What is a Rooming House? 

A Rooming House is a business that rents out 4 individual rooms or more in the same building, They can also be referred to as a boarding house, lodging houses or single room occupancy units  Each renter has there own separate room and agreement with the landlord.  Unlike a typical apartment, the landlord must hold a special license. 

What Requirements must a Rooming House meet if you’re a landlord

1) Provide one bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower for every 8 rooming house renters. The common bathroom in this roomming house must be take care of  within 24hrs if shared with other renters. 

2) The Landlord must Provide Automatic Smoke and heat detectors.  If the property has more then 6 renters the owner must also have a sprinkler system in place. 

3) The size of the room needs to be 80 square feet or 60 square feet per person if the room is shared with another person 

4) The landlord must provide a clean and healthy condition which means it must meet sanatory code. 

5) The Landlord must make repairs at no charge to the tenant unless the tenant is directly responsible for damage caused

6) Tenant must provide permission to enter room and landlord must give you privacy unless entering is due to an emergency.

7) Tenant is allowed access to their room at any time and if they are evicted by landlord they have no right to keep your belongings.  

Does a landlord have to provide a common kitchen or formal kitchen in a rooming house? 

The answer is no. The landlord doesn’t have to provide a common kitchen for renters to use, but if they do the kitchen must have a sink, stove, oven, and storage space along with a refrigerator.  They are not required to provide a common kitchen or kitchen in the room. 

Rooming houses can be single occupancy and it is not uncommon that there are other rules you do not see in a typical apartment you rent.  They can be unable to have someone else not on the lease spend the night. When you rent in a rooming house the application process is the same, the income requirements still apply along with employment and landlord references. 

The rooming house exists in Mass in Metro Boston and Cambridge along with outside of Boston. If are looking for a flexible leaes option or want more information about rooming houses or ledging house please contact me. I have extensive experiecnce in renting these unqiue rental options