Massachusetts Landlord-Tenant Laws

Local rent regulation in Massachusetts

Massachusetts law prohibits cities and towns from enacting rent control of any kind, allowing only a narrow opt-in scheme in which owner compliance is voluntary and the municipality must compensate owners from general funds — a pathway no municipality uses.

• Boston — Rent Control (none; barred by state law)

Cited to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 40P, § 4 · Verified August 12, 2026 · Full Massachusetts rent-increase rules →

Massachusetts Security deposits

Massachusetts caps security deposits at one month's rent — and at move-in a landlord may collect only first month, last month, that deposit, and the cost of a new lock and key, nothing else.

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Massachusetts Rent increase notice

Massachusetts has no statute dedicated to rent-increase notice, but for tenants at will (month-to-month) the mechanism is built into the termination statute: a landlord raises rent by giving a written notice under G.L. c. 186, § 12 equal to the rent-payment interval or 30 days, whichever is longer — and the statute expressly allows that termination notice to include an offer of a new tenancy at different terms, which is how the rent-increase-by-notice-to-quit works.

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Massachusetts Late fees

Massachusetts law forbids any late fee, interest, or penalty on unpaid rent until the rent is a full 30 days overdue — the longest mandatory grace period in the country — and any lease clause purporting to charge earlier is void and unenforceable.

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Massachusetts Entry notice

Massachusetts sets no minimum hours of advance notice for landlord entry — the law instead restricts the purposes: a lease may permit entry only to inspect, make repairs, or show the unit to a prospective tenant, buyer, or lender, and beyond that a landlord may enter only with a court order, when the unit appears abandoned, or to inspect for deposit-deduction damage in the final 30 days of the tenancy.

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Massachusetts Eviction process

Massachusetts eviction — called 'summary process' — starts with a 14-day written notice to quit for nonpayment and runs, at its statutory fastest, about six to seven weeks from notice to lockout.

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Massachusetts Application fees

Massachusetts does not allow a rental application fee: before a tenancy begins a landlord or the landlord's agent may require only rent for the first full month, rent for the last full month, a security deposit of no more than one month's rent, and the cost of a key and lock.

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Massachusetts mobile home park laws

Massachusetts regulates manufactured housing communities under the Manufactured Housing Act, G.L. c. 140, §§ 32A-32S: a community may end a lot tenancy only on the five grounds the act lists and only after thirty days' certified notice with a chance to cure, closing a community or changing its use takes two years' written notice plus a payment to each resident of either their moving costs or the appraised value of the home, and a group representing at least fifty-one per cent of the home owners holds a right of first refusal when the community is sold.

Lot-rent, closure, park-sale and home-sale rules with statute citations →