Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts

Re: paying full year rent upfront

It is not permitted as a matter of law for a Tenant to pay rent up front for a year in MA. If the tenant needs to do this for his own tax purposes, such as he is from another country and his taxes would be adversely affected if it was done differently, he can arrange to pay the rent to a third party, like an escrow agent, and have them make the payments for him. This would be a voluntary arrangement and the Landlord could not be a party to it, other than acknowledging that the rent is being paid by the third party but still require the Tenant to be responsible for the monthly rent.

This is rarely done in the US, it is more common in Europe where countries have special tax rules for rent and ex-patriots where the company pays the rent for the Tenant.