As a renter, it’s significant to understand the key state and federal laws that affect your rights and responsibilities. You can be a better and more informed tenant by knowing these laws. This can actually help you have a great experience and avoid issues with your landlords. Here are a few of the most important laws you should know about as a renter:
- Warranty of Habitability. Though it goes by different names in different states, the implied warranty of habitability laws are state laws intended to make certain that your rental unit is livable. In most states, this denotes that the rental home should meet certain minimum standards for things namely heat, water, and electricity.
- Choosing a Tenant. State and federal laws grant landlords the right to choose their tenants. Even though the laws moreover specify that a landlord’s decision must be based on creditworthiness, income, or past history. They cannot actually refuse to rent someone on the basis of things such as skin color, religion, sexual orientation, familial status, and disability.
- Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act is a federal law that keeps landlords from discriminating against tenants based on protected characteristics such as race, religion, gender, national origin, and disability. This law was enacted in 1968 and enables renters who seem discriminated against because of one or more of these characteristics to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), regardless of which state they live in.
- Limiting the Number of Children. Under the Fair Housing Act, a landlord cannot refuse to rent to a tenant predicated on how many children the tenant has. The law likewise points out that a landlord cannot prohibit children from using outdoor or common areas.
- Service Animals. Under federal laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, service animals are eligible as a reasonable accommodation, and landlords cannot just prohibit nor can they charge an additional pet fee or bring up the rent for the reason that you have a service animal. Nevertheless, landlords can require that a service animal is vaccinated, licensed, and registered according to all state and local laws.
- Discriminatory Advertising. HUD’s federal Fair Housing Act also states that landlords cannot use discrimination in their advertisement of a rental property. By way of example, publishing an ad stating that the landlord will not rent to single adults, people of a certain age, or won’t allow wheelchairs are all samples of discriminatory advertising.
- Security Deposits. There are laws in reference to how a Marlborough property manager must handle your security deposit. In most instances, the law allows a landlord to collect and then hold your deposit and possibly make use of it to accomplish repairs if you are negligent and damage something while living in the house. There are federal limits fixed on how much a landlord can charge for a security deposit – that is further ascertained by state law.
- Illegal Lockouts. Although there is no one federal law that makes locking out a tenant unlawful, laws in every state describe the legal eviction process that makes locking a tenant out of their rental house a criminal act. Eviction is a legal process that must be accomplished correctly, or the landlord risks having the court rule in the tenant’s favor.
If you’re searching for a Marlborough rental home and property manager who comprehends and will observe all tenant-landlord laws in Massachusetts, Real Property Management MetroWest-Worcester is who you can count on. Browse our listings online to find your next rental home!
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
