Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Massachusetts
At a glance
| 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 |
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.
What does Massachusetts law mean for your facts?
You just read the general rule. Ask your own question and see which parts of current Massachusetts law apply to your situation, with citations you can check.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Starts from the statutes this survey is built on
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace