Boston Rental Registration: $25 a Unit, Due July 1

The registration notice looks like junk mail, and I’ve had owners tell me they tossed it. Then the two family goes under agreement and it turns out the registration was never filed, and the City’s arithmetic goes back a long way. All of the below is off the Inspectional Services pages.

Register every year, by July 1

The City’s instruction is one line: you must register your rental property every year, and the deadline to register is July 1. If you don’t register and pay the fee by the deadline, the City says it may charge a penalty of $300 each month until you do. Registration is required even if your property is vacant or being renovated, and even if the people living there are relatives who are 18 or older and not on the deed. The only properties outside the requirement are those owned by a City, state or federal agency, and rooming houses, dorms and lodging houses holding a valid lodging license.

What it costs

It’s $25 for each unit for first-time registrations, and $15 for each unit for renewal registrations. There’s a ceiling: the most you’ll pay is $2,500 for each building, or $5,000 for each complex you own. For a property that was never registered, the City collects retroactively back to 2013; if the owner bought after January 1, 2013, you give the City the purchase date so you aren’t overcharged. That’s the part that turns a modest annual fee into a real number on a closing statement, and it’s why the registration status belongs on a due diligence list.

Registering puts you on the inspection cycle

Once you register, the City says it will inspect the property at least once every five years. Its rental inspection page says the same thing from the other direction: if you have a rental property in Boston, you will be selected for a rental inspection once every five years. The one worth checking first is the owner occupancy exemption. Buildings that have six or fewer units, with the property owner living in one of the units, are exempt from the inspection, as are government owned properties and licensed lodging houses. What is not exempt: vacant properties and units, properties under renovation, units rented to a relative who is 18 or over and not on the deed, and units where you don’t collect rent.

What the inspection costs

The cost is $50 per unit if your building has one to three units, $75 per unit if there are four or more, and $75 per condo unit. If the report is filed by an authorized inspector or a housing authority rather than by the City, there’s a $15 filing fee for each unit report filed.

Why a buyer should care

If you’re writing an offer on a small multifamily this fall, the registration status is worth asking about in the same breath as the smoke and carbon monoxide certificate. The seller can clear it up before closing, and once you own it the bill is yours. Ask which units are registered and when the last renewal went in, and ask whether it’s ever been inspected. If the seller has been on top of the building, that’s a quick answer.

Thinking about buying a two or three family in Greater Boston? Send me the address and I’ll tell you what I’d ask the seller before the offer goes in. Diana Kim, REALTOR®, eXp Realty.