property until it is paid in full and must be assessed and collected by the
				Trust, a 3rd-party administrator contracted by the Trust, a municipality or an
				agent designated by the Trust or a municipality in any manner allowed under the
				C-PACE Program, consistent with applicable laws. If the Trust or a 3rd-party
				administrator contracted by the Trust collects C-PACE assessments on behalf of
				a Municipality, the Trust shall periodically report to the Municipality on the
				status of the C-PACE assessments in the Municipality and shall notify the
				Municipality immediately of any delinquent C-PACE Assessments. Upon receiving
				notification from the Trust of a delinquent C-PACE Assessment, a Municipality
				shall notify the holder of any mortgage on the property of the delinquent
				assessment.
3. Collection, default
				and foreclosure. A C-PACE Assessment for which notice is properly recorded
				under this section creates a lien on the Qualified Property. The portion of the
				Assessment that has not yet become due is not eliminated by foreclosure, and
				the lien may not be accelerated or extinguished until fully repaid.
A C-PACE Assessment and any interest, fees, penalties and
				  attorney's fees incurred in its collection must be collected in the same manner
				  as the real property taxes of the Municipality in which the Qualified Property
				  is located. If a C-PACE Assessment is delinquent or in default and the Property
				  Owner is delinquent in any tax debt due to the Municipality in which the
				  Property is located, collection may occur only by the recording of liens and by
				  foreclosure under 36 M.R.S. §§
										942 and
				  943. Liens must be recorded and
				  released in the same manner as liens for real property taxes.
If only a C-PACE Assessment is delinquent but the Property
				  Owner is current on payment of all municipal taxes due to the participating
				  Municipality, then a C-PACE lienholder shall accept an assignment of the C-PACE
				  Lien, as provided in the written agreement between the participating
				  Municipality and the C-PACE Registered Capital Provider. The assignee shall
				  have and possess all the same powers and rights at law as the participating
				  Municipality and its tax collector with regards to the priority of the C-PACE
				  Lien, the accrual of interest and fees and the costs of collection. The
				  assignee shall have the same rights to enforce the C-PACE Lien as any private
				  party or lender holding a lien on real property, including, but not limited to,
				  the right of foreclosure consistent with 14 M.R.S. §§
										6203-A and
				  6321 and any other action in contract
				  or lawsuit for the enforcement of the C-PACE Lien. The assignee shall recover
				  costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred as a result of any foreclosure
				  action or other legal proceeding brought pursuant to this subsection, which may
				  be collected by the assignee at any time after the assignee has made demand for
				  payment.
4. Judicial or
				nonjudicial sale or foreclosure. In the event of a judicial or nonjudicial sale
				or foreclosure of a property subject to a C-PACE Lien by a lienholder that is
				not a C-PACE lienholder, the C-PACE Lien must survive the foreclosure or sale
				to the extent of any unpaid installment, interest, penalties or fees secured by
				the lien that were not paid from the proceeds of the sale. All parties with
				mortgages or liens on that property, including without limitation C-PACE
				lienholders, must receive on account of such mortgages or liens sale proceeds
				in accordance with the priority established in the C-PACE Act and by applicable
				law. A C-PACE Assessment is not eliminated by foreclosure and cannot be
				accelerated. Only the portion of a C-PACE Assessment that is in arrears at the
				time of foreclosure takes precedence over other mortgages or liens; the
				remainder transfers with the property at resale.
Unless otherwise agreed upon by the C-PACE lender, all
				  payments on a C-PACE Assessment that become due after the date of transfer by
				  judicial or nonjudicial sale or foreclosure must continue to be secured by a
				  lien on the property and are the responsibility of the transferee.