Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Tenant At Will Under 30 Day Notice Due To Non-Responsive Landlord

We notified our landlord verbally about problems with the upstairs neighbor 6 months ago. (i.e. throwing mail into the basement, "stomping" above us at 7am & all hours, shutting our water off,etc.)Nothing was done to fix the situation & we told him we would start looking for a new apartment. We then wrote him a letter 2 months ago in which we threatened not to pay rent until it was remedied - he said he talked to the other tenant and would "do something after the holidays".After the holidays, he said he put the tenant on "probation". We left messages when the problems continued - no return phone call. We found a new apartment - he wouldn't return the call for a reference for days delaying the process and now he wants next month's rent due to less than 30 days notice. He will rent this apt in one week for sure - what are our rights and what should we do?


Asked on 2/10/00, 10:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stuart Williams

Re: Tenant At Will Under 30 Day Notice Due To Non-Responsive Landlord

My gosh, it seems on the surface like you have a good case.

You should contact me for more guidance before you do anything else. I routinely prevail (win) cases like this, though I cannot promise that until I've had a chance to hear "the other side" if there is another side to the story.

What city / town is the old place in? What city / town are you moving to? Does the landlord own more than 3 units? Does the landlord occupy one of those units?

Did you ever withhold any rent as you'd threatened? (I guess not, huh? Too bad!)

My e-mail address is [email protected] and my telephone number is (617)527-0050. I have also a toll-free number we can use if we need to.

You may reach me this evening as I will forward my office calls to my home. Or just send me e-mail.

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Answered on 2/14/00, 5:11 pm


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