More Landlord Concerns Besides Rent Withholding

Other issues besides a rent escrow law to stop uncontrolled rent withholding are also important to Massachusetts small landlords and deserve our attention when we advocate at the State Legislature.

Security deposits. For violating any part of the rules, an owner can be fined triple damages – three times the security deposit, usually equivalent to three months’ rent – and, in addition, pay the tenant’s attorney’s fees. The rules, meanwhile, are devilishly tricky. For example, the tiny amount of interest on the security deposit (and the last month’s rent as well) must be paid annually when the most convenient time would be at the end of the tenancy or every five years, whichever comes sooner.

Move-and-store. The law requires landlords to pay to move the possessions of a tenant to an approved storage warehouse when a tenant being evicted refuses to do so, and pay for three months of storage. It’s very costly, and owners keep rents up just to be prepared for this and other costly contingencies of being a landlord in Massachusetts. The law was originally written to require owners to pay only for moving possessions, not storing them. The landlord must dispose of the tenant’s possessions to be able to clean up, repair, and re-rent the unit. A landlord who moves and stores those tenant possessions in a basement could cause damage, so requiring approved movers and an approved warehouse as the storage site seems unavoidable. Tenants should be responsible for paying the storage fees once their possessions are at the warehouse.

30-day wait period for late payment fees. A review of other states’ late fee requirements shows Massachusetts’ 30-day wait to be the longest, by far. A late fee of one week or 10 days seems more appropriate.

Water submetering. This law was originally intended to help water conservation, and it fails entirely. A landlord must re-plumb the entire water system of a house, cutting through walls, floors, and ceilings to install separate water lines with their own submeters to each rental unit. It’s far too costly, so there’s no water conservation, and rents are pushed up because tenants waste water when they think they don’t pay for it.

Lead paint abatement. Present law is outdated, ultra-expensive, and not in tune with latest research and thinking. Intact lead paint is not a threat to health; costly and dangerous scraping off of lead paint is not necessary. Besides running up the cost of housing, the present law leads to discrimination against young families.