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Agency Disclosure Form Now Available in 8 Languages
February 2, 2022
The Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons recently released the Mandatory Licensee-Consumer Relationship Disclosure form (Agency Disclosure) in seven additional languages. The form is now available in Haitian Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English. These new versions are in the process… -
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MAR Advocates to Protect Homebuyers from Discrimination
February 1, 2022
MAR has spent much of the last year fighting to remove remnants of historic real estate discrimination. As a recent WBUR story explains, we are unfortunately still dealing with this issue in the form of so-called restrictive covenants. A restrictive covenant is a provision in a real estate conveyance that… -
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Notes From the Legal Hotline: February 2022
February 1, 2022
Q: A salesperson in my office has set up an LLC; can I pay their commission to the LLC? A: No. A broker may only pay fees and commissions from real estate transactions to an affiliated salesperson, broker, or a business entity with a corporate broker license. Commissions may not… -
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Pro-Housing Budget Proposal and Pandemic Policy Extensions
January 28, 2022
Its been an eventful week for MAR’s advocacy priorities, from extending key pandemic policies to the first steps in the FY2023 budget. Going Remote. One week after the House passed its version of the latest pandemic... -
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MAR CEO Theresa Hatton and NEAR President-Elect Neily Soto Testified Against Rent Control Bills
January 13, 2022
On Tuesday, January 11, CEO Theresa Hatton and NEAR President-Elect Neily Soto testified against rent control bills before the Joint Committee on Housing. Hatton explained the challenges facing the state – a severe lack of housing production and wages that have not kept up with the costs of basic consumer… -
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Notes From the Legal Hotline: January 2022
January 3, 2022
Q: I just found out my buyer client bought a house with another agent. What options do I have? A: What recourse is available in these situations depends on the type of relationship between the agent and the buyer. If the buyer and agent entered into an exclusive representation agreement,… -
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State Announces Rental Assistance Changes
December 21, 2021
The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced some impending policy changes for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and the Residential Assistance for Families... -
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A Big Step for Multifamily Housing Production
December 17, 2021
MBTA Community Draft Zoning Guidance Released Massachusetts REALTORS® have long championed the call to allow for more production of much-needed multifamily housing. With draft state guidance now available to cities and towns, it will soon be easier to build multifamily housing in many cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts. … -
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Limitations on Unlicensed Assistants and Lockbox Access
December 15, 2021
A recurring question in the world of real estate brokerage, is “What can my unlicensed assistant legally do?” While Massachusetts license laws do not provide a specific list of dos and don’ts, generally, unlicensed assistants should not be performing activities that bring them into direct contact with customers and clients.… -
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$620 Million for Housing in First ARPA Funds Bill
December 3, 2021
On December 3rd, the Legislature passed its first American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds bill, H.4269, An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery needs, sending it to the Governor for his signature. The federal ARPA law allocated billions of dollars to states in one-time payments to assist in COVID recovery efforts. Massachusetts received $5.3 billion. H.4269 spends a little…
