Maine residential care facility license: one license from a single bed up, under Ch. 113 Part B

One license for a two-bed home or a large facility

Maine law defines a residential care facility as a house or other place that, for consideration, provides residents with assisted living services in private or semi-private bedrooms in buildings with common living and dining areas.⁠¹ A “resident” is anyone 18 or older who is not related by blood or marriage to the owner or person in charge.⁠¹ So if you take in one unrelated adult for pay and help with bathing, dressing, medications or supervision, the rule applies. Caring only for your own relatives does not create residents under this definition.

Many states have a separate small-home license. Maine does not. The Part B rule that took effect September 18, 2025 stopped using Levels I to IV to sort residential care facilities. It keeps their meanings only because other statutes and rules still refer to them:⁠²

What still changes with size is spelled out in specific rules: the fire code chapter (1-3, 4-16, 17+ beds)⁠⁵, the administrator license (7+)⁠⁶, RN visit frequency, staffing ratios above 10 beds, and a pharmacist consultant and dietary coordinator at 16 or more.⁠² The rest of this guide is organized around those thresholds.

Which Maine license is yours

Maine calls this whole family “assisted housing.” It comes in three types: assisted living facilities, residential care facilities, and independent housing with services programs. The third needs no license.⁠² The line between the first two is physical layout:

• Private apartments with a common dining area are an assisted living facility under Ch. 113 Part A. See the Maine assisted living facility guide.
• Private or semi-private bedrooms with shared living and dining rooms are a residential care facility under Part B.⁠¹
• Secure memory care units that had been operating under assisted living licensure were directed to apply for residential care licensure. An assisted living facility and an RCF-licensed memory care unit can share a building.⁠⁴
• Homes serving adults with intellectual disability, autism, a related condition or an acquired brain injury, funded in whole or part by DHHS, must apply under the emergency rule 10-144 C.M.R. Ch. 108, Home and Community Support Service Agencies. An application filed under Ch. 113 is not transferred, and DLC states it will not refund it.⁠⁴
• Behavioral health residences paid as Private Non-Medical Institutions (PNMIs) are a type of residential care facility, but those offering behavioral health services may fall under Ch. 123, the Behavioral Health Organizations rule.⁠²
• A day program inside your facility for three or more non-residents must also meet Ch. 117, the adult day rule.⁠² See the Maine adult day services guide.
• Care in clients’ own homes is a non-medical home care or home health license, not this one.

Operating without the license is a civil violation. The penalty is $500 to $10,000 per day, and each day counts as a separate offense. The Attorney General can also seek an injunction.⁠²

No certificate of need, but a fire marshal gate

Maine’s certificate of need law covers hospitals, nursing facilities and certain specialty centers. Its definition of “health care facility” does not list residential care or assisted living.⁠⁸ The step that stops many openings is fire safety. By statute, DHHS may not issue a residential care license until it has a written statement from the Department of Public Safety that the facility meets the applicable fire code. A certificate of compliance has to be on file before the license issues.⁠⁵ If a local life-safety regulation is stricter, it takes precedence.⁠⁵

The Life Safety Code chapter you must meet depends on bed count:⁠⁵

Adding a fourth bed moves an ordinary house out of the dwelling chapter and into the board-and-care chapter, with one exception: a 4- to 6-bed facility whose residents have prompt evacuation capability may stay under the dwelling chapter if it was licensed under that chapter before October 1, 2002. Facilities with four or fewer beds do not need certification from a design specialist.⁠⁵ For 4 to 8 beds, the Commissioner of Public Safety may waive the manual fire alarm activation requirement.⁠⁵

Evacuation capability is measured by timed drills, unless you choose evacuation scores under NFPA 101A or the code does not require timed drills. A new resident’s drill result from another residential care facility within the previous 2 months can be used for up to 4 months. Each failure to follow the timed-drill law can bring a forfeiture of up to $25 per bed.⁠⁵ DLC publishes a Division-approved evacuation drill log.⁠³ The rule also requires a fire safety plan built around your residents’ abilities. You need a written all-hazards disaster and evacuation plan as well. Any real evacuation (anything other than a planned drill) must be reported to DHHS and the State Fire Marshal’s Office as soon as residents are out safely.⁠²

After licensing, any modification, reconstruction, change of use or occupancy, or addition needs State Fire Marshal plan review and final approval, followed by an updated license.⁠²

