​​​2014 was a difficult year for Maine in terms of its foreclosure rate. “There are still a lot of foreclosures around, and some associations are really getting hit,” says attorney Joseph Carleton, chairman of the Maine Legislative Action Committee (LAC) for the New England chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI-NE). “Banks are foreclosing and the foreclosure process takes a lot of time. In Maine, the process takes years. So although we don’t have as many in number as some folks do, when we have them, there’s likely to be a long time before the association starts collecting again.”

“The Legislature also added on (to the judicial foreclosure) a mediation process, which lengthens an already lengthy process — ​and some of the banks, especially out-of-state banks, who have foreclosures have not been anxious to speed up the process because they would just as soon wait for the market to recover,” Carleton says.

​​The Maine LAC has worked very diligently on getting priority lien legislation introduced in the legislature, but was unable to introduce a bill in 2014. It continues to be a major driver for the Maine LAC.​