3 rules for unincorporated Hampshire County, Massachusetts.
Verified from official government sources
Rent control is illegal in every Hampshire County community. Massachusetts voters banned it statewide in 1994, now MGL c.40P §4: no city or town may enact, maintain, or enforce rent control of any kind. Northampton and Amherst landlords set rent freely.
MGL c.40P §4
No city or town may enact, maintain or enforce rent control of any kind, except that any city or town that accepts this chapter may adopt rent control regulation that provides:
Massachusetts has no just-cause eviction law, and no Hampshire County town can add one. But the state is strongly tenant-protective: a security deposit is capped at one month's rent under MGL c.186 §15B, and mishandling it exposes a landlord to treble damages.
MGL c.186 §15B
a security deposit equal to the first month's rent provided that such security deposit is deposited as required by subsection (3)
Rental registration is a town power, not a county one, and Hampshire County has no government. Amherst requires every landlord to hold an annual rental permit under its 2024 Residential Rental Property Bylaw, backed by the State Sanitary Code (MGL c.111 §127A).
MGL c.111 §127A
Local boards of health shall enforce said code in the same manner in which local health rules and regulations are enforced, but, if any such local boards fail after the lapse of a reasonable length of time to enforce the same, the department may in like manner enforce said code against any violator.
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