The house: bedrooms, bathrooms, water and heat

Part B sets these physical minimums:⁠²

The facility must also be on a road that is regularly maintained and passable.⁠² Rural sites have extra steps if they run on a private well. Before filing either an initial or a renewal application, you must complete the Basic Safety Test of the well water and send the results with the application.⁠³ The rule names the contaminants: fluoride, uranium, arsenic, lead, total coliform bacteria and nitrates, tested by a Maine-certified lab. After that, coliform and nitrates are retested every year, and fluoride, uranium, lead and arsenic every five years. You may instead serve bottled water for all drinking and cooking under a written bottled water agreement with DHHS, but the annual testing continues. A well serving 25 or more people a day, or with 15 or more service connections, for 60 or more days a year is a public water system with its own rules.⁠²

Zoning. A housing facility for 8 or fewer persons with disabilities that is licensed by the State counts as a single-family use for municipal zoning.⁠⁷ Whether your residents meet the Fair Housing Act definition of disability is a fact question. Larger buildings go through local zoning as usual.

Owner and administrator qualifications

DHHS reviews both the applicant and the administrator. Each must consent to release of information and show they can run the facility safely. DHHS may look at licensing board and registry records, past compliance history, and criminal, child protective and adult protective records. It also considers financial ability, such as a history of paying payroll withholding on time and access to working capital, and experience in health care, social services or related work.⁠² A Residential Care or Multi-Level Facility Administrator’s License counts as proof of experience.⁠²

Every facility needs a designated administrator. The administrator must be licensed when 02-371 C.M.R. Ch. 26 requires it.⁠² According to the Nursing Home Administrators Licensing Board, the Residential Care Facility Administrator license applies to a Level II facility with a licensed capacity of seven or more residents. As published on 2026-10-12, it costs $200 plus a $21 criminal history check, renews every June 30, and requires 16 hours of continuing education.⁠⁶ The board’s page defines the facility for this license as one with a licensed capacity of seven or more residents. The text of the board’s rule (02-371 C.M.R. Ch. 26) could not be pulled from an official Secretary of State page, so confirm the threshold and your facility’s licensed capacity with the board before you rely on it for a six-bed home.

Other administrator rules:⁠²

• One administrator may oversee up to 160 residents in a single facility, or no more than 3 facilities with a combined licensed capacity of 50.
• A planned absence of more than 30 days must be reported in writing at least five business days ahead. An unplanned absence must be reported within 72 hours. A change-of-administrator application is due within 30 business days.
• A facility that needs a licensed administrator may use a licensed temporary administrator for up to 90 days.
• No licensee, owner, administrator, employee or substantial investor may serve as a resident’s guardian, conservator or power of attorney. They may act as representative payee under 22 M.R.S. §7857.

Staffing, nurses and training

Staff must be present 24 hours a day. When residents are in the building, the person on duty must be qualified and awake.⁠² Direct care workers must be 18 or older, except certified nursing assistants, who may be 16. Laundry, housekeeping, maintenance, office and kitchen staff do not count toward staffing unless their hours on care duty are logged separately.⁠² Above 10 beds, the rule sets minimum direct-care-staff-to-occupied-bed ratios:⁠²

At 10 beds or fewer, the rule sets no numeric ratio. It requires staffing adequate to meet residents’ needs, and DHHS can order more staff through a directed plan of correction.⁠² Weekly schedules listing every employee, including the administrator, must be posted.⁠²

Registered nurse. Every facility must retain an RN, either on staff (someone other than the administrator) or under contract. The RN reviews resident and medication records, watches medication passes and recommends staff training.⁠² Minimum on-site visits scale with size:⁠²

When you apply, you must also show an RN on staff or under contract if your staff will give medications or perform treatments a practitioner prescribes. In that case the RN has to be on site as residents’ assessments require.⁠² DLC’s transition notice gave facilities that were newly subject to the RN requirement six months after the rule’s effective date to comply.⁠⁴

A facility with 16 or more licensed beds also needs a pharmacist consultant at least quarterly and a designated dietary coordinator.⁠²

Training. Before working unsupervised, each direct care employee must receive site-specific orientation. It covers fire safety, mandatory reporting, confidentiality and resident rights, general care needs, signs of dementia, communication skills and, as needed, de-escalation.⁠² Within 120 days of hire, direct care staff other than CNAs and licensed professionals must complete the DHHS-approved certification course(s).⁠² DLC’s Personal Support Specialist (PSS) curriculum satisfies DHHS training requirements for direct care workers in residential care facilities. Unlicensed workers who pass medications take the Certified Residential Medication Aide (CRMA) course, which has an 8-hour recertification course.⁠¹²⁠¹³ All medication training must follow a state-approved course.⁠² Staff receive in-service training and a performance evaluation at least once a year.⁠²

