James F. Donnelly for the plaintiff.
William J. Bailey for the defendants.
2. The judge appears to have found that the plaintiff was a tenant at will whose contract rent at the time the defendants acquired title to the building was $150 per month. The transfers conveying title to the defendants would not automatically have terminated her status as a tenant at will. See the last sentence of G. L. c. 186, § 13. Since rent is an agreed term of the tenancy, it could not be changed without the mutual consent of the parties, although the landlord could exercise his rights to terminate the tenancy according to law. See Williams v. Seder, 306 Mass. 134, 136-137 (1940); Maguire v. Haddad, 325 Mass. 590, 593 (1950). No such consent, express or implied, was found. It was therefore error for the judge to increase the tenant’s rent in order to provide the landlords with additional funds for the purchase of fuel oil.