Tenant screening in Massachusetts

Start with written criteria

Decide what a qualified applicant looks like before the first showing, write it down, and use it for every application in the order received. Typical criteria cover income relative to rent, rental history and landlord references, and credit. Each one should connect to whether the person can pay and will look after the home.

Applying the standard consistently helps reduce disputes. When two applicants with similar files get different answers, the reason should be in the written criteria, not in a judgment made on the spot. Keep the applications, your notes and the reason for each decision together.

Ask for documents that show whether an applicant meets those criteria. Common requests are photo ID, recent pay stubs or an offer letter, bank statements, and contact details for current and past landlords. If someone cannot provide a particular document, consider another that shows the same thing, and consider any request for a reasonable accommodation. For an applicant with a housing voucher, an income requirement should be measured against the share of the rent the tenant pays. Before you run a credit or background check, get the applicant’s signed permission.

What the law rules out

Chapter 151B, section 4, makes it unlawful to refuse to rent, or to offer different terms, because of race, religious creed, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, ancestry, marital status, veteran or military status, or handicap. The same section bars written or oral questions about many of these traits on an application, and bars any advertisement that signals a preference based on them, on children, or on receipt of public assistance.

Massachusetts goes further than federal law in two areas owners run into most. It is unlawful to discriminate against someone because they receive federal, state or local rental assistance, such as a Section 8 voucher, or because of any requirement of the assistance program. It is also unlawful to refuse to rent because children will live in the unit.

Lead paint is tied to that rule. Under chapter 111, section 199A, refusing to rent because a home has or may have lead paint, or because renting would trigger lead law duties, is unlawful, and turning away families with children does not count as complying with the lead law.

The statute has a few narrow exceptions, such as one unit of an owner-occupied two-family home. They differ from one protected category to the next, so get legal advice before relying on any of them.

Disability and reasonable accommodation

Refusing a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services, when it may be necessary for a person with a disability to use and enjoy the home on equal terms, is unlawful under chapter 151B. A common example is a request to keep an assistance animal in a building with a no-pets rule. Treat such a request as an accommodation request, not as a pet application.

A tenant with a disability may also need a physical change, such as a grab bar or a ramp. The statute generally puts the cost of a reasonable modification on the tenant. In publicly assisted housing, and in multiple-dwelling or contiguously located housing of ten or more units, the owner pays, but an accommodation or modification paid for by the owner is not required if it would impose an undue hardship. The statute weighs factors such as its cost and the size of the owner’s housing business, so get advice before relying on it.

Refusing to rent because someone will need an accommodation or a modification is itself unlawful. Respond to each request in writing and keep the exchange with the application file.

Criminal records

The Attorney General’s guide on criminal records sets out the main rules. A housing provider may not ask an applicant to hand over a copy of their own criminal offender record information (CORI) or arrest records. To check CORI through the state system, the provider must first get the applicant’s written permission, and using a private screening company brings additional requirements.

Owners may refuse to rent to people with criminal records, but the guide warns that automatically rejecting every applicant with a record may violate state and federal civil rights laws. In most cases it expects an individualized assessment, weighing the factors below.

The state CORI regulations, 803 CMR 5.00, also set steps to take before a decision. Before deciding against an applicant on the basis of their CORI, the housing provider must notify them of the potential decision, give them a copy of the record, say where it came from and identify the information the decision would rest on, and give them a chance to dispute its accuracy. If the record came from a private screening company, the applicant also gets a copy of that consumer report and the FTC’s summary of rights before the decision. Keep a record of each step.

• The nature and seriousness of the offense
• How much time has passed
• The facts and circumstances, and the person’s age at the time
• Tenant history before and after the offense
• Evidence of rehabilitation

Credit reports, adverse action and fees

A credit or tenant screening report is a consumer report under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FTC’s guidance for landlords says written permission from the applicant shows you have a permissible purpose to pull it. If anything in the report leads you to reject the applicant, require a co-signer, charge a higher rent, or ask for a deposit or a larger deposit than another applicant would pay, you must give an adverse action notice, even if the report played only a small part. In Massachusetts any deposit still cannot exceed one month’s rent.

The notice may be written, electronic or oral, though the FTC calls written notice the best practice. It must give the reporting company’s name, address and phone number, say that the company did not make the decision and cannot give the reasons for it, and tell the applicant they can get a free copy of the report if they ask within 60 days and can dispute anything inaccurate or incomplete.

If you used a credit score, you must also give a written or electronic notice with the score, its source, the date it was created, the range of possible scores under that model, and the key factors that hurt the score, in order of importance. Once you no longer need a report, dispose of it securely.

Before a tenancy starts, chapter 186, section 15B, limits what an owner can collect to first month’s rent, last month’s rent, a security deposit no larger than one month’s rent, and the cost of a new lock. Application fees are not allowed; the rental costs guide has the full list.