Source: https://maconstable.com/eviction-process
Timestamp: 2019-08-23 10:59:33
Document Index: 504522497

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 14', '§ 11', '§ 12', '§ 3', '§ 97', '§ 4', '§ 8']

Eviction Process | South County Constable Office
Resolving disputes without court
It is best to try to resolve issues before filing an eviction case in court as the tenant may stop paying rent until a judge tells him or her how much and when they must begin paying again for their continued occupancy of your apartment. This could, and often does, take months to resolve if contested.
In attempting to work with tenants having a hard time financially, or suffering other problems which interfere with their living up to their agreement with you, do not allow the problems to drag out without a fairly quick written resolution. Because Summary Process cases (eviction cases) can take months to resolve, especially if contested, if you allow a nonpayment situation to continue for long without receiving regular payments against the arrearage, you will have lost many months of rent by the time you win an execution (court order for the move out). In the absence of any mandatory rent escrowing requirements, you will likely lose the rent entirely for the intervening months.
Near the end of a lease, you may sometimes begin eviction, if you have substantial ground to believe the tenant is likely to remain in the premises after the termination date in the lease. However, no Execution (court order for move out) can be issued before the termination date in the lease. But, you will have saved time and perhaps the incoming tenancy by having the court's permission before hand to evict a tenant holding over after his or her lease has ended (M.G.L. c. 239, § 1A).
If you want a tenant out of your apartment permanently, the only way to evict the tenant lawfully is by getting an Execution (court order to move out). There are extremely limited circumstances in which you can lock out a tenant. The penalties for unlawfully shutting off the tenant's utilities or for unlawfully barring a tenant access to the apartment without an Execution can be severe, running the gamut from three month's rent, attorney's fees, and injunctions forcing you to put the wronged tenant back in the apartment, and criminal penalties and fines in some instances (M.G.L. c. 186, § 14).
Tenants under lease
If you want to evict a tenant under a lease for a reason other than nonpayment, such as having unauthorized sub-tenants, or property damage, the lease should detail what type of Notice to Quit you must use and when to serve it. If you are evicting the tenant for nonpayment, you must send a 14 day Notice to Quit (M.G.L. c. 186, § 11).
If the tenant pays all monies due, plus costs, interest and your court filing fees by the date their Answer is due in court, the tenant has an absolute right to stop the eviction.
If you are evicting for a reason other than nonpayment, or for no reason, you must give the tenant a 30 day Notice to Quit. If the eviction is for nonpayment, you must give a 14 day Notice to Quit. If the tenant pays the amount claimed due, plus costs, interest and your court filing fees in 10 days, and if this is only the second Notice to Quit for nonpayment within 12 months, the tenant can stop the eviction. If you do not place notice of this fact in the Notice to Quit, the tenant has a right to stop the eviction by paying the above sums not later than the date his Answer is due in court (M.G.L. c. 186, § 12).
Subsidized tenancies
While eviction of tenants living in subsidized housing is no longer subject to the exclusive authorization of the local housing authority, eviction is still controlled by the specific terms of the lease and by a matrix of Federal and State laws. An attorney should be consulted when evicting a subsidized tenant.
Answer, Trial, and Appeal
Either party may appeal within 10 days of entry of the judgment, if dissatisfied with the outcome of the trial, by filing a Notice of Appeal (M.G.L. c. 239, §§ 3, 5 and M.G.L. c. 231, § 97). But, as a condition of the tenant's appeal, s/he must post an appeal bond in an amount determined by the court. Or, the court may waive the bond if the tenant can show s/he is indigent and has a real defense. If the bond is waived by the court, the tenant must still pay the rent which comes due during the appeal. If the court will not waive the bond, the tenant must pay past due rent and rent accruing as the appeal progresses, if the tenant wants to stay in the apartment during the appeal. The tenant cannot be physically evicted until the appeal has been dismissed or decided. Appeals are fraught with procedural pitfalls and should be undertaken with a knowledgeable attorney.
Execution and Move Out
The Execution is the court's order requiring the tenant to move from the apartment. After the appeal is decided or dismissed, Execution will be issued, but not before then. The Execution must be used within three months of its issuance or it expires. If you accept the full amount of the rent awarded by the court in a nonpayment case, you effectively waive your right to remove the tenant and you have created a new tenancy.
The tenant must now go to the storage company for her property. Because the warehouse has a lien on the property for its unpaid fees, if the tenant does not retrieve the property within six months, the warehouse may sell it. You may sue the tenant for your costs of the eviction (M.G.L. c. 239, § 4).
If the eviction was a no-fault eviction and if the tenant cannot find a new apartment, s/he may ask the judge for a stay of execution of up to six months, or if s/he is elderly or handicapped, up to one year. If the eviction was for nonpayment, technically, the judge has no power to grant a stay. However, if in a nonpayment case, the tenant's award on his counterclaims was less than the amount of rent awarded to you, the tenant can avoid eviction by paying the difference, with interest and court costs in seven (7) days (M.G.L. c. 239 § 8A).
Post move-out documentation
When the tenant is leaving, you should view the apartment, take pictures and review the Statement of Condition, if any, so as to definitively verify the condition of the apartment on the date of move out. This will establish what was damaged by the tenant during his time in the apartment and should avoid a later problem with security deposit deductions and possible litigation.