We’ve seen it: renters apply for “no pets” apartments and describe their animals as “assistance” or “support” or “medical.” What’s the correct terminology? What are landlords supposed to do to protect their property and also a renter’s rights when someone says they have a support animal? And what would land us in hot water for discrimination if we’re not careful? We’ll be covering this and more.
This part of the presentation will be given by Alison Caton, trainer at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Part II: The BBB for Landlords
We’re all familiar with the idea of the “Better Business Bureau,” but have you thought about how the BBB can help you in your business?
In this presentation we’ll start with BBB 101. Then we’ll dive into how landlords can identify themselves and their detailed rental applications as legitimate, and why a renter can trust us to keep their data safe.
We’ll also share a contractor dispute horror story, and end with how the BBB’s free services can be a preventative step before legal action becomes necessary, especially with contractors or other service provider disputes.
This part of the presentation will be given by Amy Schram, Manager of Community Relations, BBB. The Better Business Bureau is a nonprofit public service organization with a mission to be a leader in advancing marketplace trust. The BBB encourages and supports best practices by engaging with, and educating, consumers and businesses. For over 100 years BBB has helped people make smarter decisions and is evolving to meet fast changing marketplace needs. The BBB101 program will be a discussion on Better Business Bureaus mission, and how to best utilize all of BBB’s free services to help make educated and informed decisions.
The BBB For LandlordsEmotional Support Animals
Have you seen our Charles River volunteer website? Market data available on rent levels for Waltham and surrounding areas. We encourage you to also take the poll on your current views of the rental market. Use the “Contact Us” form to request a login at crrha.org
MassLandlords offers attendees of directly managed events a “No Sales Pitch” guarantee. If a guest speaker offers services, their presentation will not discuss pricing, promotions, or reasons why you should hire them. We do not permit speakers to pay for or sponsor events. Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and willingness to present helpful educational content. Your purchase of an event ticket sustains our nonprofit model.
Wednesday, December 4th
Charles River Meeting Agenda
6:00pm Sign-in/Networking
Networking draws from Waltham, Newton, Weston, Watertown, Wellesley, Wellesley Hills, Lincoln, Dover, Arlington, Belmont, and the western ends of Cambridge and Boston.
6:10pm Pizza and sodas provided
6:40pm Executive Director Doug Quattrochi with the MassLandlords Business Update
Member Minutes – Any member can have the mic for 60 seconds (introduce yourself, ask a question, share words of wisdom, etc.)
Lots of parking available at this hour. For your ease of access, do not use the Beaver St entrance. Enter at the Main Entrance on Forest Street and park in Lot 1 or Lot 2. The Conference Center is signed on the north corner of the main quadrangle. Refer to the image below for lot locations and correct entrance into building.
Food
Pizza, salad
Soda, Water
Cookies
Please feel free to bring a dinner that meets your dietary goals/restrictions
Pricing
Open to the public. Membership is not required!
Door:
Public: $34
Members: $29
Early-bird, reserve seven days prior by 12pm:
Public: $32
Members: $24
Premium Members: No charge and no need to register
NWCLA Christmas Social (one week early this year). Come one, come all, have a ball!
This is our Annual Toys for Tots Drive and Food Pantry Drive where every year we make a food donation to a local food pantry. We also fund a Toy Drive to donate to the Massachusetts State Police Toys for Tots Charity Drive. What a great way to celebrate the Christmas Holiday Season by sharing our blessings with others!
This is also the meeting where we find out who has won the Golden Ticket Award Contest for $100, the Annual NWCLA Membership Drive for one-year free basic NWCLA membership, and so much more. Come out for our sing-a-long, tons of raffles, lots of great food, and PLENTY of holiday cheer. Free tip on how to win more raffle prizes: for extra raffle tickets, bring non-perishable foods for the food pantries, and unwrapped gifts for a boy or girl. The more you give – the more you get. See you at the party!
