Be Live In RealtyEqual housing opportunity
Every home we show is available to everyone.
Massachusetts protects more characteristics in housing than federal law does.
Massachusetts · M.G.L. c. 151B § 4
Protected in housing, in full.
It is unlawful for a broker, an owner, a landlord, a lender or a managing agent to refuse to rent, sell, show, finance or negotiate because of any of these. It is also unlawful to set different terms, or to advertise differently, on the same basis.
Race
State and federal
Color
State and federal
Religious creed
State and federal
National origin
State and federal
Ancestry
Massachusetts
Sex
State and federal
Sexual orientation
State and federal
Named explicitly in the Massachusetts statute; HUD applies the federal sex provision to it.
Gender identity
State and federal
Named explicitly in the Massachusetts statute; HUD applies the federal sex provision to it.
Age
Massachusetts
Marital status
Massachusetts
Veteran status or membership in the armed forces
Massachusetts
Disability
State and federal
Handicap, in the words of both statutes.
Blindness
Massachusetts
Deafness
Massachusetts
Familial status
State and federal
A household that includes children.
Genetic information
Massachusetts
Receipt of public assistance, or of a rental or housing subsidy
Massachusetts
Including a Section 8 or MRVP voucher. Refusing to rent because the rent will be paid with a voucher is unlawful in Massachusetts.
The federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601–3619, protects race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status and disability. Where the two statutes differ, the broader protection is the one that applies.
In practice
What this changes about working with us.
Fair housing is usually broken by accident, in an ordinary conversation.
01
We answer neighbourhood questions with facts and sources.
School enrolment and accountability data, assessed values and tax rates, commuter-rail times, flood maps, crime statistics published by the town: we will find any of it and send you the source. We will not tell you what kind of people live somewhere, and we will not answer a question phrased that way. That answer is steering.
02
You choose where to look. Not us.
We will not narrow a search to towns we think you would fit, and we will not leave a town out of a list because of who lives in it. If your criteria produce homes in eight towns, you get all eight.
03
Vouchers are rent.
A tenant paying with a Section 8 or MRVP voucher is a tenant paying rent, and refusing them is unlawful here. If you are a landlord listing with us and want the listing to exclude voucher holders, we will not write that listing.
04
Advertising says what the property has, not who it is for.
Massachusetts regulates the wording of a vacancy advertisement as much as the decision behind it. We describe the building: rooms, floors, systems, parking, what is nearby. We do not describe the household we imagine in it.
05
Reasonable accommodations are a normal request.
A service or assistance animal is not a pet and no pet policy applies to it. A modification you need in order to use a home is a conversation to have early, not a favour to ask at the closing table. Bring it up at the first showing and we will handle it as scheduling rather than as an exception.
06
Two languages, start to finish.
Portuguese and English throughout, from the first call to the closing. National origin is one of the protected characteristics above.
If we get it wrong
Complain to us, and complain over our heads.
In whichever order you like. Raising it with us is not a condition of raising it with a regulator.
Here
Lia Carminati, the broker, at (617) 460-9893 or info@beliveinrealty.com. She answers this one herself.
Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) takes housing complaints under c. 151B, and the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division also does. The Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons handles complaints about a licensee’s conduct under 254 CMR 3.00.
Federal
HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity takes complaints under the Fair Housing Act, at 1-800-669-9777 or through hud.gov. There is no filing fee and you do not need a lawyer to start.
Be Live In Realty is pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.
If something on this site reads as though it narrows any of this, tell us and we will change the page: contact reaches a person, and accessibility is the route for a barrier in the site itself.