Can My Landlord Do That? Find Out Here.

Renters: You have questions about your rental agreement. We have answers.

Move in costs. Security deposit withholding. Pet rent. Cleaning fees. Early termination fees. Renewal fees.

One of the most common questions we see is “can my landlord put ______ in my lease?” or “Can they do that?”

You pay a lot to live in your rental. What’s allowed by law, and what isn’t?

We know, because we do this every day. Our forms are designed to be legally compliant, but what if your landlord used ChatGPT to write theirs? What if it’s out of date?

Let us tell you!

We'll keep you anonymous.

Email us a copy of your rental agreement. We’ll take look at it and let you know if anything jumps out at us.

Once you submit your rental agreement, we'll reply over email. You can also sign up for our free Ask the Experts Zoom Session on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. where we can go over your questions.

You do not need to attend the Zoom to have us look at your rental agreement, but you must submit your agreement if you want to attend the meeting.

Not all rental agreements are the same. Your landlord might not use our forms, but they still must follow the law.

If your landlord is asking for anything extra at move-in, that's unlawful.

Our goal is to create better rental housing in Massachusetts.

“Better rental housing” means better for everyone, and includes making sure renters aren’t signing noncompliant agreements.

If you aren’t sure whether your landlord is complying with state rental law, you’re in the right place.

Important to know:

• Do not email personally identifiable information. Email is not secure. All submissions will be protected by our privacy policy. If your form has personally identifiable information on it, email us to request a secure upload link.
• Communicate problems to your landlord whenever possible to try and find a solution. We do not perform landlord-tenant mediation.
• We are not attorneys and this is not legal advice. If we find noncompliant language in your form, we will point you to the section of the law that applies. You should talk to an attorney (separate from this service) before you take any action that could affect your rights.
• No conflict of interest: Upload any form from anywhere.
• If the person who gave you the form is not a MassLandlords member, there is no possible conflict of interest. We don’t represent all landlords, we have a subset of landlords as members. We can help you.
• If the person who gave you the form is a MassLandlords member, we will provide feedback about the form to both you and the landlord. We will not share your name. We will wait before talking to the landlord so it won’t be obvious you were the one with the question. We can still help you.

Thank you!