Wow! Massachusetts is tough...

[Lynn McGeein]

http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news/58511...

So, basically, you have to rent to people with families (we all know this), but in Massachusetts, if their children are under 6, you must pay for lead remediation, where you don't if they are over?  I'd understand it if you had to remediate no matter what so you actually know cost of doing business right away, upfront, but randomly getting stuck with paying for lead remediation randomly based on the applicant just seems wacko to me.    

[Ann Bellamy]

Yup, it is definitely wacko.  And it is in fact the case.  That is just one of the many MA tenant friendly laws.  The courts make up the rules as they go along.  If they don't like the statute and it's not in the tenant's favor, they will "interpret" it in a manner that delivers the desired result.  

So you don't have to delead, but if a family with a 5 year old wants to move in, you must.  So you might as well.

In addition, recently a tenant was able to mount a defense against eviction because the landlord failed to return $3.96 in interest to the tenant.  So the eviction was overturned.  Gotta love the People's Republic of Massachusetts.  I'm not sure California can compete.