Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts

We started renting a house in November of 2009 for $1800.00 a month, since then we have had major leaks in the roof, windows, skylights, and doors. We from day one informed our land lord of the problem. He said he would take care of it. We realized in March water when it rained also leaked in our closet soaking our clothes. We again told the land lord we needed it fixed. April my husband and I started getting sick him more than me. He has been in and out of the hospital and has seen many doctors he has terrible migraines and constant allergy attacks. We have had family come stay with us on vacation only to leave early because of the mold issues. We called the board of health in July and they demanded our land lord to make repairs. We did not pay rent in July, August and September because of the many disasters and messes the rain caused and because he still had not made the repairs. Today September 20th he knocked on the door to inform me the roof has been fixed and he is still waiting for windows but would like me to pay past due rent ...Do I have to pay for the last 3 months or can I request we make a fresh start October 1st. ?


Asked on 9/20/10, 3:58 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Roderick Oreste Oreste Law

You may be able to pay a reduced rent for the reasonable value of the apartment in its condition before the repairs were made. Try to negotiate such with the landlord. If he does not accept, you may want to talk to an attorney to get the back rent reduced

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Answered on 10/13/10, 4:36 pm


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