Two Massachusetts Landlord Groups Join Forces in Tech Startup

From left to right, Doug Quattrochi, Lenore Monello Schloming, and Skip Schloming.

Cambridge, MA – A new statewide alliance of landlord groups, named for its website MassLandlords.net, doubled its membership today when it signed a contract with the Small Property Owners Association (SPOA). The number of paid members jumped to over 600.

“This is a great beginning,” said Doug Quattrochi, Executive Director of MassLandlords.net. “We launched the website in February to pull together the 20 independent landlord groups in the state.”

The contract achieves a long-sought collaboration between landlords in Massachusetts’ two largest population centers: the Worcester area, represented by the Worcester Property Owners Association (WPOA), and the Greater Boston area represented by SPOA (pronounced “SPO-uh”), based in Cambridge. WPOA owns MassLandlords.net.

The alliance expects to bring high-tech services to local landlord groups and to organize a statewide collaboration on public policy objectives, including a rent escrow law to bring fairness to landlord-tenant relationships.

The high-tech services for SPOA include an email edition of its well-known newsletter, member access to rental forms and 24/7 help, and a statewide email newsletter for all MassLandlords.net members. MassLandlords.net will also assist SPOA in starting educational seminars to help grow its membership.

“By offering economically valuable services to Massachusetts landlords, we are getting the attention of a significant number of them, which will increase our legislative impact,” said Quattrochi.

“We hope to no longer be stymied in our efforts to get a rent escrow law passed,” said Skip Schloming, Executive Director of SPOA. A rent escrow law for Massachusetts, according to Schloming, would stop the “free rent trick” by which “some tenants manage to live rent-free many more months than the customary three-month eviction process for nonpayment.”

WPOA was formed in the 1940s.  SPOA was formed in 1987. SPOA’s successful 1994 referendum, in conjunction with support from WPOA and the Massachusetts Rental Housing Association, defeated rent control in Massachusetts.

The Southern Worcester County Landlord Association joined MassLandlords.net earlier this month.

All three organizations are non-profits and will remain autonomous for the time being.  They are sending representatives to one another’s board meetings.

According to Quattrochi, MassLandlords.net is everything a person needs to be a landlord in Massachusetts.  SPOA is the group that fights to protect small landlords and their rights in Massachusetts. Landlords interested in supporting fair landlord-tenant laws in Massachusetts can join SPOA at MassLandlords.net/SPOA.

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