Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts
a tenant is renting a house with oil heat, it's on a slab so oil tank is outside behind house, tenant chooses to heat with newly purchased ceramic radiant heater and an electric fireplace because the tenant cannot afford the cost of oil heat. landlord sent a letter via their "lawyer" stating the tenant must turn off all electric heaters or face legal action. is the tenant violating any law? there is nothing in the lease stating the method of heating the tenant is responsible to specifically use. the 2 above mentioned heating elements the tenant were using are now turned off meaning there is no heat per order of the letter sent by the "lawyer"...is that legal...is it legal to demand someone to shut off their heat source?
1 Answer from Attorneys
It sounds like the lawyer did not demand that you shut off all sources of heat, only the ones that you (arguably) have installed without the permission of the landlord. I would have to review your lease agreement, but you may have breached your agreement by using heat sources in the apartment that constitute a fire hazard (I don't know whether they do or not).
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