Own your present. Empower your future.

On August 16th, the highest court in Massachusetts issued its ruling in Hill-Junious vs. UTP Realty LLC. In the case, a patron was murdered outside of a nightclub shortly after a new owner purchased the property and there had been several incidents at the club under the prior owner. The plaintiff argued that a commercial landlord’s duty to prevent reasonably foreseeable criminal acts encompassed a duty to learn of criminal acts that occurred prior to their purchase of the property. MAR provided a legal brief explaining that such a duty would have a harmful impact on properties in lower-income neighborhoods and potentially also harm property owners and real estate professionals by exposing them to liability. Read MAR’s brief.    MAR’s brief was the basis for several questions at oral argument when Justices asked about impacts of a broad landlord duty on…

We’re pleased to share that the Legislature has passed, and the Governor has signed, a budget for fiscal year 2024. Here are some items for which we successfully advocated:  Crumbling concrete foundation prevention – Helping homeowners afflicted with crumbling concrete foundations was one of MAR’s priority issues for last month’s REALTOR® Day on Beacon Hill. The budget does that in two ways, by increasing funding for the state’s foundation testing program and, most importantly, creating a quarry testing and licensing program to make sure that this problem stops now. We will continue advocating for assistance for homeowners already facing this problem.   Increased funding for housing assistance – the Legislature has continued its long-term commitment to providing housing assistance for those in need. Several line items received significant year-over-year funding increases, including the RAFT program (25%), state housing voucher program…

On August 6th, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell certified the initiative petition on rent control over MAR’s legal objection. Read more about the petition here.  The Attorney General’s certification will set in motion a path for supporters to follow and a path for MAR and our partners to oppose rent control.   Rent control supporters have from now until November 22nd to collect just under 75,000 certified signatures. This is no easy task as signatures must be collected from across the state. If the supporters are successful in their signature gathering, the petition will move to the legislature in January 2024. The Legislature will then have until May 1, 2024 to pass the measure, propose a substitute, or take no action.   MAR has long successfully opposed rent control, and we will continue to do so as the ballot initiative…

Q: Is completing an MLS Status Change form sufficient to alter the terms of the Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement? A: No, the Status Change Form is an MLS form and is not a contract. Any changes to the terms of the original listing agreement, such as marketing terms, listing price, or length of the agreement, should be addressed in an addendum to the listing agreement, and signed and dated by all parties. The MAR Forms Library contains a number of helpful addenda, including: Agreement to Suspend Marketing of Property (#696) and Extension of Time of Representation Agreement (#697). While the Status Change Form may be used to demonstrate a “meeting of the minds” between the listing agent and the seller(s), any modifications to a contract should always be clearly made in writing, signed, and dated by all the…

This is a contributing article from REALTOR® Magazine At open houses, thieves disguised as home buyers may swipe jewelry, prescription drugs, and other valuables from homes, real estate pros warn in a recent article in The New York Times. Some experts are predicting open house thefts could get worse this spring, too. “People tend to pick up little things: frames, silver pieces, Limoges boxes,” said Harriet Norris, a real estate pro with Douglass Elliman in New York. “They go easily from the table to the pocket.” Read Hayes, a research scientist and criminologist at the University of Florida, also told The New York Times that he expects thefts to worsen at open houses and return to pre-pandemic levels. “Being confined to our homes during COVID weakened our ability to self-regulate and have self-control,” he says. “That’s increased our risk-taking behavior. People are also…

We’re pleased to share that the Legislature has passed a budget for fiscal year 2024. Here are some items for which we successfully advocated:  Crumbling concrete foundation prevention – Helping homeowners afflicted with crumbling concrete foundations was one of MAR’s priority issues for the 2023 REALTOR® Day on Beacon Hill. The budget does that in two ways, by increasing funding for the state’s foundation testing program and, most importantly, creating a quarry testing and licensing program to make sure that this problem stops now. We will continue advocating for assistance for homeowners already facing this problem.   Increased funding for housing assistance – the Legislature has continued its long-term commitment to providing housing assistance for those in need. Several line items received significant year-over-year funding increases, including the RAFT program (25%), state housing voucher program (16%), emergency shelters (48%), and…

On August 2nd, Massachusetts State Representative Mike Connolly announced his filing of an initiative petition on rent control. MAR has long anticipated and been preparing for this situation. The petition is the first step (of many) to getting a question on the ballot for the 2024 election. It requires only gathering ten signatures and filing language with the Attorney General’s office.   Process  Here’s what happens next:  The Attorney General will then determine if the petition meets the state’s constitutional requirements, usually by the first Wednesday in September (9/6).   Certified petitions are then filed with the Secretary of State’s Office. At that point, petitioners have 77 days to collect 74,574 signatures.   If that hurdle is met, the petition moves to the Legislature in January 2024. The Legislature has until May 1, 2024 to pass the measure, propose a substitute, or take…

Q: A prospective tenant has poor credit and offered to pay the full year’s rent up front – is that allowed? A: No, rentals for 100 days or more are governed by Massachusetts General Laws Ch. 186, Sec. 15b, which prohibits a landlord from collecting any funds in excess of: First month’s rent, Last month’s rent, Security deposit not to exceed first month’s rent, and The cost to change the lock and key. Regardless of whether the landlord requests funds in excess of these specifically enumerated amounts, or they are offered by the tenant, the collection of said funds would be a violation of the statute. Additionally, the collection of prepaid rent deprives the tenant of the ability to withhold rent which they may be legally entitled to do. Otherwise qualified tenants may offer to hold the funds in a…

Q: A tenant provided the landlord with a document stating that their dog is a registered service animal. Is this legitimate? A: It is unlikely that this document will aid a tenant in obtaining a reasonable accommodation to allow for their dog. While many online sites offer certificates, licenses, or other registration documents stating that an animal is a service animal, no such registration, licensing, or certification process exists under the law. The Fair Housing Act allows for a landlord to request reliable documentation from a tenant when a reasonable accommodation is requested and the disability and/or disability-related need for the animal is not obvious or is otherwise unknown. HUD has specifically noted that such documentation from the internet is generally insufficient to satisfy the reliable documentation requirement. It is important to note that this does not disqualify reliable documentation…

Below are some important updates to the MassForms™ library. Be sure to confirm you are using the latest versions.*   Notice Regarding Certain Matters (#305)  The content of this form remains the same; however, the order of the items included was updated so that Fair Housing appears at the top of the list. This underscores the REALTOR® commitment to Fair Housing.  Condominium Addendum (#528)  MAR has added a new form to the MassForms™ library that addresses the production and review of condominium documents in a purchase transaction. Similar to the inspection contingency, this new addendum provides a buyer with a timeframe to review selected condominium documents and to terminate the contract without penalty if timely notice is provided that the documents are unsatisfactory to the buyer.   New Naming Convention  The next time you log into your forms platform, you may notice…