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letter from the executive director, logo Letter from the Executive Director for December 2021: Choose Our Next Director

In November, we continued to be active participants in the public policy space, developed our website and prepared for our annual elections. Our implementation of the new “price per unit” dues was (or has been) delayed twice, from Nov. 15 to Dec. 4 as of writing. We have the new…

A cartoon of a ballot box with a narrow slot on top, and an Annual Ballot being inserted into the slot by hand. The MassLandlords logo is visible in the background with tulip, brick foundation, and blade of grass. Licensed 123rf 61058618_s – Derivative work. Notice of Annual Meeting: MassLandlords Annual Elections December 8 through 21, 2021

Each year in December we elect a member to the Board of Directors, and we also recognize a non-member with the MassLandlords Good Neighbor award. Our annual meeting this year will be conducted electronically only. The four event locations that would normally host in-person voting are closed. Electronic voting will…

The first of three pages in a letter from Attorney Peter Vickery on behalf of MassLandlords to Attorney General Maura Healey. The top of the letter bears the letterhead of Bobrowski and Vickery, LLC, and has contact information for both the law firm and the attorney general. It is titled “Petition to Amend 940 CMR 3.17. The letter reads as follows: Dear Attorney General Healey: On behalf of MassLandlords, Inc., and pursuant to G.L. c. 30A, Section 4, I respectfully petition you to amend 940 CMR 3.17 so as to delete from 3.17 (4) (k) the words “or...otherwise fail to comply with the provisions of M.G.L. c. 186, s. 15B.” By these words, 3.17 (4) (k) imposes treble damages and attorney’s fees for violations of the security-deposit law that the Legislature exempted from these remedies. The statute (G.L. 186 Section 15B) imposes treble damages for violating three specific paragraphs of subsection 6, namely paragraphs (a), (d), and (e): If the lessor or his agent fails to comply with clauses (a), (d), or (e) of subsection 6, the tenant shall be awarded damages in an amount equal to three times the amount of such security deposit or balance thereof to which the tenant is entitled plus interest at the rate of five per cent from the date when such payment became due, together with court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. G.L. c. 186 section 15B (7). In providing for treble damages and attorney’s fees for these particular violations, the Legislature chose not to impose treble damages for violations of subsection 6(b) and (c), which impose forfeiture as the sole remedy against any landlord who: (b) fails to furnish to the tenant within thirty days after the termination of the occupancy the itemized list of damages, if any, in compliance with the provisions of this section; [or] (c) uses in any lease signed by the tenant any provision which conflicts with any provision of this section and attempts to enforce such provision or attempts to obtain from this tenant or prospective tenant a waiver of any provision of this section. The Legislature chose multiple damages as the remedy for violations of three paragraphs of subsection 6, and forfeiture as the remedy for violations of the other two paragraphs. Letter continues in next image. MassLandlords to Attorney General: Amend Landlord-Tenant Security Deposit Regulations Verbiage

By Kimberly Rau, MassLandlords In October 2021, MassLandlords sent a formal petition to Attorney General Maura Healey, asking for an amendment to the verbiage in 940 CMR 3.17, the state’s general regulations for landlord-tenant relationships. State regulations allow for any interested person to petition an agency and request any regulation…

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