Background checks. The licensee must comply with the Maine Background Check Center Act (22 M.R.S. ch. 1691) and its Ch. 60 rule. Each employee file holds the background check, an Adult Protective Services check and, for anyone who drives residents, a driving record.⁠² Volunteers who give direct care need a clean background check before they start.⁠²

Memory care. A memory care unit requires a dementia evaluation for each resident at admission. Every new staff member assigned to the unit needs 8 hours of classroom orientation and 8 hours of clinical orientation before working with residents.⁠²

What must be on paper before you apply

Part B requires you to adopt all of its required policies and procedures before you apply. DHHS may review them before it issues the license.⁠² The policy list includes hospice coordination, falls, unsafe wandering, resident-to-resident altercations, shift-to-shift care alerts, grievances, personnel, dietary, medication administration and inventory, fire and emergency procedures, maintenance, admission/discharge and scope of services, confidentiality, activities, staff training, nursing services, refusal of care, and emergency transfers.⁠²

The application itself must include a written admission policy. It must state who you admit and what services you provide, including the scope of nursing services under Board of Nursing rules, and it must be consistent with the Fair Housing Act and the Maine Human Rights Act.⁠² The policy carries weight later. Once the scope it describes can meet an applicant’s needs, you may not refuse admission except on the grounds the rule lists, such as a direct threat to health or safety.⁠²

Before licensure (and again at relicensure) you must also show:⁠²

• Fire marshal approval under the Life Safety Code, and compliance with plumbing, water, sewage and sanitation laws.
• A licensed administrator, if required.
• An RN on staff or under contract, where required.
• A bond covering anyone who handles resident funds, large enough to replace them.
• A valid lease or deed to the property.
• General and professional liability insurance adequate to cover injury to or theft from a resident.
• Proof that taxes under 36 M.R.S. §2872 are filed and paid. That statute imposes a 6% tax on gross patient services revenue of “residential treatment facilities,”⁠⁹ a term defined around facilities for people with intellectual disabilities or autism.⁠¹⁰ The statute reaches only facilities that fit that definition, and the rule says taxes “applicable to Residential Care Facilities” must be filed and paid without naming which taxes. Ask the Assisted Housing Program which tax filings it expects before you apply, especially if you will not serve people with intellectual disabilities or autism.

Resident contracts. Every admission uses the DHHS standard contract in Appendix A of the rule, which DLC also posts.⁠²⁠³ The rule limits what you may charge and collect:⁠²

• No deposit or prepayment beyond one month’s rent as a security deposit.
• No clause charging residents attorney fees or collection costs.
• A family member who wants to guarantee payment must sign a separate agreement with the state’s required warning, and may revoke it within 48 hours.
• Refunds of advance payments are due within 30 days of discharge or death.
• Resident funds may not be commingled, and staff may not borrow from residents.

Applying to DLC, in order

1. Pick the right rule

   Confirm you are under Ch. 113 Part B and not Part A, Ch. 108 or Ch. 123. A filing under the wrong chapter is not transferred or refunded.⁠⁴

2. Clear zoning and fire design for your bed count

   Plan to the Life Safety Code chapter that matches your licensed beds. Remember that local rules that are stricter on life safety control.⁠⁵

3. Test the well

   if you have one, using the Basic Safety Test.⁠³

4. Adopt your policies, admission policy and contract package

   before filing.⁠²

5. Line up the administrator and RN

   For 7+ residents the administrator needs a board license; that is a separate application with its own fee.⁠⁶

6. File online

   DLC accepts residential care applications through its online licensing portal, with required documents and fees as listed in the application.⁠³ Questions go to the Assisted Housing Program at [email protected] or DHHS at (207) 287-3707.⁠³⁠⁴

7. Respond to the completeness review

   DHHS tells new applicants within two weeks whether the application is complete. An application still incomplete 60 calendar days after receipt is void.⁠²

8. Pass the fire safety inspection and DHHS inspection

   Applying counts as consent to entry and inspection.⁠² If DHHS issues a statement of deficiencies, your plan of correction is due within ten working days.⁠²

9. Receive a provisional license

   DHHS may issue a first-time operator a provisional license for 3 to 12 months. To get one you must comply with everything except the rules that can only be met once residents are living there.⁠² The license must be posted at the facility.⁠²

Buying an existing facility does not transfer its license. The buyer must apply for a new license at least 30 days before the planned sale date and hold it before taking over.⁠²

Fees as published on 2026-10-12

A six-bed home pays $60 a year. A 40-bed facility pays $400. The fee is due every year even when DHHS issues a two-year license.⁠² DHHS pays the fire inspection fees to Public Safety or the municipal inspector.⁠⁵ Well testing, bonding and insurance costs are set by your vendors. The rule sets no amount for them.

