Boston, MA — landlord and rental rules

5 rules across 5 topics, including the county and state rules that bind here. Last verified 2026-08-01.

Rent controlLead paintSecurity depositsBroker feesProperty tax

Rent control

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No rent control — but the 2026 ballot measure failed on a technicality
Massachusettsmedium confidence

Verified on 2026-08-01 — 15 days ago.

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.

Sources

  • Massachusetts rent control preemption — M.G.L. c. 40P (1994 ballot measure)
  • SJC decision on the 2026 rent stabilisation initiative, 23 June 2026 — Supreme Judicial Court, 23 June 2026 — excluded-matter ruling

Lead paint

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Deleading is mandatory when a child under six occupies
Massachusettsmedium confidence

Verified on 2026-08-01 — 15 days ago.

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

Sources

  • Massachusetts Lead Law — M.G.L. c. 111, §§189A–199B

Security deposits

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Treble damages plus fees for technical deposit failures
Massachusettsmedium confidence

Verified on 2026-08-01 — 15 days ago.

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

Sources

  • Massachusetts security deposit statute — M.G.L. c. 186, §15B

Broker fees

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Since August 2025, whoever hired the broker pays
Massachusettslow confidence

Verified on 2026-08-01 — 15 days ago.

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.

Sources

  • Massachusetts broker fee reform (effective 1 August 2025) — Massachusetts FY2026 budget act, broker fee provisionThe reform and its effective date come from the research notes; the session-law chapter number was not corroborated against the primary text, so it is not quoted here.

Property tax

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Non-occupants get no residential exemption
Bostonmedium confidence

Verified on 2026-08-01 — 15 days ago.

Boston's FY2026 residential rate is $12.40 per $1,000, up 15.4% in three years, and the residential exemption — worth up to $4,353.74 — is available only to owner-occupants.

An investor bids against owner-occupiers who carry a permanently lower bill on the same house. That gap belongs in the offer price, not in a footnote.

Fy2026 residential rate
$12.40 per $1,000
Residential exemption max
$4,353.74
Three year rate increase
15.4%