Massachusetts Rental Application

What type of information should landlords collect?

A Massachusetts rental application is the best way to evaluate whether or not a renter will be a good fit for your house/apartment/home. Rental applications should collect:

• Names, contact info, and identifying information, including dates of birth, emails, phone numbers, and emergency contacts
• Social security numbers
• Employment statuses and income histories
• Smoking statuses
• Rental histories, including any eviction histories
• Employer and past landlord references
• Pets
• Vehicle information

Massachusetts rental applications collect highly sensitive personal information, and landlords should handle those details with care. Additionally, state and federal laws dictate what questions landlords can ask during the application process and how they can use that information to evaluate each tenant.

Pre-Screener

Massachusetts rental applications are time-intensive, so many landlords opt to conduct a quick applicant pre-screening before going through the entire application process. While not a substitute for the complete application, a pre-screener can quickly determine if someone can meet the qualifications to rent your unit.

Pre-screeners often collect:

• Applicant contact information
• Employment status
• Income details
• Requested move-in date
• Self-reported credit score
• Number of occupants
• Pets
• Smoking status

Federal Application Laws

Over the years, the federal government has passed laws to protect and keep the housing process free from discrimination. These guidelines regulate the questions landlords can’t ask, considerations they must grant to people with disabilities, and a few other areas.

Fair Housing Act (FHA): The Federal Fair Housing Act requires landlords to treat all applicants equally, which means they cannot deny housing decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status. Questions about these characteristics can’t be asked verbally or in the written application. This rule applies to landlords, property managers, and their employees (Fair Housing Act).

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): The ECOA protects applicants from discrimination based on the same characteristics as in the FHA. It also prevents landlords from discriminating against applicants because they receive public housing assistance. Additionally, this act provides guidelines on how a landlord can assess a rental or credit application (Equal Credit Opportunity Act).

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The ADA requires landlords to make reasonable accommodations to their rental units for renters with disabilities. It also forbids landlords from denying an application based on disability status (Americans with Disabilities Act).

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): As a law in tandem with the ECOA, the FCRA governs how landlords can use credit reports when assessing a potential tenant’s Massachusetts rental application. This Act requires landlords to get explicit consent from the applicant before running a credit check or background check. Landlords must notify applicants of adverse actions based on their credit history (Fair Credit Reporting Act).

Civil Rights Act of 1866: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 forbids landlords from considering race in rental application decisions (Civil Rights Act of 1866).

Massachusetts Application Laws

Each state manages its own landlord-tenant laws that run alongside federal guidelines, and many have their own version of the Fair Housing Act to expand on the federal regulations. This is true in Massachusetts, as the state’s Fair Housing Law includes additional protected characteristics that landlords are forbidden from factoring into housing decisions.

Additional factors that cannot be considered in Massachusetts when choosing a tenant are:

• Receiving Section 8 or public assistance
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity and expression
• Marital status
• Military or veteran status
• Age
• Ancestry

Source of income: Massachusetts landlords cannot discriminate against an applicant based on their income source (Mass. General Laws c.151B § 4(10)).

Criminal history: Landlords in Massachusetts are allowed to consider an applicant’s criminal history. However, they should not deny all applicants with a criminal history in a blanket manner.

Eviction history: Massachusetts landlords are encouraged to ensure all information related to an applicant’s eviction history is accurate. They can factor that information into rental decisions.

Sexual orientation & gender identity: Landlords are prohibited from discriminating against an applicant based on sexual orientation or gender identity (Mass. Fair Housing Law).

Re-usable screening report: Landlords can accept portable tenant screening reports from applicants when seeking new tenants, but Massachusetts landlords aren’t required to accept them. Be sure to check with local laws regarding portable tenant screening reports.

Pets, ESAs, and Service Animals

If you allow pets in the rental unit, including an animal section in the Massachusetts rental application is not a bad idea. Even if you don’t allow pets, landlords cannot deny an application based on the tenant bringing an emotional support animal (ESA) or service animal to the unit.

Pet information: This section is where you can collect information about the type, breed, and size of the pet, as well as information regarding ESAs and service animals.

Fair Housing Act: The FHA prohibits landlords from discriminating against an applicant based on having an ESA or service animal. Landlords cannot collect pet rent payments, deposits, or fees. Additionally, the landlord cannot deny an application, no matter the breed, size, type of ESA, or service animal the tenant might have.

Denial Process

When denying a Massachusetts rental application, it’s imperative that you follow the law at all times and apply a consistent evaluation standard across every single application. It’s legal to deny an application based on insufficient income, poor credit history, adverse rental history, criminal background, or providing incomplete or false information.

Denial notice: A written denial notice is only required when the denial is because of credit history.

Credit/Background denials: When landlords deny an application due to a credit check or background check, they must issue an adverse action notice to the applicant that includes:

• Name of the firm conducting the credit or background check
• Explanation of tenant’s right to dispute inaccuracies
• Reporting agency contact details

Document storage: Massachusetts doesn’t explicitly state how long landlords must store rental applications, but many advise them to maintain records for at least 7 years in case disputes arise.