A Massachusetts rental application tells you who will live in your rental, where they have lived and how they will pay the rent. When every applicant answers the same questions, you can compare renters fairly and show that you did.
This guide covers what to ask, how to pre-screen leads, the federal and Massachusetts laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a Massachusetts rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your Massachusetts rental application should ask for:
- Applicant and co-signer names, email, phone and date of birth,
- A Social Security number, entered securely,
- The desired move-in date and everyone who will live in the home,
- The current address and current landlord’s contact details,
- Employer, job title and monthly income,
- Any housing voucher or rental assistance,
- Pets, assistance animals, vehicles and smoking, and
- Past evictions and consent to screening.
The Rentari application covers all of this in six short sections. Renters can upload a pay stub, photo ID, bank statement or reference letter, and you choose which background questions to ask, with up to four of your own.
See it first: open the whole application before you send it.
Pre-screen your leads
Not every lead fits your rental. A short pre-screener shows who meets your basic criteria before anyone spends time or money on a full application.
Send the Rentari pre-screener from Leads. Your Massachusetts pre-screener asks every lead for:
- Monthly household income,
- Desired move-in date,
- How many people would live there,
- Pets, and what kind,
- Smoking, and
- A self-reported credit band.
When a lead’s answers fit, invite them to apply. Remember: pre-screener answers are what the renter tells you, so verify them with the application and screening.
Federal application laws
Federal law sets the baseline for every screening decision in Massachusetts. These five laws shape how you screen applicants:
Fair Housing Act (FHA): You may not treat applicants differently because of these seven protected characteristics:
- Race,
- Color,
- National origin,
- Religion,
- Sex,
- Familial status, or
- Disability
It also bars ads that show a preference and different rental terms for different applicants (42 U.S.C. § 3604).
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): Bars credit discrimination, including because income comes from public assistance. Courts differ on whether a lease counts as credit, so count assistance income the same way as wages (15 U.S.C. § 1691).
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Covers places open to the public, such as a leasing office. Disability rules for the rental home itself come from the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 12182).
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Covers credit, criminal and eviction reports. You need the renter’s consent before screening. Rentari collects it before our screening partner, RentButter, runs the checks (15 U.S.C. § 1681b).
Civil Rights Act of 1866: Bars race discrimination when renting any property, including homes the Fair Housing Act exempts, such as some small owner-occupied buildings (42 U.S.C. § 1982).
Criminal history: HUD warns that blanket bans on applicants with any criminal record can be discriminatory, and an arrest alone does not show that a person did anything.
Further reading: HUD fair housing rights and obligations and FTC guidance for landlords.
Massachusetts application laws
Beyond federal law, Massachusetts has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
Massachusetts Law
Massachusetts application and screening fees
The rule: At or before the start of a tenancy, a landlord or the landlord's agent may not require any payment to them beyond first month's rent, last month's rent, a security deposit equal to one month's rent and the cost of a key and lock. The list has no application fee (Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15B(1)(b)).
A lease term that conflicts with this rule, and any waiver of it, is void (Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15B(8)).
Local rules: Cities and counties can add their own limits. Check local rules before you set a fee.
In Rentari: You choose an optional application fee when you send the invite. It is paid to you on top of any screening fee.
Massachusetts Law
Fair housing in Massachusetts
Protected classes: Massachusetts bars housing discrimination because of race, religious creed, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, ancestry, marital status, veteran or military status, or disability, and against families with children and recipients of public assistance or housing subsidies such as rental vouchers. Landlords may not ask about or record these traits or advertise a preference (Mass. G.L. c. 151B, § 4(6), (7), (10), (11); Mass. G.L. c. 151B, § 4(7B)).
Accommodations: Refusing reasonable accommodations, or refusing reasonable modifications at the tenant's cost, is discrimination; in publicly assisted housing and in housing of ten or more units the owner pays for reasonable modifications, short of undue hardship (Mass. G.L. c. 151B, § 4(7A)).
Refusing to rent: Refusing to rent because a home has or may have lead paint, or to avoid lead law duties, is unlawful (Mass. G.L. c. 111, § 199A).
