- The threshold depends on portfolio size: 6 points within 12 months for owners of 1 to 50 rental units, 10 for 51 to 500, and 14 for 501 or more.
- Classified owners could not get City contracts, grants or loans, and applications such as Article 80 review or zoning relief would not be processed; they may remain eligible for aid to fix outstanding violations.
- Under the proposal, condo units not occupied by their owners would count as rental units. The hearing is November 16 at 10 a.m. at City Hall.
How points add up
Owners would be scored twice a year on the previous 12 months. Each property on the City's Problem Properties List would add 4 points. Each violation in an ISD notice that goes uncorrected and leads the City to court would add 2, and each emergency violation the owner makes no good-faith effort to correct, where this ends in court, would add 3. Failing to register or finish rental inspection would add 1 point per unregistered unit. Unpaid city fines above $1,000 and up to $10,000 would add 2 points; above $10,000, 4. Court cases would count whether open or closed, including those ended by judgment, dismissal or agreement.
Reaching the threshold would get an owner classified by ISD as a Scofflaw Property Owner, with notice by mail, return receipt requested, and 14 days to request an appeal hearing. Permitting agencies, the Mayor and the City Council would also receive the list for awareness.
What classification would mean
ISD would publish the list as open data every February 1 and August 1, showing each owner's name, all of their rental addresses, their violations and fines, and the reason for listing. Classified owners could not do business with the City: no City contracts, grants, loans or other aid, and no processing of applications to buy City property, for a lease, for tax reclassification, for Article 80 development review, for a zoning map amendment or for other zoning relief.
A specific contract could still go ahead if the awarding authority or department head decides that no other source can match the owner's goods or services on price and quality in enough quantity, or that public health, safety and welfare require it. Classified owners may remain eligible for City aid to repair a unit and cure an outstanding violation. Each further point in a rolling 12 months would make the owner subject to a $2,000 fine or the maximum allowed, plus possible prosecution, and the owner would have to request an ISD inspection of every rental unit each year. An owner who stays under 2 points for a rolling 12 months would become eligible for removal on the publication date 12 months after first listing; someone listed on August 1 could come off the next August 1.
Which rentals count, and where it stands
The proposal treats any condominium unit its owner does not live in as a rental unit, except units with a current lodging house license, and rewrites the registration rule so that owners of all private rental units, condos included, register with ISD by July 1 each year. Classification would not count government-owned rentals, buildings of six or fewer units where the owner lives in one, or buildings that received public financing for an affordable-housing rehab within the past five years.
The ordinance lists 12 councilors in all, led by Council President Liz Breadon and Councilor Brian Worrell. It was referred to the Committee on Government Operations on October 21, remains under committee review and, as written, would take effect immediately upon passage. The joint hearing with Docket #0864 is November 16 at 10 a.m. in the Iannella Chamber on the fifth floor of City Hall. In-person speakers sign up five minutes early; video testimony requires emailing committee staff for a link; written comments sent to ccc.go@boston.gov become part of the record.