City of Boston Fair Housing Landlord Award

Last month we shared news of the 2015 Fair Housing Landlord Award and gave a link for submitting entries. The deadline for submissions has passed, but you can now see the nominees here.

Many big companies nominated themselves. Most of these nominations were effusive about how they've gone out of their way to help the underprivileged. (What does that say?)

But we wanted to know what real tenants like about their landlords. So we assembled all the highlights from nominations that looked real:

• ...never raises rent without just cause and provides housing in a great neighborhood's at a price point that simply doesn't exist elsewhere. He is also the best at taking care of the building. There's laundry in the basement, the sidewalks and alley are always shoveled and he is very quick to respond to any issues or concerns.
• ...accepted my application and my promise of incoming payment with no questions asked [MassLandlords.net comment: lack of thorough screening is inadvisable.]
• We pay a FAIR RENT PRICE for living, not the trendy overpriced rents in Southie
• extremely well maintained, cleaned, and professional. They are respectful and helpful whenever there is a problem.
• Angel, is reachable, easy to talk too, a listener, fair, and bilingual. He is on time daily, diligent in his work, and most of his duty hours, he wears a suit and tie. [MassLandlords.net comment: Clearly Angel has someone else to plunge the toilets.]
• Grace also told me she would not be raising my rent as long as I was loving there because she wants me to be able to afford to purchase my own house one day and said that her last tenant said that was the only way she was able to do that herself.
• great landlord, taking care of his properties and making sure his tenants concerns are acknowledged and living space is comfortable, clean and safe.

All good things to keep in mind! Clearly people appreciate safe, clean, professional AND a bargain. If you're diligent you can reduce your costs to still make money even at lower rents.

But suffice it to say that there are lots of us providing good homes at market rates. Without any of this public recognition, it can be hard to know if you're doing a good job. Do you ever ask your tenants what they think of your work? Might be a good time to ask.