Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts

Creative criminal case: Theft of housing!

While necessity is the mother of invention, so frustration appears to be the mother ofa new criminal action. I sympathize with you. The system does harshly punish landlords in a case as you describe.Your accountant will probably help you more than aDA. Ask him/her if you can take the loss of rent as atax loss. The accountants might have a little more room for creativity than DAs have.

Remedy for a deadbeat tenant

As you are probably aware, Massachusetts is a "Tenant friendly" state, with many laws to protect the tenant. Be very careful about bringing a criminal action, because if you lose, your tenant could sue you for malicious prosecution, and might end up collecting damages from you. The Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education offices in Boston (on Winter Street) have a book on Tenants rights, which I would recommend to landlords. It sets out all of the remedies that a tenant can seek, and in doing so, points out the areas where landlords typically violate laws that are not common sense, and in some cases carry triple penalties on the landlord! The book is about $20 to non-lawyers, and is written in language for a non-lawyer.

The cost of "papers and hiring a sheriff" are just the beginning. In Massachusetts, you must prepay three months of storage for the deadbeat tenant's belongings, with a liability to pay another three months as well. Most long time landlords have as their primary goal getting possession back, and they forget about back rent. Judgements can be enforced, and collections made, but it may cost you more to collect than the amount you are collecting; a hollow victory.

This message is provided to assist you in structuring your thoughts when you speak with an attorney about your situation. I am not your attorney, and you are not my client, so this is not legal advice. Legal advice can only be given after a careful interview of the client by the attorney, and I have not had the opportunity to understand the significant issues that I must understand to render legal advice. You should contact an attorney in your state to discuss your situation. That attorney can give you the advice that your situation deserves, after carefully considering the issues that are legally significant in your situation.

No theft of services

Criminal charges cannot be brought in Massachusetts for theft of housing. While youarecorrect that often tenants are judgment proof, you may be able to collect. A judgmentis goodfor twenty years (and may be extended). You can try supplementary process or acollectionagency.