Housing Court Expansion - Quick Note

After many years of only some cities and towns having access to Housing Court, every Massachusetts resident now has access to a Housing Court.  As explained in this chart, there will now be six divisions of Housing Court.  This development has been a long time coming and as a firm who handles many landlord/tenant cases, we are delighted with this development.

Eviction Basics - Tenant Perspective

     Most of the questions we get from residential tenants fall into 2 categories -- either they have received an eviction notice and are not sure what to do or, they are having a problem with their unit and feel the landlord is not being responsive. We'll address eviction now and conditions in our next blog post.

     There are different types of notices to quit that one can receive -- you can receive a 14 day notice to quit, a 30 day notice to quit or a three month notice to quit.

     A 14 day notice to quit is solely for if you, the tenant, did not pay your rent.  If you have a lease, you have a chance to cure.   So long as you pay all rent due, interest and costs of the suit before the day the answer is due, then your lease is not terminated.

     If you do not have a lease, the rules are bit different.  First, you only have the right to cure if you have not received a notice to quit for non-payment of rent in the past 12 months.  Second, if your notice to quit has some required language requiring you to pay within 10 days, then you must do so to preserve your tenancy.  If your notice to quit does not contain the statutorily required language, then you have until the day the answer is due to get caught up on your rent.

     If you do not have a lease, then a landlord can terminate your tenancy for a good reason (you are violating the rules of the building), no reason (this is a no fault eviction) or for a bad reason (you carry a purple handbag or you like heavy metal music).  A landlord, however, cannot evict you for an illegal reason such as your gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, race, religion, disability as well as a few others.  If you pay rent monthly, then the landlord must give you either one full month's notice or 30 days, whichever is longer.  If you pay rent quarterly or you do not pay rent at all, then the landlord must give you three full months' notice in the notice to quit.

     A tenant without a lease, even a long time tenant, can be evicted and there is often little that can be done, unless there are condition issues or other defenses or counterclaims available.

Eviction Basics - Landlord Perspective

     We get a fair amount of calls from landlords who want to evict their tenant.  Here are some basic things to keep in mind.

1.  If you have a lease with your tenant, then the tenant has to have violated the lease in order for you to be able to evict them.  If a tenant with a lease has not paid rent, then you send a 14 day notice to quit.  Any other reason requires a full calendar month's notice or 30 days whatever is longer.  If you serve a 30 day notice to quit today, May 4, 2017 - the tenant has until June 30, 2017 at midnight to vacate.  There are some very narrow exceptions to these rules if there is drug use or if it is at the very end of the lease.  If you have either of those situations, call us to discuss.

2.  If your tenant has no lease, the same rules apply for non-payment of rent.  And, the same rules apply for the timing of a 30 day notice to quit.  The only difference is that if the tenant does not have a written lease, you may evict them without cause.  In other words, you can evict a tenant for: 1.) a good reason -- they are smoking or loud; 2.) a bad reason -- you don't like them anymore.  They have green hair; or .3) no reason at all.  HOWEVER, you cannot evict a tenant for an illegal reason.  You can not evict someone because of their race, gender, religion or nationality.  You can not evict someone because they have a child or a disability or secure a government voucher for housing.  

3.  If your tenant is withholding rent because of conditions at the unit, proceed carefully.  If the tenant followed the requirements under the statute to withhold rent and you stake steps to evict him or her, you must show, by clear and convincing evidence, that you are not evicting the tenant in retaliation for his or her complaints.

4.  Do not undertake self help and change locks or move your tenant's property out of the unit.  The law imposes treble damages, plus an award of attorney's fees to landlords to do not follow the prescribed process.

5.  Hiring a lawyer to undertake the Notice to Quit is a wise investment.  We know the timing requirements and services rules.  If the Notice to Quit is not done right, your case can be dismissed and you have to start all over again, losing considerable time in getting your tenant out of the unit.