Registry of Deeds – Protect Your property

To help prevent title theft, each Registry of Deeds offers a free consumer notification system that alerts homeowners when documents are recorded in their name. Use the provided link to find the Registry that serves your city or town.

MAsSLANDLORDS.NET

Masslandlords.net is the largest nonprofit in Massachusetts for rental property owners and managers, offering members legal forms, training, policy advocacy, and statewide networking opportunities. Stay up-to-date with their free monthly newsletter, and consider a joint NWCLA/MassLandlords.net membership to further enhance your benefits.

Official website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Tenants and landlords have rights and responsibilities. This official site offers a lot of great information regarding the rights and duties of landlords.

Massachusetts Trial Court Case Access

Website to look up case information records.

Access to Community services

Serves as a resource for finding government benefits and services, nonprofit organizations, support groups, volunteer opportunities, donation programs, and other local resources.

Landlord Advocacy Project -Statewide Legal Aid for Low-income Landlords

The Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) of the Boston Bar Association runs a statewide program helping Massachusetts’s low-income “mom-and-pop” landlords, called the Landlord Advocacy Project. It began in 2020 to help small landlords struggling to pay their mortgages and utilities due to their tenants’ inability to pay rent and other legal issues owner-occupants of a 2-3 family home may face. The services the Landlord Advocacy Project offers are free for income-eligible landlords. You can visit the project’s webpage to learn more here: https://vlpnet.org/landlord/.

PetScreening Pet Policy Management Software

PetScreening is a first-of-its-kind screening platform that empowers property managers to outsource their pet risk assessment and assists in animal validation processes at no charge. Designed to help reduce the liability for all parties involved with the goal of creating a responsible pet and animal community for all residents.

MassLegalHelp.org

 MassLegalHelp.org is where Massachusetts Tenants are turning to get educated about their rights and legal strategies as renters in private housing. Are you in compliance? Not a bad idea to get the “play book” tenants are using when they are planning to bring their landlord to court. You may also purchase Legal Tactics from Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education by calling 1-800-966-6253.

E-Renter.com

E-Renter provides a wide-range of comprehensive tenant screening reports, including credit information, criminal records, and other public records information. We offer several convenient packages of reports, as well as the individual reports described below. You can trust E-Renter to provide thorough comprehensive background and credit reporting, guide you through the process, and answer all questions quickly and easily.

The Landlord Protection Agency

The LPA welcomes you to the art of landlord protection through safe, effective, profitable property management. What’s The LPA about? We prepare you with an arsenal of specialized landlord tools, lease agreement, rental application, key rental forms, plus powerful nitty gritty landlord knowledge for your protection! Learn How to Eliminate Tenant Problems! We offer a wealth of landlord experience, and many valuable resources and services including: * Free Landlord Forms (Downloadable)
* Essential Landlord Forms (Downloadable)
* Landlord Q&A – Available in RSS 2.0 XML FEED * Report Tenants to Credit Bureaus
* Landlord Tenant Law

National Center for Healthy Housing

This month’s web site comes from the National Center for Healthy Housing. The National Association of Realtors is hosting additional free webinars on the RRP rule for REALTORs and property managers. I had the opportunity to attend an informative webex seminar about the new EPA regulations coming on line and was able to post a recording of that call as well as the PPT presentation on our webs site on the Legislation Page.The key for the mom and pop owner is to work with a trusted contractor or supervisor and make them responsible. The training starts in May so get them into the training after then. EPA starts certifying firms in October but you do not need to actually comply until April 22, 2010. The other thing you may want to consider is getting a lead inspection sooner rather than later. Right now, the lead inspectors are looking for work and may give you a good price, especially if you are not in a rush. As it gets closer, I am assuming the bigger accounts will make it tougher to find.

The Small Property Owners Association

 The group that fights to protect small landlords & their rights in Massachusetts. Known as SPOA, we are the largest rental property owner association in Massachusetts and the only one that represents small property owners exclusively.

The Better Business Bureau

The BBB: Getting three quotes for any repairs is a good idea. Checking out those businesses you may want to hire at BBB.org online, or even joining yourself, is a GREAT IDEA. Better to find out who has been written up before you sign the contract.

FamilyWatchdog.us

Family Watchdog is a free service to help locate registered sex offenders and other types of offenders in your area.