Renewal, inspections and penalties

A full license runs up to two years if you are in substantial compliance. A conditional license runs up to one year.⁠² Renewal applications are due 30 days before expiration. A timely, complete renewal keeps the current license in force until DHHS decides.⁠² DHHS, the Attorney General’s office and the Long Term Care Ombudsman may enter at any time.⁠² Fire inspections are scheduled to coincide with the license term.⁠⁵ Changes in administrator or contact information must be reported within seven business days. DHHS requests must be answered within 2 days, except requests made during an inspection.⁠² Once DHHS announces its reporting system, the administrator must report daily staffing, temporary agency staff, turnover and census at least quarterly.⁠²

Penalties are calculated per resident per day:⁠²

Total penalties are capped at $10 times the number of residents per violation, with a maximum of $10,000 for each statement of deficiencies.⁠² Appeals must be filed within ten working days.⁠² A facility closing must give residents at least 30 days’ written notice.⁠² Only a facility holding a full license may request a waiver of a rule provision, using DLC’s waiver form.⁠²⁠³

MaineCare and the PNMI route

Licensing and payment are separate. A residential care facility that serves MaineCare members must meet the MaineCare Benefits Manual as well as Part B.⁠² The main Medicaid route for adult residential care is a Private Non-Medical Institution under MaineCare Section 97, Appendix C (Medical and Remedial Services Facilities).⁠¹¹ For each member, the Office of Aging and Disability Services must verify medical eligibility with the Medical Eligibility Determination (MED) assessment. Qualifying needs include:⁠¹¹

• Cueing seven days a week for eating, toileting, bathing and dressing.
• A one-person physical assist with at least two of seven activities of daily living.
• Prescribed medications given two or more times a day.
• Certain nursing services at least monthly.

Appendix C facilities are also subject to Chapter III of Section 97 and its Appendix C.⁠¹¹

What changed in September 2025

Part B replaced the older Ch. 113 assisted housing rule on September 18, 2025. DLC’s guidance said existing requirements applied from that date and gave new requirements staggered deadlines:⁠⁴

• 3 months: policies on wandering, medication destruction, hospice, falls, altercations and care alerts.
• 6 months: RN coverage for facilities newly required to have it, the resident-care-limitation rules, new standard contracts for all residents, and RCF licensure for secure memory care units that had operated under assisted living.
• 9 months: the administrator caps (160 residents, or 3 sites and 50 beds) and RN-developed medication policies.
• 12 months: all remaining administrative and resident care policies, including admission policies.

By the 12-month point (September 2026), all of those deadlines had passed, so a new applicant must meet every provision from the start. Also new in this rule: the Level I-IV labels were retired, and homes for DHHS-funded adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities or brain injury were moved to the Ch. 108 emergency rule.⁠²⁠⁴

Sources

1. 1
   Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 22 M.R.S. §7852, Definitions (assisted housing) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Licensing and Certification, 10-144 C.M.R. Ch. 113, Assisted Housing Programs Licensing Rule, Part B: Residential Care Facilities (effective September 18, 2025) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Licensing and Certification, Assisted Housing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Licensing and Certification, Important Notice for Assisted Housing Providers: Ch. 113 Guidance Document Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 22 M.R.S. §7855, Fire safety inspection for residential care facilities Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Maine Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Nursing Home Administrators Licensing Board, NH Administrator, Multi-Level LTC Administrator, Residential Care Facility Administrator Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 30-A M.R.S. §4357-A, Community living arrangements Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 22 M.R.S. §328, Definitions (certificate of need) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 36 M.R.S. §2872, Health care provider tax imposed Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 36 M.R.S. §2871, Definitions (health care provider tax) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Maine Secretary of State (agency rules), MaineCare Benefits Manual, 10-144 C.M.R. Ch. 101, Ch. II, Section 97: Private Non-Medical Institution Services Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Licensing and Certification, Personal Support Specialist (PSS) Training Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Licensing and Certification, Certified Residential Medication Aide (CRMA) Training Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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