Requirements taken from official city sources, quoted and dated.
| Program | Rental Registration and Inspection Program |
|---|---|
| Issuing department | Inspectional Services Department (ISD), Housing Division |
| Renewal | Annually. The registration period opens January 1 and the deadline is July 1 of each year. The city does not send bills: the owner tracks the deadline. |
The owner of any residential rental property in the city, including long-term rentals. Registration is required even if the property is vacant, under renovation, occupied by relatives without payment, or generating no income. Owner-occupied properties with 6 or fewer units must register but are exempt from the fee. Excluded: commercial space, property owned by federal, state or city agencies, and property holding a valid lodging house / rooming house / dormitory license.
Registration: $25 per unit for the initial registration, $15 per unit for the annual renewal; capped at $2,500 per building and $5,000 per complex. Owner-occupied properties with 6 or fewer units — $0. Inspection fees are calculated separately: $50 per unit in buildings of 1-3 units, $75 per unit in buildings of 4 or more units, $15 to file a third-party BHA/MBHP report.
Yes. Every rental unit is inspected at least once every five years; a property is selected for inspection from the ISD sample and receives a notice. Owner-occupied properties with 6 or fewer units are exempt from inspection. A Five-Year Alternative Inspection Compliance Plan is available to owners with a clean code compliance history.
Per the official ISD FAQ: "Properties that are not registered and paid will be assessed a fine of $300 for every month that the property is out of compliance". The same sanction is set out in the text of the ordinance (see ordinanceQuote). Citations may be issued through the non-criminal disposition procedure under M.G.L. c. 40, s. 21D.
Failure to comply with the provisions of this ordinance shall be punishable by a fine of three hundred dollars ($300.00) per month for every month that this condition continues to exist. — City of Boston Code (CBC), Chapter IX, Section 9-1.3 — named directly in the ISD FAQ in answer to the question "What is the ordinance that governs rental registration and inspections?"
Source: https://www.boston.gov/departments/inspectional-services/how-register-rental-property · checked 2026-08-14
Every page on this site is free and stays free. The paid version is for people who operate in more than one city: all of your cities in one table, and an email on the day a city changes a fee, a renewal cycle or an inspection rule.
Example City, ST raised its annual rental licence fee
Was $95 per unit, per year
Now $110 per unit, per year
| City | Licence | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Boston, MA | Required | 2026-08-14 |
| San Diego, CA | Required | 2026-08-14 |
| Chicago, IL | Not required | 2026-08-14 |
| Louisville, KY | Required | 2026-08-14 |
Your cities side by side. The paid table adds fee, renewal cycle, inspection rule and penalty in the same row — the same facts you can read on the free pages, without opening fourteen of them.
Every official page linked on this site has been checked daily since 14 August 2026. Change history builds forward from that date — it cannot be reconstructed afterwards, by us or by anyone else.
The portfolio version covers every city you operate in, tracks renewal dates, and tells you when a city changes its fee or inspection cycle. Cities notify their own licence holders — nobody notifies you across all of them.
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