Letter from the Executive Director for October 2017

Last month was the busiest month in our history of running and attending events. We also had three major regulatory changes appear on the horizon in various stages, and a bill was heard by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. This month we are also unveiling a new member service. I’ll describe each of these.

In September, MassLandlords ran or made appearances at 11 events covering 168 one-way miles. Our reach was 346 attendees, potentially much greater through video and audio recording. We also testified at the State House.

A highlight of the September events was our first-ever Policy Forum. This was the first in what will become a semiannual series. Attendees were trained in state politics and rent escrow talking points. This created our first grassroots network.

The training and grassroots activation at our Policy Forum contributed to our success at the rent escrow hearing on September 26. We had three pre-arranged horror stories, two surprise landlord witnesses, and a clear and concise statement of the free rent trick loophole. MassLandlords filed ten pages of testimony written by staff and members. See the full article in this issue.

In terms of regulation, there are three changes looming. The first of these is the December 1 change to lead regulations. They are reducing the cost of deleading 40% by removing many “accessible mouthable” surfaces. But they are also lowering the blood lead level that constitutes poisoning. Government bell curves show that reducing the limit will increase lead poisonings by a factor of ten.

The second change is a sweeping rewrite of the state sanitary code. The purpose of the change is ostensibly grammatical, but there are many substantive changes worked in as well. We have devoted a portion of this newsletter to covering what is wrong with what has been proposed.

Finally, the City of Boston has approved a much-diminished form of the Jim Brooks Stabilization Act, formerly known as “Just Cause Eviction.” We believe even the remaining portion is unlawful, but the City has not listened to us or invited us to offer our better suggestions for the displacement problem. See the “Cambridge” section of this edition.

This month there is a new Corporate+ Discount Card. Our launch partners include savings at AMC Theatres, Days Inn, Papa Johns, Sherwin Williams, Lenovo, and others. This program is currently in limited roll out. You must attend an event to get a discount card. Advertisers can list at masslandlords.net/advertise.

Come to an event, and bring a friend! Membership pays for itself, and our events are packed full of information and local connections that can take the headache out of rental home ownership.

Thank you for doing what you can to help us grow. We’re on to great things, a much-needed voice for owners and managers in the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,
Doug Quattrochi
hello@masslandlords.net