Fixed Term Lease

Revisions

• v9.2
  • Warn about flushable wipes and dissolvable microplastics (which are not flushable and do not dissolve, leading to plumbing clogs in some circumstances).
    
    Remove a gray-area reference to broker fees owed by a renter if they break a lease. The broker fee ban was about a renter paying a fee to get a new apartment. The clause in our lease is about if a renter breaks a lease and you have to hire a broker to find someone to fill the apartment. The wording of the law seems to prohibit us having a renter agree in writing to pay our broker fee in any case, even if they cause us harm by breaking a lease.
    
    By default, give renters a right to remove invasive plants at their own risk and expense. The new rental form invasive plant and animal addendum gives landlords more control if they want it, but we're going to use an opt-out mechanism here. Landlords would have to proactively delete the clause and not attach the addendum. The goal is to crowdsource invasive plant removal among willing renters, and to have landlords who are ambivalent to the issue permit it by default. We've made this change following discussion with an ecologist at the Native Plant Trust and think on benefit this is the right approach.
    
    Prevent assignment of the agreement by Resident.
    
    Specify that possession is contingent on move-in monies clearing. Allow Landlord to void agreement if funds fail to clear in full.
    
    Require Resident to wheel bins back from the curb.
    
    Specify that holding over after notice of nonrenewal will be cause (not “no cause stated”), which has implications for eviction sealing. Consult with an attorney before attempting to enforce this clause.
    
    
• v8
  • Internal revisions.
• v7
  • Removed reference to "15. Resident will not m. House or harbor fugitives or other illegal individuals."
• v6
  • For satellite dish prohibition, incorporated statement of safety hazard to better comply with FCC regulation.
  • Added prohibition on clothes lines without landlord's permission.
• v5
  • skipped
• v4
  • Best Practices from the Rental Housing Association of Greater Springfield and Western Housing Court
  • Font changed from Arial 8 to Calibri 10, which allows for more readable text in less space.
  • Eliminated table layout to increase ease of editing and eliminate whitespace.
  • Separated cosigner agreement into separate, extended form.
  • Eliminated clauses designed to cover special cases. Made default agreement applicable to even more Massachusetts landlords. Added complete list of over 20 “optional clauses” to cover regional and business differences.
  • Eliminated legalese in phrases (for instance, “jointly and severally” replaced with explained Section 7e).
  • Added a utilities table to conform to subsidy best practice and increase readability.
  • Added emergency contact section.
  • Changed “Tenant” to “Resident” to emphasize customer service.
  • Clarified and combined Resident responsibilities with “Resident Will” and “Resident Will Not” sections.
  • Eliminated legal concern of “lease with mutable terms” by providing a process for Residents to object to subsequent house rules.
  • Eliminated paraphrasing of the law. For information on how to comply with specific laws or terms, visit MassLandlords.net/laws or contact an attorney.
  • Added prohibitions on the growing of marijuana using unsafe practices. (Optional clause prohibits growing of marijuana altogether.)
  • Added text reflecting new requirements for ten-year batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
  • Eliminated restrictions on the cable company. (It’s hopeless. We advise landlords to run cables into each room in each unit; the cable company will then restrict themselves to the basement.) Sustained prohibition on satellite dishes.
  • Made many, many minor additions and improvements.
  • Increased page count from five (including Addendum) to six (no Addendum required). Increased Flesch readability score from 37.0 to 39.8 (MS Word). Simplified sentence structure.
  • For a complete commented reference indicating which section of v3 ended up in which section of v4, see “lease v3 redline to 2016 review.docx”.
• v4
  • Internal version used during the Springfield review, not published.
• v3
  • In “vital information,” clarified that ages of occupants were being asked for in the case of minors only.Fixed a cosmetic paragraph numbering goof starting at paragraph 25.
• v2
  • In “Vital Information,” added a space to list the legally recognized ‘other occupants’. Also, added the word “Annual” to “Total Rent” to make it clear that the tenant is contracting for a total amount of money. Clarified wording of how rent is to be paid, and set the due date to be the first of every month.
  • In “Termination,” removed misleading language about tenant bankruptcy. There is a process to evict a tenant who declares bankruptcy, but it requires relief from the automatic restraining order against creditors and isn’t as simple as terminating the lease.
  • In “Occupancy,” gave the landlord the right to terminate for cause if the tenant brings in anyone to live in the premises for more than 20 days in a year and the visitor is not listed on the lease.
  • In “Trustee,” now called “Ownership,” added clarifying language to cover all possible types of corporate entity.
  • In “Legal Use Only,” broadly expanded the ability of a landlord to terminate the lease for crime, firearms, and drugs. Also, we now grant the landlord a power of attorney to seek restraining orders against the tenant’s guests.
  • In “Utilities,” brought the Addendum terms forward, in case the addendum is not used, and called for the landlord to pay water and sewer.
  • In “Copies,” landlord should have only 7 days to return a signed copy of the rental agreement.
  • In “Removal of Personal Property,” wrote some clarification about how the Massachusetts process works.
  • In “Fire or Casualty Loss,” added the phrase “force majeure” to cover unforseen circumstances.
  • In “Future Landlord Rules,” added requirements on landlord notices for maximum enforceability.
  • In “Tenant Default,” struck the part allowing the landlord to collect the difference between fair rent and lease rent. Based on experience this would not be granted by a court.
  • The section “Leaving the keys behind” has been removed. If a tenant leaves the keys behind, other provisions of this agreement take effect.
• v1
  • Original version.