Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts

Re: Landlord threatening to kick tenants out for not being ''clean''

You can get specific references and answers to most of your questions at https://livejustice.org/index.htm

A landlord cannot throw anyone out of an apartment with a paid lease until the lease expires, with the possible exception of a drug dealer. Even then, the landlord cannot resort to self-help. He must go to court and after a hearing (or by default if you don't show up) get a judgment and an execution. Without the execution in hand, no one can throw you out even after the lease expires.

Any violation of the specific statutes is also a violation of Chapter 93A, which allows you, after sending him a 30-day letter (example available on the Mass. Attorney General's consumer protection web site and local AG consumer protection offices (check your phone book under social service agencies), to sue and collect 3 months' rent as a penalty, double or treble damages and attorney's fees and costs.

If he tries anything, call the police. They are usually aware of tenant's rights and will tell the landlord to back off and take it to court.

You can change the locks, especially if you can do it yourself, but it can get expensive if you have a locksmith do it.

Be sure to save the voicemail message if at all possible.

The landlord cannot enter your apartment without permission (it's called the right to quiet enjoyment), except in an emergency. If he does not have a key, he may break the door down in an emergency, so you may want to give a key to someone he can get it from quickly if you are not there.

Re: Landlord threatening to kick tenants out for not being ''clean''

I would agree that "messy" is not the same as "unclean". However, I sense a bit of rebellion in your inquiry. When you say it doesn't seem messy "to me", it suggests you understand that it might seem messy to others. I can't see that it would hurt you to straighten up things a bit. On the other hand, the landlord can NOT simply come into your apartment any time he pleases; in the absence of a bona fide emergency, he must give notice, generally at least 24 hours (check what it says in your lease). If you have actual hard evidence that he has been in when there was no emergency, then you may have a valid complaint. No, you can NOT change the locks UNLESS you give him a key. He owns the place, and he is entitled to enter the apartment without notice in the case of an emergency, as I said above; you are wrong about Mass law not requiring him to have a key. Given that you only have 1.5 months left in this apartment, I would suggest spending your time finding a new place to live rather than looking for ways to annoy the landlord.