Thursday, December 5th
NWCLA Meeting Agenda
Visit nwcla.com for any last-minute updates or changes.
6:45pm Dinner and Networking
Networking draws from 25 towns including Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, Athol, Holden, Ayer, Orange, Ashburnham, Spencer, Ashby, Lunenburg, Townsend, Westminster, Princeton, Sterling, Lancaster, Shirley, Groton, Pepperell, Winchedon, Templeton, and Hubbardston.
There is ample free parking beside the school. Do not park along the fence where the busses park. Do not park in any of the handicap spots unless you have the proper handicap parking sticker.
Food
Dinner by Happy Jack’s Cantina Grille from N. Main St. in Leominster.
Pricing
Membership not required! Open to the public.
Early-bird ends seven days prior @ 12pm:
Public and Members other than NWCLA: $15
MassLandlords.net/NWCLA members: pay annual dues, then free
After Early bird or at the door:
Public and Members other than NWCLA: $20
MassLandlords.net/NWCLA members: pay annual dues, then free
Part I: Why Your Buildings Haven’t Met Fire Code for 30 Years
Some of us may be familiar with the term existing non-conforming, but as it turns out, fire code makes few or no exceptions. Experienced landlords with first-rate buildings are now being cited for fire code violations that were unenforced for decades. Now they’re being enforced. This presentation may amount to advance warning.
It’s extremely important to understand smoke detector regulations, when heat detectors are required, and whether you need emergency pulls. We should all be familiar with sprinkler requirements for new construction, but what if a fire department demands you retrofit immediately? Can they do that? Will your existing building be paid out if there were a fire and resulting insurance claim? Note that the code gets very building-specific. This presentation will give you an indication of where you need to investigate for yourself, but we usually cannot give advice specific to individual buildings.
This part of the presentation will be given by Jennifer Hoyt, Chief Fire Protection Engineer with the State Fire Marshall’s Office since 2014. The State Fire Marshall can evaluate your building on-site. They can compare what your local fire department is requiring against the code to give an expert (and definitive) opinion. This is a connection you need to have.
Part II: Member Choice: How to Read MassCourts.org
MassCourts.org is the public record of summary process (aka eviction) and small claims lawsuits in Massachusetts. Landlords can and should use this information to help score rental applications, screen tenants, and ensure that every resident of their community will thrive. It’s no good for anyone if the previous for-cause eviction is about to be repeated on your property.
Remember that just because someone appears in the court records doesn’t mean they’re going to be a bad renter for your apartment. Court records can exonerate a renter who doesn’t have a landlord reference, particularly if their last landlord was a slumlord. It’s easy to see once you know what you’re looking at.
Attendees will review MassCourts.org docket information, summary process terminology, and dispositions. You will learn how to tell who owed whom, whether the case was dismissed, and most importantly, how to verify that the person applying for your apartment is the person listed in the records. Finally we’ll point out where the court records are lacking helpful or critical information, and discuss where to go to learn more.
We will also review some proposed laws that would obfuscate or eliminate this housing-relevant dataset, and the reasons why landlords need to use this data carefully or have it pulled away.
This part of the presentation will be given by Attorney Carl Lindley of Farber and Lindley.
Fire Code represents Significant Risk for Many OwnersAttorney Carl Lindley on fair and proper use of MassCourts.org
Have you seen our Leave Stuff, Take Stuff Table?
Market your business, pick up handouts, give away an old doorknob. Everything goes on our first-come, first-served display table at all our events. Please bring business cards, brochures, coupons. And feel free to pick up your own uncollected marketing materials at the end. Everything not claimed end-of-event may be chucked.
“No Sales Pitch” Guarantee
MassLandlords offers attendees of directly managed events a “No Sales Pitch” guarantee. If a guest speaker offers services, their presentation will not discuss pricing, promotions, or reasons why you should hire them. We do not permit speakers to pay for or sponsor events. Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and willingness to present helpful educational content. Your purchase of an event ticket sustains our nonprofit model.
