Advice for Landlords

In this blog post, I am going to give you the single, most important piece of advice for landlords in Massachusetts.  This advice might sound obvious, but believe me when I tell you that it is often ignored.  Ready for it?  Here it is: speak to a landlord/tenant attorney before becoming a Massachusetts landlord.  

I have met countless landlords who start renting homes and apartments without any knowledge of Massachusetts landlord/tenant laws.  Often, these landlords end up being okay in the beginning, when things go well with their tenants.  When things go bad, however, they can get really bad: not following Massachusetts’s extensive landlord/tenant laws can have dire consequences for landlords down the line.

Nearly all of these problems can be avoided by following the law correctly in the first place.  A Massachusetts landlord/tenant lawyer can help you draft a lease, decide on the proper terms of your tenancy, and avoid many of the pitfalls that inexperienced landlords in Massachusetts often make.  Few, if any of us, would start a business without learning the applicable law.  Why should being a landlord be any different?

This advice for landlords stresses an important point: you don’t need to hire a lawyer only when things go wrong.  A landlord/tenant attorney can be a great help to you in becoming a landlord, and help you avoid major problems from not following the law.