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Allston Brighton City Councilor Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Breadon is inviting renters to share their “landlord horror stories” in a survey. 

“We’re just trying to get some anecdotal evidence and stories of what people’s experiences are, and how difficult it is maybe to get their landlords to help them when things aren’t good,” said Breadon. 

In the survey, titled “Worst Landlords in Allston Brighton,” respondents can share their landlord’s name along with their anecdote and an option to be filmed. 

Breadon said that this survey is an early step of a broader effort, which has been in the works for the past five years. In March 2025, Breadon co-sponsored an ordinance to create “Scafflow Property Owner List.” The ordinance would compile a list of property owners who have accumulated more than six code violations or have active enforcement proceedings at a property. 

The list would be made publicly available, and owners on the list would be prohibited from doing business in the City of Boston. Renters would be able to search whether their prospective landlord was reputable. Breadon said that this system has worked in other cities.

“In Toronto, they found that that system prompted better behavior and better and improved housing standards because of those consequences,” Breadon said. “We’re hoping that we can actually establish better, more responsible behavior from some of our worst offenders in terms of housing conditions.”

Breadon, who also serves as the City Council President, says that the details and implementation of the dashboard have to be hashed out in working sessions with the Inspectional Services Department. 

In addition to the proposed dashboard, the City of Boston also recently had a home rule petition approved by the Massachusetts state legislature that would increase the fines for code violation from $300 to $2000.

Breadon said that the current fines for code violations are not enough of a deterrent and have not kept up with inflation. Fines have only been updated twice since they were first imposed in 1857: once in the 1970s from $50 to $200, and another time in the 1980s to $300.

“$300 is not a deterrent to a bad landlord. They just see that as a cost of doing business. They accumulate the fines. They may or may not pay them, and then when they pay them, they just write it off as a cost of doing business,” she said. 

Breadon also said that the fine will be reviewed every five years to keep up with inflation. 

In regards to the survey, Breadon sees it as “opening up a conversation” about the housing conditions in the city. 

“Folks are not paying pennies for their rent. It’s not cheap accommodation. They’re paying a lot of money to live in Boston, and if their housing conditions are bad, then we have a responsibility as leaders in the city to say ‘let’s improve this and make it better,’” Breadon said.