A legal refresher course for landlords

I was surprised that the officers at my bank (originally Bank of Boston, then Fleet, now Bank of America) have no idea of what information I needed to open a security deposit account for a tenant. (It doesn't matter what branch - I've tried a couple.) I would have thought that such accounts were routinely opened, but apparently that's not the case, judging by the blank look I get from them. Every time I go to open a new one, I get different information about what I need and how the account should be opened. Some clarification of that would be helpful for the next time I talk to my bank about opening a security deposit account.

Does the GBREB still sell The Landlord's Survival Guide? I found it very helpful - well worth the price - when I first got into the landlord business.

As a tenant, what is the best course of action when a prospective landlord or agent does inquire about children? I had this happen recently and thought it was illegal but wasn't sure what to do about it.

Susan, coincidentally I will be posting on the security deposit law on the next go-around. Because of the complexity of the security deposit law and the many traps for the unwary, I advise landlords not to take security deposits. If you need a deposit, take a last month's deposit which doesn't have as much regulatory restrictions.

Richard D. Vetstein, Esq.
http://www.massrealestatelawblog.com

As for the children issue - I understand that you can't discriminate against people with children. The question is, can you legally set a maximum number of tenants? Building codes/zoning determines the number of legal occupants for a dwelling, but they vary by location, and may be more than you are comfortable with. At the least, a landlord should find out how many people the law allows and make sure you let the prospective tenant know that that will be strictly upheld. That will at least prevent the couple with multiple children moving into a one-bedroom apartment which happened above me in a building I used to live in.

Great questions, keep them coming!

Susan, Atty, Vetstein is working up another entry on security deposits and last month rent deposits. So, stay tuned.

David, here's how you complain.

Kelly, you cannot limit the number of people based on head-count, except where there are unrelated adult limits set by a town. The health code limit, the last time I heard, was 150 SF per person. So a woman with two kids would need 450 SF. That is really small.

Question - I am a long time tenant (now 5 years) and have a cordial relationship with the landlord.
i) The kitchen in my apartment is scheduled to be repainted and the bathroom retiled in mid-August. This was presented as a fait accompli. During the week which it will take for the work to be done, I'll have to find and pay for alternative housing, and cannot have a roommate in August because of the inconvenient timeframe. What recourse do I have? Should I ask for re-imbursement for the housing or ask to pay for a pro-rated amount for August?
ii) The owner of the 2-family property where I rent, underwent a recent significant life change and is now living on one income . A number of repairs have had to be done in my unit (tedious and unbearably annoying and ongoing) and the workers have been uniformly sub-par with troubling results. One recent major appliance installation was done without the supervision of a licensed electrician. I am now worried that the owner's attempts to cut corners and save money places me in jeopardy. What do you suggest I do? I'd appreciate any advice.

A landlord CAN'T be held liable for renting to a Sex Offender or any person convicted of any crime. The Sex Offender Registry is for notification only.

The lead paint/children question is a joke. Every single landlord or realtor I've ever, ever rented from has asked about children. If you know your rights and decline to answer about children, they'll just lie to you and tell you the apartment is taken, or otherwise make up a reason they won't rent to you (because rental applications do ask about children and their ages, you know). MCAD is overworked and their follow-through sucks. Since there are all of a handful of deleaded apartments in this area, the landlords know they can jack the price sky high, leaving young families essentially screwed.

I think it would be helpful if someone would clarify the exceptions to the discrimination rules regarding renting to families with children. I believe the Massachusetts rules and the Federal rules conflict on this.

Also, dealing with Section 8 housing vouchers. I have nothing against Section 8 tenants (had a great one for many years), but dealing with the Section 8 bureacracy can be daunting. Any advice and clarification would be helpful to the landlords out there. Especially since this program is expanding and is likely to affect most of us at some point.