Wednesday, December 11th
Meeting Agenda
5:30pm Sign-in/Networking
Networking draws from Worcester, Shrewsbury, Millbury, Auburn, Leicester, Paxton, Holden, West Boylston, Boylston, Grafton, Upton, Northbridge, Sutton, Oxford, Charlton, Spencer, Oakham, Rutland, Princeton, Clinton, and Sterling.
6:15pm Buffet Dinner by The Vintage Grille
6:40pm MassLandlords Business Update and Member Minutes
Member Minutes – Any member can have the mic for 60 seconds (introduce yourself, ask a question, share words of wisdom, etc.)
7:00pm Rich Merlino Meeting Introduction
7:05pm Why Your Buildings Haven’t Met Fire Code for 30 Years
Hoarding occurs in a variety of circumstances and conditions, and in its worst form can destroy a rental property far in excess of any security deposit or civil lawsuit. It can also destroy the lives of those impacted, and in some cases, the lives of domestic or other animals. There is no known cure for this behavior, so what’s a landlord to do?
Well fortunately there is a process to approach a renter about accumulation, to enforce code, and to point your renter to the help they need. This is “special situation” training so you can learn now and be proactive if and when it ever comes up in your business.
This part of the presentation will be given by Heather Burbeck. Heather is a hoarding claims expert at CRDN, an electronics and textile restoration company. Heather’s presentation covers the different levels of hoarding, the liability concerns of renting to or insuring a hoarder, and how insurers and landlords need to monitor their properties to head off catastrophic losses.
Part II: Member Choice: Deleading Process and Grants
Based on local member input, we will be covering the deleading process. What does lead paint look like? How do children get poisoned? What is the Massachusetts deleading Catch-22? And what are our options for deleading? Does anyone have money to help defer the costs?
This presentation will be of interest to large and small landlords. The first part will be basic training, the second part will be an update on deleading grant programs open for applications.
This part of the presentation will be given by MassLandlords staff (education) and Nigel D. Greaves, Senior Program Manager, Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction & Healthy Homes, City of Springfield, Office of Housing (funding).
Learn the Process to Address Renter HoardingDeleading Basics and Advanced Grant Funding Sources
MassLandlords offers attendees of directly managed events a “No Sales Pitch” guarantee. If a guest speaker offers services, their presentation will not discuss pricing, promotions, or reasons why you should hire them. We do not permit speakers to pay for or sponsor events. Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and willingness to present helpful educational content. Your purchase of an event ticket sustains our nonprofit model.
Thursday, December 12th
RHAGS Meeting Agenda
5:30pm Sign-in and Networking
Cash bar
Networking draws from Springfield, West Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, Ludlow, Wilbraham, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Agawam, Southwick, Southampton, Easthampton, Northampton, Westhampton, Hadley, South Hadley, Granby, Amherst, Belchertown, Ware, Palmer, Warren, Monson, and Hampden.
6:00pm Buffet dinner
6:40pm State-wide Business Update and Member Minutes
Learn about the new Certified Massachusetts Landlord™ professional designation. This new certification is available to current, new and prospective owners and managers of Massachusetts residential rental real estate.
The program will start with an overview of why certification matters. Then we’ll review each of the three levels, the first of which is available now. After this, we’ll put the slides away and do a live screenshare on the website. You will be taught step-by-step how to create your professional profile, review the Level One best practices, and sign the certification agreement. Finally, we’ll talk about how to use your new logo and status to advertise your business.
If you wish, you can follow along, creating your professional profile and certifying yourself as the webinar progresses or immediately after.
This webinar will be presented by MassLandlords staff.
the cML Level One™ Logo
Wednesday, December 18th
12:00pm Webinar Begins
1:00pm Webinar Ends
Registration
Open to the public. Membership is not required!
Public: $6
Members: $3
Upon purchasing, you will be registered. A password for the webinar will be sent day-of. Registrants will also have full access to the recording to watch or rewatch any time after the webinar is completed.
