Tenant's Bill of Rights for Massachusetts
- When looking for a rental, no one has the right to charge you a finder's fee unless they're a licensed real estate agent or salesperson, and you have to be told in advance how much the fee will be.
In Massachusetts, renters cannot be discriminated against due to race, religion, national origin, age, ancestry, military background or service, sex, sexual preference, marital status, blindness, deafness, or the need of a guide dog, except in the case of looking into owner-occupied two-family dwellings, if you receive government assistance to help pay the rent, or if you have children (in certain cases).
In the rental agreement, the landlord must provide the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the owners and caretakers of the property and the person who is authorized to receive legal notices for the owner. The rental agreement must also include the amount of the security deposit and the tenant's rights under the Security Deposit Law. - In addition to the security deposit and last month's rent, as the tenant, you are also required to pay a pre-determined amount in rental fees every month. The landlord may not require you to pre-pay rent, or charge interest or a late fee on the rent if it's late, until 30 days after the due date, but the landlord can begin eviction proceedings if the rent is only one day late. The landlord may raise your rent as much as he wants, but it cannot be done until the current lease has expired.
- If you pay a security deposit, the landlord must give you a statement of the present condition of your rental, as well as an itemized list of any damage when the deposit is received or within 10 days of when you move in, whichever is later. If you dispute the list provided by the landlord, you have 15 days to send a corrected copy to the landlord. Failure to do so might cause you to lose if you go to court to recover your security deposit when you move out. The landlord then has 15 days to respond with a letter of agreement or disagreement.
After you move, the landlord must return your security deposit within 30 days, plus the lesser of 5 percent interest or whichever amount was paid by the bank that held the security deposit. The landlord may only withhold money from you if you owe unpaid rent, if you owe money for unpaid real estate taxes that you're responsible for, or a reasonable amount to cover damages committed by you other than routine wear and tear. - Your landlord may only enter your apartment under the following circumstances: inspecting the premises; making repairs; showing the apartment to a prospective renter, purchaser, or real estate agent; following a court order; if the premises appears abandoned; or to inspect the premises during the last 30 days that you're living there to assess any damages that might need to be withheld from your security deposit.
The landlord may not retaliate against you by raising your rent or evicting you within six months of you contacting the Board of Health, joining a tenants' organization, or otherwise taking action against your landlord that you're legally entitled to do. While you're a tenant, the landlord must provide you with water, heat, a kitchen, pest control, a well-maintained structure and snow removal from exits and walkways. - In Massachusetts, you have the right to withhold a portion of your rent if the landlord fails to make adequate repairs to your apartment and it is not safely habitable, although it's recommended that you get legal advice as the landlord may perceive your rent withholding as a reason to try to evict you.
If you make emergency repairs, you are entitled to withhold a reasonable amount of your rent for up to four months if the Board of Health or other enforcement agency certifies that your health or safety is endangered by the present conditions, if the landlord receives written notice of the violations from the inspecting agency, and if the landlord is given five days from the date of the notice to begin repairs and 14 days to complete the repairs.
The landlord may not evict you without an eviction order signed by a judge.