Just a comment - a couple of years ago I was selling a 2-family house, where the owner lived in one side and rented out the other. The tenant refused to let prospective buyers in to see the house (after 24 hour notice) and used abusive language when anyone showed up to see it, even telling them she had many months left on her lease (this tenant hadn't paid rent in several months and told the judge in the eviction that she had decided to extend her lease without the owners agreement; she was legally evicted then refused to move her belongings out.). She left her huge dog "on guard'' when she wasn't there.

This was clearly a tenant from hell - yet she supplied a good reference from her previous landlord when she rented the place. And she tried to blackmail the current landlord into giving her a good reference by saying she'd move after the letter was written.

I doubt this woman is alone in this scam. Landlord references should always be requested, but not always believed.

As regards the children question. I don't think it is illegal to ask about children, only to refuse to rent to the family if there are any. Even if the apartment is not deleaded, the owner must not refuse the family, but delead instead. So, if an owner has an apartment that is not deleaded he would have to know if there were children in the family so he could have the apartment deleaded.

Also, the lead paint laws only apply to children under 6. And there is an exception to the Mass. law. A landlord in an owner-occupied 2-family (maybe a 3 family, too) can refuse to rent to children.

I would love to know of one single landlord that has agreed to delead an apartment so s/he can rent to a family with young children. Because a landlord would never say "oh, it's been rented" or "someone else has an application in, but we'll let you know!" or make up some other reason not to rent to you & your small children instead of shelling out the money to delead right? Because it's not cheap to delead.

I know the exceptions (owner occupied 2-family, does not apply to 3-families), I"m not talking about exceptions.

Actually if you are the landlord and living on the premises you certainly can choose to not rent to families with children.

I am surprised thiw was not mentioned. This also means that you may inquire about children if you are the landlord and choose to maintain the property as a child free zone provided you live there.

On the issue of discrimination, I should have prefaced my remarks that it is illegal to refuse to rent based on children, race, etc. That said, it is best to stay away from asking about children, race, etc. because that could form the basis of a discrimination claim. Contrary to popular belief, there is no exemption for 2-3 family units on the lead paint law. The only exemptions are for vacation and recreational rentals. "The owner of a dwelling that is leased, rented or occupied for vacation or recreational purposes for a period of 31 days or less is not required to abate or control lead as long as he or she complies with certain specific provisions." 105 C.M.R. § 460.100(D). Most of lead paint properties are older multifamilies

Richard D. Vetstein, Esq.
www.massrealestatelawblog.com

I've spoken to/had landlords who basically shrug and plead ignorance when asked about lead paint, landlords who point out exactly what has been de-leaded and proudly produce a certificate, and landlords who turn you down from the first conversation because they don't want to have to pay to de-lead if you move in and there's a need to do so.

When I moved in, my landlord claimed that I was moving in to a building that did not allow undergraduates and was only for professionals and graduate students. Even though I have a high annual income and I'm in my thirties, I was still cautioned that I might require extra screening since I'm a grad student! So, I figured I was in a good place for noise control, which is important to me.

Instead I have learned the building is accepting more and more undergrads on a regular basis, and they are making the building unbearable in terms of noise. The landlord claims to be working on this, but I think that it's a viable case for breaking my lease without penalty, especially after recent incidents that resulted in damage to my personal property in my apartment as a result of other tenants' negligence.

The landlord, on the other hand, wants me to pay the equivalent of FOUR MONTHS of rent to move out early, which seems usurious; that is 1/3 of my lease length! So my questions: (1) Can landlords actually discriminate against undergrads, or should they never have promised such a thing (not that I'd mind well behaved undergrads) (2) Do I have a good cause for breaking my lease early without penalty? and (3) is it even legal for a landlord to require two months notice to move out AND two months of "early lease termination" fees? Given the Mass law about landlords having to do their best to find a new tenant, it seems that I should be able to give them immediate notice and if they find a new tenant, I pay nothing further; they seem to think that somehow four months of rent is fair for the 'inconvenience' of them having to find a new tenant -- and they won't let me sublet or assign the lease either.