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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Gifford v. Sears, 19 Mass. L. Rptr. 716 (2005)

Citation
Gifford v. Sears, 19 Mass. L. Rptr. 716 (2005)
Parent Document
Gifford v. Sears, 19 Mass. L. Rptr. 716 (2005)
Jurisdiction
Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date
2005-08-12

Other Sections in This Document (37)

Full Text

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In 2002, the Supreme Judicial Court also visited this particular issue and extended the exclusion of the applicability from single-family houses established in Santos to owner-occupied two-family houses in which one unit is rented to a tenant. Banushi v. Dorfman, 438 Mass 242, 243-45 (“An owner-occupied two-family home in which the owner rents one unit to a tenant is not a ‘building’ within the terms of the statute”). The SJC reasoned that the Legislature could not have intended the word “building” in the statute to mean any and every structure. Banushi, 438 Mass, at 243. Even if the owner may derive some minimal income from rent, the SJC held that it is not the type of commercial, public use, assembly, or workplace structure contemplated by the statute. Id., citing Santos, 40 Mass.App.Ct. at 91.