Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)

Citation: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)
Parent Document: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2019-04-10
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7178223/adjartey-v-cent-div-of-the-hous... ↗

Full Text

1,709 chars

a. Notice to quit for failure to pay rent. Where the eviction is based on a tenant's failure to pay rent, fourteen days' notice to quit must be provided in writing. See G. L. c. 186, § 12 (failure to pay rent owed under tenancy at will); G. L. c. 186, § 11 (failure to pay rent owed under written lease). If a tenant with no formal written lease agreement (a tenant at will) who has not received a notice to quit for nonpayment of rent in the past year pays the rent due within ten days of receiving notice to quit, the tenant "cures" the missing payments and thereby prevents the tenancy from terminating. G. L. c. 186, § 12. The tenant at will must be notified of this right to cure in writing. Id. In the absence of such written notification, the tenant at will's deadline to pay rent is extended to the day that the answer in a summary process action is due (described in part 3, infra ). Id. If a tenant with a written lease agreement (tenant under lease) repays (1) the rent owed, (2) any interest on the rent owed, and (3) the landlord's actual costs for filing an eviction case by the day the answer is due, any missed payments are "cured" and the tenant may not be evicted. G. L. c. 186, § 11. A landlord, however, is not required by statute to notify a tenant under lease of this right to cure. See Rockport Schooner Co. v. Rockport Whale Watch Corp., 58 Mass. App. Ct. 910, 911, 789 N.E.2d 151 (2003) ("there is no explicit statutory requirement that a landlord notify a tenant under a written lease of the *317tenant's right to cure"). This decreases the chance that a tenant under lease will understand the full extent of his or her right to avoid eviction following receipt of a notice to quit.3

Other Sections in This Document (125)

Full Text