How to Screen Tenants Fairly with MassCourts.org

[Jillian Campayno]

This presentation will teach fair use of MassCourts.org, the public record of summary process (aka eviction) and housing-related small claims lawsuits in Massachusetts. Landlords can and should use this information to help score rental applications, screen tenants, and ensure that every resident will follow the rules and contribute to a happy and healthy community. We will review:

Reasons why renters can appear in MassCourts.org other than being a bad renter.

How renters might be screening landlords with MassCourts.org, too.

How MassLandlords' objective, point-based applicant qualifier helps clean housing history overcome bad credit or other barriers.

A full tutorial on reading and understanding dockets including summary process terminology, address matching and fair housing.

We will also review the proposal to seal court records (HOMES Act) and explain how this fosters secrecy and enables petty corruption, while hindering proper tenant screening and sociology research into the causes of eviction.

Attendees will leave knowing how to fairly screen tenants using information in the public records.

Part of this presentation will be given by attorney Adam Sherwin. Adam is an experienced real estate litigator with years of experience representing landlords, property owners, and other real estate professionals. He has extensive experience litigating real estate disputes before judges and juries and has obtained favorable decisions from the Massachusetts Appeals Court and District Court Appellate Division. He is also a long-time crash course instructor at the Cambridge headquarters and over zoom.

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Friday, April 28th

Virtual Meeting Agenda

12:00 pm Presentation

12:30 pm Virtual Meeting ends

By member survey, the business update has been reimagined as a set of convenient videos viewable anytime online.

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Accessibility

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Virtual Meeting Details (hosted by Zoom)

We will share our video, audio, and computer screen and slides.

Optional: You can share your video with everyone, talk to everyone, and type chat with everyone. Video sharing is not required. Talking is not required.

Password will be emailed and viewable online.

Pricing

Open to the public. Membership is not required!

Public: $21.00

Members: $7.00

Registration in advance is required.

This event will not be recorded.

Slides and handouts if any will be uploaded to MassCourts .

Register at: MassLandlords.net/events