Hiring a Massachusetts Contractor

If you are a Massachusetts landlord, you have many aspects of your business that you need to be on top of. One of the most important things that you can do, from a liability perspective, is to ensure that you follow the following simple steps when hiring a contractor to service your property.

Why Do I Need to Know This Information?

An excellent question. Put simply, when a civil lawsuit is filed, the plaintiff’s attorney seeks to get as much money for the client as possible. One effective strategy is to throw every possible legal argument at every possible target that might be involved, this means that if you own property in Massachusetts which you lease or rent to tenants you may be named personally, any company which owns the property may be named, and the vendor or contractor that you use for a given job may be named. In order to limit your own liability in such a situation, you need to make sure that you have thoroughly vetted any vendor or contractor that you use.

Simple Steps for a Massachusetts Landlord to Use When Hiring a Vendor or Contractor

Step 1: Insurance, Insurance, Insurance

Find out what workers’ compensation and liability insurance the vendor or contractor has. A reputable vendor or contractor doing business in Massachusetts should be able to provide you with the necessary certificate of insurance facesheet that will inform you as to their coverage limits and the type of work covered. If a vendor cannot or will not provide you with a certificate of insurance…move on to the next one that will.

Imagine the horror of finding out that your cousin Joey, who has been operating his business providing electrical services for 20 years, had no insurance. Your tenant who is injured as a result of faulty wiring sues Joey’s business, Joey, and You as the landlord. Because Joey is broke, his business is uninsured, and you are the only one who owns anything, guess who will end up paying for any damages that result from a court case or settlement?

While it may be possible to rely on your own insurance in the previous situation, the last thing you want to be doing is worrying that your own insurance company won’t cover you, or if they do, that your premiums may rise astronomically, or coverage may be dropped altogether.

Step 2: Licensure

If the vendor or contractor performing work on your apartment or tenant’s unit is doing so in Massachusetts, is the type of work something which requires that worker to be licensed? You are expected to vet a vendor or contractor to ensure that the appropriate license is active before that person sets foot on your property.

Imagine the additional horror of finding out that your cousin of 20 years not only did not have insurance but was not the licensed Master Electrician you thought he was? While it may be possible to argue that he misrepresented himself as a licensed electrician to you, this situation can be easily avoided by requiring all potential vendors or contractors to prove a valid, active license where applicable.

Step 3: Building Permits

Whether you operate apartment units or are a landlord of a single building with one tenant in Massachusetts, you will want to be sure that you are hiring vendors or contractors that have pulled the necessary building permits.

Here is a nightmare scenario, for example. Landlord hires a contractor from the fire alarm company that he uses to service his fire alarm system to perform the annual fire alarm test for the building. As it turns out, the contractor is not a licensed electrician and performs the test but does so without obtaining the necessary permit from the local fire department. Due to a fault in the alarm system, the fire alarm fails to operate when there is a fire in the building. Because of the delay in sending the alarm to the fire department, the fire department arrives at the building beyond the point at which the building could be salvaged. The fire destroys the building. Who do you suppose the insurance company that is covering the landlord’s building will go after when it discovers that no permit was pulled for the annual fire alarm test?

Final Thoughts

These are but a few of the considerations that Massachusetts landlords should entertain when hiring a contractor or vendor. There is a great deal of liability that accompanies the role of landlord in Massachusetts. Make sure that you understand the rules and know where to turn when things do not go as planned.

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in the pages and posts of this website are for general informational purposes only. The information presented on this site is not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is formed by the use of this site.