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MEEB Newsletter September 2025

LANDLORDS CAN’T REQUIRE APARTMENTTENANTS TO PAY THE BROKER’S FEE

Effective August 1, 2025

Landlords have traditionally required tenants to pay the broker’s fee when they rent an apartment, and tenants have generally expected to incur that expense. But this standard practice in the rental housing industry is now illegal in Massachusetts as the result of an amendment to the state law governing the registration of real estate brokers and salespeople. That amendment, which took effect August 1, prohibits landlords from requiring tenants to pay the fee for the landlord’s broker.

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MEEB Newsletter Janurary 2025

NEW MASSACHUSETTS LAW CREATES A STATEWIDE RIGHT TO CHARGE ELECTRIC VEHICLES

CONDO BOARDS CAN’T BAN CHARGING STATIONS

When Boston and Cambridge enacted “right-to-charge” ordinances in 2019 and 2022, respectively, codifying the rights of electric vehicle owners to install charging stations in multi-family buildings, industry executives predicted that Massachusetts lawmakers would eventually follow suit. They were right.

A sweeping climate bill enacted at the end of last year includes a statewide “right to charge” provision, prohibiting condominium associations and homeowners’ associations from banning or unreasonably restricting the installation of charging stations in areas used exclusively by owners. The state law closely tracks the language in the local ordinances, with a few tweaks clarifying the authority of HOAs and condo associations to review installations and to regulate them. We’ve compiled the following list of FAQs to help condominium boards understand and comply with the new law.

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