Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts

Illegal lock out and withholding property.

Hi me and my girlfriend where living with her parents in an apt where my g/f was on the lease. One day her parents decide to lock us both out with no warning. They refused to give us our belongings. We called the police as soon as we were locked out and they were unable to let us back in to get our things because her mother said we are not allowed inside. We were left homeless with our 2 month old daughter with no clothes or money. Only place we had to go to is with family that lived out of state. Her mother stated that my g/f could not have anything that she bought for her. Her mother is her ssi payee and as such the things she bought her would have been paid for by the g/f ssi benefits which had to used for her personal needs. Since this has happened her mother says she has let her friends come over and take what they wanted and sold the rest. Now her mother has threatening to have her commited to mental institution if she does not come home with the baby. Hopefully someone can give us some advice or someone to contact that could help us. She has taken my business computers that I contain my business data as well as customer information with which I do my work on. Thanks for any advice or help we can get.


Asked on 12/13/08, 3:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alan Fanger Alan S. Fanger, Esq.

Re: Illegal lock out and withholding property.

I am really very sorry to hear about your situation; as a parent I know how horrific it must have been to have been locked out of your apartment with a two-month-old baby. If you had in place a valid lease for the apartment, and if your girlfriend's parents had not obtained what is known as an "execution for possession" from the court following a court case for eviction, you would have significant rights to a potentially substantial recovery from your girlfriend's parents. A landlord cannot simply "lock out" a tenant, even if that tenant is a family member. That is a violation of what is known as the covenant of quiet enjoyment as well as possibly our Consumer Protection Act (depending on whether this was something other than a two-family house). You may also be entitled to recover damages for the emotional distress that each of you suffered as a result of this (which was undoubtedly considerable), as well as the value of your business property and any resulting loss to your business that occurred. I am available to consult with you on a no-charge basis if you wish to discuss your rights in greater detail.

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Answered on 12/13/08, 11:41 am


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