Say you're pricing a Wells house partly on what it could earn as a summer rental. No town rule covers that income yet. Wells town planner and engineer Michael Livingston told Spectrum News in late August that "there are no regulations at all." Owners don't register, and the town doesn't know for sure how many short-term rentals it has.
That will probably change, and Wells has already shown how. This summer the town drafted its first short-term rental ordinance. The draft drew a map before it set any detailed rules. The Select Board tabled it on September 1, but the map is still the best public evidence of where Wells expects rentals to belong. So for a buyer, the useful question has shifted. You can't check today's rules because there are none. You can check which side of the drafted line a property falls on.
The line runs along Route 1
According to the town planner's August 12 memo, the draft would amend Chapter 145, the town's Land Use code, and add a Short Term Rental Overlay District to the official zoning map. WGME's August 20 report described the overlay this way: everything east of U.S. Route 1 to the ocean, plus a strip 500 feet west of Route 1, with the Resource Protection and Harbor districts left out.
The map does most of the work. News Center Maine summed up the effect: rentals would be allowed near Route 1 and the beach, and new short-term rentals would not be allowed in the town's more residential areas.
The rest of the draft, as WGME and the town's own memo described it, adds requirements on top of the map:
| Draft element | What it said |
|---|---|
| Definition | Use of a legally existing or newly built residential property for dwelling, sleeping or lodging for six consecutive months or less |
| Permits | A use permit and a certificate of occupancy from the Code Enforcement Office |
| Parking | One off-street parking space per bedroom |
| Inside the overlay | Not automatic. The property still has to meet its underlying zoning district and state and local rules |
| Outside the ordinance | Hotels, inns, and rentals for qualifying students and seasonal or temporary workers |
The six-month definition is broad. Under the draft, a house rented by the month all summer would count the same as one rented by the weekend. The parking rule turns bedrooms into a site-plan question. Under the draft, a four-bedroom cottage would need four off-street spaces before a permit could be issued, wherever it sits on the map.
Outside the line, today's rentals would become nonconforming
The Planning Board's pushback is the part that matters most for anyone buying an existing rental. In Livingston's August 12 memo to the Select Board and Planning Board, the board said it was "generally not in favor" of creating the overlay "due to the creation of many nonconforming properties and restrictions on property use."
That phrase covers houses that already rent short-term outside the overlay. Wells has never required registration, so many of these rentals likely operate inland today with no permit and no record at town hall. The memo treats them as uses the overlay would make nonconforming. It lists a proposed addition to §145-12, the town's nonconforming-uses section, to address "the allowance of changes/expansions to the existing STR's that will be made a nonconforming use by the overlay district." Wells hasn't adopted that language. It sat on the list of items still being worked out when the draft went to hearing.
For a buyer, the overlay boundary decides a lot. East of Route 1, a rental plan would face a permit process. West of the 500-foot strip, the same plan could depend on what the ordinance eventually says about rentals already in operation. That's why identical cottages on either side of the line could carry different rental assumptions once Wells acts. Right now, it hasn't.
Why it stalled on September 1
The joint Select Board and Planning Board hearing went ahead on September 1. Afterward, according to News Center Maine, the Select Board tabled the ordinance. Some members said permitting short-term rentals would strain the already busy code enforcement officer, and the board decided it needed more time on logistics before voting.
The public comment reported by the same station split two ways. Some residents said rentals reduce the housing available for year-round use and push commercial activity into neighborhoods. Some rental owners said the restrictions would make it harder to keep operating, and that stores and restaurants near the beach depend on rental guests.
The memo had framed the draft for the November 2026 special town meeting. But the warrant for the November 3 special town meeting had no short-term rental article. It covered Wells Rescue staffing, a fire station bond, a data-center moratorium and mobile-home-park lot rents. The Select Board's October 6 agenda had no short-term rental item either.
Tabled doesn't mean dropped. Livingston told WGME that short-term rentals "have been a project of the selectboard for a long time, many years now actually." He told Spectrum the effort started during the pandemic, when officials had no way to find or identify short-term rental owners. He also described the ordinance as a platform for future rules, such as licensing. So the overlay is meant as a first layer, with more rules planned on top of it.
What already applies, whatever Wells decides
The state's rules don't wait for the town. Maine Revenue Services' rate table lists rentals of lodging at 9%, in the column effective January 1, 2026. The agency's sales tax FAQ says a Maine-located seller who regularly makes taxable sales must register for a sales tax account, and registration runs through the Maine Tax Portal. Booking platforms fall under a separate rule. MRS's marketplace guidance has required marketplace facilitators to register and collect tax on the sales they facilitate since October 1, 2019. It also explains when a seller who sells only through a marketplace may not need its own collection registration.
This post is general information, not legal or tax advice. If you plan to rent a Wells property, confirm your registration and collection obligations with a tax professional, and confirm current zoning with the town's Code Enforcement Office.
Questions to ask about a specific Wells property
These come straight from the draft's own terms, so they still apply whether the final version comes back tighter or looser:
- Is the property east of Route 1, or within 500 feet west of it? That's the drafted overlay.
- Is it in the Resource Protection or Harbor district? The draft left both out of the overlay.
- How many off-street parking spaces does the lot have compared with its bedroom count?
- Is it rented short-term today? If so, can the seller document that use, given that the draft discussed how existing rentals outside the overlay would be treated?
- Does the underlying zoning district allow the use on its own terms? The draft said overlay status alone wouldn't guarantee a permit.
FAQ
Can I rent my Wells home short-term right now? As of the planner's late-August interview, the town had no short-term rental regulations and no registration requirement. The state's lodging tax and sales tax registration rules still apply.
Did voters decide this on November 3? No. The short-term rental ordinance wasn't on the November 3 special town meeting warrant. It remains tabled, with no new hearing or vote date on the Select Board's October 6 agenda.
Would a month-long summer rental count? As drafted, yes. The definition covered stays of six consecutive months or less.
Are hotels and inns affected? The draft excluded hotels, inns, and rentals for qualifying students and seasonal or temporary workers.
If you're weighing a Wells property's rental potential, or wondering how the drafted overlay could affect what your own home is worth, Brooke Peterson can check where it sits against the Route 1 line and keep you posted when the Select Board takes the ordinance back up. Start with Request Your Instant Home Valuation, and we'll talk through the rental side from there.
