Massachusetts — landlord and rental rules

Massachusetts has no rent control. A statewide ballot measure capping increases at CPI or 5%, whichever is lower, was struck by the Supreme Judicial Court on 23 June 2026 as an excluded matter — on a technicality, not on the merits.

It polled 62.6% support and an exemption for religious-institution housing is what made it an excluded matter. Expect a redrafted measure in 2028; a hold period past that date should not assume today's freedom to raise rents.

Deleading is mandatory where a child under six occupies a pre-1978 unit, at roughly $8,000–15,000 per unit. Refusing to rent to families with children in order to avoid it is illegal discrimination.

Treat deleading as a capital item on any pre-1978 building, not as a contingency: the trigger is a tenant's family composition, which the owner cannot lawfully control.

Construction

Built before 1978

Deleading cost per unit

$8,000–15,000

The security deposit statute imposes mandatory treble damages and attorney's fees for a long list of technical failures — the wrong account type, late notice, a missing itemisation.

For an absentee owner the defensible position is to take last month's rent only and no security deposit at all. The statute punishes paperwork, and paperwork is what a remote landlord does worst.

Damages

3× the deposit, plus fees

From 1 August 2025 the party who hired the broker pays the fee, rather than the tenant paying by convention.

On annually-turning stock this is a new recurring landlord cost — budget roughly one month's rent per turnover.

Paid by

the party who hired the broker

In effect since 2025-08-01.