BOSTON, MA — Renters in Allston and Brighton who have dealt with mold, broken heat, ignored calls, or other housing problems now have a place to tell their stories. City Councilor Liz Breadon has launched an online survey called “Worst Landlords in Allston Brighton” to collect firsthand accounts of poor rental conditions in the neighborhood.
Breadon, who also serves as Boston City Council president, says she wants the city to hear directly from tenants about what living with problem landlords has been like. Her office has also opened a Boston-wide survey for renters with similar complaints. The effort is meant to highlight conditions in local housing and push property owners to answer for repeated failures.
How the Allston Brighton survey asks renters to respond
The survey asks tenants for their name, contact information, and their landlord’s name. It also leaves room for renters to describe what happened in their apartment or building and to share any particular incident they want to bring forward.
One question asks whether respondents would be willing to be filmed telling their story for social media. Breadon said renters have until the end of September to submit responses. The goal, she said, is to gather anecdotal evidence about what people are experiencing and how difficult it can be to get a landlord to act when something goes wrong.
Breadon ties the survey to accountability efforts already underway
Breadon said the survey is part of a wider effort to identify landlords who repeatedly fail tenants and to elevate renter complaints that often go unheard. She described the city’s housing problems as long-running and said she wants more tools to pressure owners into doing better.
She said Boston has already begun two related steps. One is a public list of problem property owners. The other is a higher fine for code violations. Breadon said both measures are meant to make enforcement more meaningful and to help renters avoid landlords with repeated violations.
Public list would track owners with repeated violations
In March 2023, Breadon co-sponsored an ordinance that would track owners with more than six code violations or active enforcement cases at a property. Under the proposal, the list would be public so renters could check a prospective landlord before signing a lease.
The ordinance would also bar owners on the list from doing business in Boston. Breadon has framed the idea as a way to bring the worst actors into the open and give the city leverage when complaints continue to pile up. She said the current system has not done enough to change behavior.
Boston seeks larger fines after decades with a lower penalty
Breadon also pointed to a city request that the Legislature approved last year to raise the fine for code violations from $300 to $2,000. She said the old amount has not changed since the 1980s and is too low to push repeat offenders to fix problems.
In her view, some landlords treat the current penalty as simply part of the cost of operating rental properties. Breadon said they pay the fine and then keep doing the same thing. The higher penalty, she said, is meant to give enforcement more force and make violations less easy to ignore.
Breadon plans another ordinance vote next week
Breadon said she plans to file another scofflaw ordinance at a City Council meeting next week. The measure would be aimed at identifying the worst violators and giving city officials a stronger way to respond to repeated housing complaints.
She said the effort is intended to help the city hold bad landlords accountable after years of similar tenant concerns. Anyone with an Allston-Brighton landlord story can submit the form or email Boston.com, and responses may be used in a future Boston.com article. Breadon said the bigger point is to give residents a way to be heard.
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