Haverhill, MA Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Chapter 200, Rental Permits, applies whenever a rented dwelling unit, apartment or tenement in Haverhill becomes vacant. Section 200-1 requires the owner, managing agent or person in possession to have the Board of Health inspect it, either after it becomes vacant or within 10 days before an anticipated vacancy ends, and the landlord must secure a rental permit from the Board of Health before the unit is reoccupied. The code does not set an expiration date or renewal cycle for the permit itself; instead the trigger is each change in occupancy.

To catch rentals that skip this step, § 200-3 has the Board of Health inquire daily with the gas, electric, telephone and Haverhill Water Department utilities about all new listings and service requests, and it obligates those utilities to hand over that information; a new utility hookup at a rental address is effectively how the city's Division of Code Enforcement learns a unit has turned over. Failing to comply carries its own penalty structure under § 200-2: a $200 fine, with each additional day of noncompliance treated as a separate $200 offense, though public utility and telephone services referenced in § 200-3 are themselves carved out from that fine.

Chapter 202, Renting to Minors, sits alongside this chapter and separately requires a landlord who rents to anyone under 18 to notify the Police Chief in advance and file a form within five days.