Massachusetts eviction law

For unpaid rent, fourteen days' written notice to quit ends a written lease or a tenancy at will. Under a written lease the tenant can still keep the tenancy by paying all rent due, with interest and costs, by the day the answer is due in the eviction case. A tenant at will who has not received a similar notice in the past twelve months can keep the tenancy by paying the full rent due within ten days after receiving the notice.

Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 11 Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 12 Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 31

• A notice to end a tenancy at will for nonpayment must include the statutory sentence about the tenant's ten-day right to pay. If it is missing, the tenant may pay up to the day the answer is due. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 12
• A notice to quit for nonpayment to a residential tenant must come with the state housing office's form, which prominently states that the notice is not an eviction. A court will not accept an eviction for nonpayment without proof the form was delivered. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 31
• A lease term that waives these notices is void. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15A
• If the nonpayment was caused by a delayed government payment, the court continues the hearing at least seven days and treats the tenancy as not ended if everything due is paid in that time. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 11 Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 12

Chapter 186 sets no cure period or notice length for a lease violation other than unpaid rent. A tenancy at will may be ended on the ordinary notice for ending a tenancy at will, and section 12 does not require that notice to state a reason. For a fixed-term lease, chapter 186 has no provision on ending it for a breach other than nonpayment, so the lease's own terms matter. The eviction case then goes to court.

Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 12 Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 1

• In a rooming house where rent is paid daily or weekly, seven days' written notice ends a tenancy for a nuisance, substantial damage or substantial interference, and the notice must name the problem. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 17
• A termination notice, other than for nonpayment, given within six months after protected tenant activity is presumed to be a reprisal. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 18
• Checked October 13, 2026: chapter 186A concerns tenant protections in foreclosed properties. Its defined foreclosing owner generally may not evict a covered tenant without just cause, subject to the section 2 exception for a binding purchase-and-sale agreement with a bona fide third-party buyer. This chapter is not a statewide just-cause rule for every landlord or every fixed-term lease. Check the foreclosure history and the chapter's owner, tenant and bona fide tenancy definitions before choosing a notice; ordinary tenancy rules, anti-retaliation protections and applicable federal or local rules still need separate review. Mass. G.L. c. 186A, § 1 Mass. G.L. c. 186A, § 2
• For a covered foreclosing owner, sections 3 and 4 require owner/contact/payment information and disclosure of the tenant's right to a court hearing. Section 4 distinguishes grounds that require thirty days after the required notice is posted and delivered from listed grounds that require the notice first; a material tenancy violation also has its specified thirty-day cure condition. Do not turn those provisions into a universal fourteen-day notice for all lease violations, or treat the absence of rent control as permission to evict privately. Have counsel check the applicable ground, notices and court procedure. Mass. G.L. c. 186A, § 3 Mass. G.L. c. 186A, § 4

A landlord recovers possession through a summary process case after the tenancy ends by its terms or by notice to quit. The case may be brought in the district court where the property is, or in the superior court when more than $25,000 in money damages is sought, and chapter 239 also provides for appeals from Housing Court judgments in these cases. Only a court order can remove a tenant.

Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 1 Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 2 Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 5

• No execution for possession issues until 10 days after judgment, and appeals are filed within those 10 days. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 5
• The officer gives at least 48 hours' written notice before removing the tenant, and may not do so before 9 a.m., after 5 p.m., or on a weekend or legal holiday. Once a nonpayment judgment and later use and occupancy are fully paid, the landlord may not levy on the execution, though the landlord need not accept that payment. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 3
• After a no-fault termination, the court may stay execution up to six months, or twelve for a person with a disability or aged 60 or older. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 9
• When a tenant fell behind because of financial hardship and has a pending application for emergency rental assistance, the court continues the nonpayment case and enters no judgment or execution until the application is decided. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 15
• Tenants may later petition to seal eviction records: no-fault cases at any time, nonpayment cases after four years and fault cases after seven, with conditions. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 16
• Under a signed written lease of at least six months with a set end date, a landlord who shows substantial grounds that the tenant will hold over may file early, but not before thirty days before the end date or the lease's last renewal notice date, whichever is later. No execution issues before the day after the end date. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 1A

A landlord may recover possession only through a court eviction. A landlord who willfully fails to furnish required water, hot water, heat, light, power, gas or other listed services, interferes with them, shifts utility bills to the tenant without knowledge or consent, interferes with quiet enjoyment, or tries to regain possession by force faces a fine of $25 to $300 or up to six months in jail, and owes actual damages or three months' rent, whichever is greater, plus costs and attorney's fees.

Mass. G.L. c. 184, § 18 Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 14 Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15F

• A tenant removed or kept out without a valid court order may recover possession or end the tenancy, and recover three months' rent or three times the damages, plus costs and fees. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15F
• A lease clause waiving a jury trial or saying nothing the landlord does is a constructive eviction is void. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15F
• A lease may not waive these protections, except for service limits imposed by government and not caused by the landlord, and interruptions for necessary repairs or from natural causes beyond the landlord's control. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 14

After an eviction, the officer who removes the tenant's belongings stores them with a licensed, bonded public warehouse in Massachusetts within 20 miles, which may be one the tenant chooses in writing. The landlord pays the moving cost and may recover it from the tenant. The warehouse may not sell unclaimed property until it has been stored at least six months. Chapter 186 has no general procedure for belongings left behind outside an eviction.

Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 4 Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 3

• Within 3 days after you knew or should have known a home was vacated, inspect it for abandoned animals and notify animal control or the police at once. Penalties are up to $500, then $1,000. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 30 Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 14
• Belongings left by a tenant who ends a lease as a domestic violence victim are deemed abandoned unless the tenant says otherwise in writing. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 24(d)
• The tenant may visit the stored property once free, to inspect it or take items of personal or sentimental value. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 4(f)

A landlord who threatens or takes reprisal against a tenant for enforcing housing laws, reporting code violations to a board of health or other agency, complaining in writing to the landlord, or joining a tenants' union owes damages of one to three months' rent, or actual damages if greater, plus costs and attorney's fees.

Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 18 Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 2A

• A termination notice (except for nonpayment), rent increase or substantial change in terms within six months after that activity is presumed to be a reprisal. Only clear and convincing evidence of independent justification rebuts it. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 18
• Reprisal is also a defense to an eviction, with the same six-month presumption, and covers a tenant's use of the domestic violence protections. Mass. G.L. c. 239, § 2A
• Evicting families with children does not satisfy the lead law and is itself a reprisal and an unfair practice; refusing to renew their lease does not satisfy it either. Mass. G.L. c. 111, § 199A(c)