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Massachusetts landlord · tenant screening

Massachusetts Residential Rental Application

Download the Massachusetts residential rental application — screens prospective tenants with application-money elections, a standalone screening-report authorization, and the disclosures federal and Massachusetts law require — in fillable Word and fillable PDF, with the Massachusetts Completion & Use Guide.

  • Fillable Word + fillable PDF
  • Massachusetts Completion & Use Guide included
  • Completed sample available
  • Instant secure download

Renting out property in more than one state? This page is the Massachusetts application — each state's edition is built to its own screening and application-money law.

What's in your Massachusetts download

Includes the six-page fillable Word and PDF application, Massachusetts Completion and Use Guide, conditional Massachusetts CORI Acknowledgment, Policy and Pre-Adverse Process Suite, and federal FCRA Summary of Rights.

Included files

  • Massachusetts Residential Rental Application Core application — completes on screen in the fillable PDF or in Word, then print and sign Word PDF
  • Massachusetts Completion & Use Guide Money elections, criteria timing, deadlines, refunds, adverse action, and recordkeeping — editable Word; print-ready PDF Word PDF
  • cori-suite-rentlapp-MA.docx Included file Word
  • cori-suite-rentlapp-MA.pdf Included file PDF
  • FCRA Summary of Your Rights (CFPB) The federal consumer-rights summary that ships with every screening package — print-ready PDF PDF

Preview the actual form

The real document — not a mockup. Page 1 of the form included in your download.

Get This Form — $12.99
Page 1 of the Massachusetts Residential Rental Application form
Form PL-MA-RA01 · Page 1 of the actual Massachusetts document included in your download.

Inside the Massachusetts application

Every part of the form, in order — the application summary, 17 sections, and the office-use panel.

  • Application summary The reasonable-accommodation contact line, property applied for, requested move-in date, offered rent, and stated security deposit.
  • 1. Application Money Disclosure
  • 2. About You Identity, contact channels, an electronic-notice election with a paper-mail alternative, and identity-document choices (SSN, ITIN, government-issued ID, or a lawful alternative) — no date-of-birth field anywhere on the form.
  • 3. Other Proposed Occupants Household composition with a separate-signed-application election for each person — ages, birth dates, and adult/minor classifications are never collected; every other adult completes and signs a separate application.
  • 4. Pets and Assistance Animals Household pets only; service and assistance animals are handled as fair-housing accommodations, never as pets.
  • 5. Residential History Current and prior addresses, housing payments, owner/manager contacts, and an optional neutral move reason.
  • 6. Employment & Income Employment plus any lawful source of income, with the Massachusetts source-of-income note.
  • 7. Banking or Asset Verification An optional verification election; the form never collects account numbers.
  • 8. References and Emergency Contact An optional personal reference and an emergency contact that is not used for screening.
  • 9. Vehicle Information Vehicle details where parking is requested.
  • 10. Additional Information An open area for lawful qualification information.
  • 11. Screening Criteria Election
  • 12. Reusable or Portable Tenant-Screening Reports
  • 13. Screening Information and Legal Limits
  • 14. Consumer Report Disclosure How consumer reports are obtained and the adverse-action notice commitment.
  • 15. Privacy, Retention, and Disposal Data-minimization commitments under the FCRA and its Disposal Rule.
  • 16. Applicant Declaration The signed certification of accuracy with a verification-contact authorization; electronic and copied signatures honored.
  • 17. Screening Report Disclosure and Authorization The standalone signed authorization, investigative-report notice, agency identification, free-report-copy election, and the federal Summary-of-Your-Rights package insert.
  • For Office Use Only

About this form

A residential rental application is the landlord's first line of protection: it collects the applicant's identity, household composition, rental history, employment and income, and references, and it carries the disclosures and signed authorizations that make lawful tenant screening possible before a lease is signed.

Massachusetts prohibits owner or landlord-agent application, screening, administrative, credit-check, and holding fees. Section 1 disables those charges and identifies only the four lawful §15B categories: first month, last month, a security deposit equal to the first month’s rent, and key/lock purchase and installation cost.

The application asks no eviction-action or criminal-history question. The conditional CORI suite supplies the separate acknowledgment, policy, report-before-question, and pre-adverse workflow. Public assistance and housing subsidies are accepted, including program requirements, with affordability measured against the tenant-paid share.

100% satisfaction guarantee

ILRG provides self-help legal forms and download support. PublicLegal landlord forms are provided for you to complete with your own property and screening information. Screening rules vary by state and change frequently — the Completion & Use Guide explains the rules in your state and the steps that keep this application within them. If you are not 100 percent satisfied after purchasing from us, contact us for a refund.

Frequently Asked Questions About Massachusetts Rental Applications

No. M.G.L. c.186 §15B and 940 CMR 3.17 establish an exclusive payment ceiling that does not include application, screening, credit-check, administrative, or holding fees.

No. Massachusetts sealing law permits applicants to answer no record as to sealed matters and bars consumer reporting agencies from disclosing sealed eviction records.

No criminal-history question appears. If CORI is used, request it only at the final step and use the separate acknowledgment, policy, report-before-question, and pre-adverse process.

They must be accepted without discrimination, including program requirements; affordability is evaluated against the tenant-paid share.

The six-page Massachusetts application in fillable Word and PDF, Completion & Use Guide, conditional CORI suite, and federal FCRA Summary; a completed Worcester sample is optional.