How to Check a MA Criminal Record
Massachusetts guards criminal record information very carefully. If a screening company says they provide criminal information, be careful! The fine print may say "46 states". If it says 46 states, then Massachusetts is definitely excluded.
To go right to the source, access iCORI directly. (Find the link that says "iCORI Service". You will need to register as a landlord.)
You must have a special CORI waiver signed by the tenant.
Once you obtain criminal information, review it and summarize any negatives that you will use to reject an application on the tenant scoring sheet. Don't save it or print the criminal information unless you maintain a Written Information Security Plan that complies with the law on personal information.
The cost for iCORI is $25 per report.
Per 803 CMR 5.04, "CORI shall only be requested for a housing applicant as the final step in the application process." Since this is logically impossible (the last step would be to notify the renter of their application result, which requires the CORI data already), ask for CORI authorization last among all information collected. If you collect information in stages, give the renter the CORI authorization at the last stage of information collection. If you take multiple pages of information at a time, put the CORI authorization as the last page.
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