Exemptions: Narrow exceptions include renting one unit of an owner-occupied two-family home (Mass. G.L. c. 151B, § 4(7), (11)).
Criminal history: Distinguish a commercial screening package from access to the state CORI system. The Attorney General's housing guide says a housing provider must obtain written permission before accessing an applicant's CORI through the state system and must follow additional steps when using a private consumer reporting agency. A housing provider may not ask an applicant to supply their own CORI or arrest records; the guide separately identifies a public housing authority's ability to request court docket sheets. Verify the correct lawful request process and the actual package rather than assuming criminal information is always included or always unavailable (Massachusetts AGO: CORI and housing).
Criminal history: The Attorney General explains that housing providers may refuse housing based on criminal records, but blanket rejection of everyone with a record may violate civil rights law. Its guidance recommends an individual assessment of the nature and severity of the conviction, time elapsed, circumstances, age at the conduct, tenant history and rehabilitation. Public and federally assisted housing have additional admission rules. Confirm the applicable program and full CORI procedures; an agency report or screening score does not itself determine a lawful housing outcome (Massachusetts AGO: individual housing assessment).
Pets, ESAs and service animals
Ask about animals on every application, but treat an assistance animal differently from a pet. Here is what to keep in mind:
Pet information: The Rentari application asks whether an animal will live at the property and lets the renter mark an assistance animal.
Not a pet: A service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet. Under federal fair housing law you generally can’t:
- Charge a pet fee, pet deposit or pet rent for one, or
- Apply your pet breed, size or weight limits to it.
Damage: The renter stays responsible for any damage the animal causes.
In Rentari: An assistance animal is routed as a fair housing request and is never charged a pet fee.
Massachusetts rules on assistance animals
Assistance animals: Massachusetts protection for assistance animals continues under state law. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination confirmed in July 2026 that withdrawal of federal enforcement guidance does not narrow those state protections. Assistance animals can include trained or untrained animals providing disability-related support, including emotional support; failure to meet the federal service-animal definition alone is not a sufficient basis to reject the request (MCAD: assistance animals in housing, July 31, 2026).
Assistance animals: Assess an assistance-animal request individually through an interactive process. The commission identifies the central question as whether the accommodation is necessary for the person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. Evaluate that disability-related need rather than treating every assistance animal as an ordinary pet (MCAD: individual accommodation review).
Approvals and denials
Apply the same written criteria to every applicant, and handle each decision the same way.
Approval: Choose Accept complete household in the household decision. Your lease draft is ready to review. Before move-in, check Massachusetts’s deposit rules:
Lawful reasons to deny: Deny only for reasons in your written criteria that you apply to every applicant, such as income below your standard, credit history, rental history including unpaid rent or eviction judgments, or incomplete or false information. Use criminal history only where Massachusetts and local law allow it, and weigh the offense and how long ago it happened.
Adverse action notice: If a screening report contributes to a denial, or to terms such as a co-signer, a higher deposit or higher rent, federal law requires a notice that:
- Names the reporting company and how to reach it,
- Says that company did not make the decision,
- Explains the renter’s right to a free copy of the report within 60 days, and
- Explains the right to dispute the report.
In Rentari: Choose Deny selected applicants and send individual notices in the household decision to send each notice. You make the decision.
Record keeping: Federal law sets no retention period for a private landlord’s applications. A fair housing lawsuit can be filed up to two years after a decision, so keep each application, your written criteria and the decision at least that long (42 U.S.C. § 3613(a)(1)(A)).
Screening reports: When you no longer need a screening report, destroy it securely. The FTC Disposal Rule covers consumer reports (16 C.F.R. Part 682).
Massachusetts rental application questions
Can I charge an application fee or a move-in fee in Massachusetts?
No. The move-in list in the deposit law is exclusive, and it includes no application, pet, amenity or move-in fee (Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15B(1)(b)).
Who pays for screening on Rentari?
In most states the renter pays the screening fee at the end of the application and nothing is charged to you. Where a state requires the landlord to pay, the invite tells you. The fee is shown before payment.
Can I ask about criminal history?
You choose whether the application asks about criminal convictions; it is off by default. Check Massachusetts and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.