Massachusetts: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
A Massachusetts lessor or the lessor's agent may not require a prospective tenant to pay an application, processing, credit-check, background-check, or screening fee to the lessor or agent. At or before the tenancy begins, the only payments they may require to themselves are first month's rent, last month's rent, a security deposit, and key-and-lock cost, subject to the statute. The statute does not decide a report an applicant buys directly from an independent reporting company.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Massachusetts. Ezel applies current Massachusetts law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(1)(b), (9); residential lessors/agents and prospective tenants; vacation/recreation tenancies of 100 days or less excluded |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Application, processing, credit-check, background-check, and screening fees paid to the lessor or lessor's agent are outside the four permitted charges (§ 15B(1)(b)) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | $0 to the lessor or lessor's agent for an application/screening charge; § 15B does not price a report bought directly from an independent provider |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | At or before tenancy, lessor/agent may require only first rent, last rent, security deposit, and key/lock cost; no screening-cost pass-through to them (§ 15B(1)(b)) |
| Before-screening disclosures | No special statewide vacancy, screening-criteria, report-source, or dispute-right disclosure in § 15B |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No application-fee receipt, screening-report-copy, unused-fee, or denial-refund process in § 15B; the charge itself may not be required by the lessor/agent |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied, portable, or reusable tenant-screening-report procedure in § 15B |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, or state application-denial notice procedure in § 15B |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | Conflicting lease terms and waivers are void (§ 15B(8)); no application-fee-specific damages or local-preemption clause in § 15B |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Massachusetts's statewide payment rule
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(1)(b) controls what a residential lessor or the
lessor's agent may require a tenant or prospective tenant to pay to the lessor
or agent at or before the tenancy begins. The list is limited to first month's
rent, last month's rent, a security deposit subject to the statute, and the
purchase and installation cost of a key and lock. An application, processing,
credit-check, background-check, or tenant-screening fee paid to the lessor or
agent is not on that list.
The payee language matters. Section 15B(1)(b) bars the lessor or agent from
requiring an extra payment to the lessor or agent. It does not itself set a
price or procedure for a consumer report that the applicant independently buys
directly from a reporting company rather than paying the lessor or agent.
Section 15B contains no separate screening-criteria disclosure, report-copy,
portable-report, application-order, state adverse-action, or application-fee
refund process. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(8) makes a conflicting lease
term or prospective-tenant waiver void and unenforceable. Under Mass. Gen. Laws
ch. 186, § 15B(9), the section does not apply to a vacation or recreational
tenancy lasting 100 days or less.
What trips people up
A third-party report purchase is not the same payment described in the
statute. The current text targets an amount required by the lessor or agent
and paid to the lessor or agent. It should not be stretched into an unstated
dollar cap for an applicant's independent transaction with a reporting company.
The fee-in-lieu language concerns a security deposit. Section 15B(1)(b)(iii)
allows the housing office to authorize an optional fee in lieu of a security
deposit through regulations. That is outside this survey and does not authorize
an application or screening fee.
The rule changed in 2025. The current payee wording took effect August 1,
2025. H 5301 and S 984 remain live proposals that would expressly add owners and
real estate brokers to the restricted persons and create a treble-damages
remedy for excess charges.
Common questions
May a landlord charge a $25 application fee? Not if the prospective tenant
must pay it to the lessor or the lessor's agent. It is outside § 15B(1)(b)'s
permitted list.
Does the landlord have to accept a credit report I already have? Section
15B creates no applicant-supplied or reusable screening-report procedure.
Does the same rule cover a short vacation rental? Not when the lease,
rental, occupancy, or tenancy is for a vacation or recreational purpose and
lasts 100 days or less; § 15B(9) excludes it.
Statutes and sources
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(1)(b) — permitted payments to a lessor or
the lessor's agent at or before commencement.No lessor or agent of the lessor may require a tenant or prospective tenant
to pay, to the lessor or to an agent of the lessor, any amount in excess of
the following ...
Official source: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter186/Section15b (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(8)-(9) — nonwaiver and short vacation-
tenancy exclusion.
Any provision of a lease which conflicts with any provision of this section
and any waiver by a tenant or prospective tenant ... shall be deemed to be
against public policy and therefore void and unenforceable.
Official source: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter186/Section15b (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Massachusetts handles this in general. Ezel applies current Massachusetts law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.