A thought re Landlord-Tenant law:
Residential renting season is heavily upon us again, as students from all over are taking up residence for the first time or are making their way back to the hallowed halls of their institutions. Landlord-Tenant law is back in business.
Some of you asked about leases when I appeared on the Cuencavision show a couple of Saturdays ago. One thing I see that happens with residential leases is that people forget that they are for a fixed term. That means that the time will come when they will end on their own accord, and landlords will be able to use a quick process to get an unwilling tenant to vacate, like G.L. c. 239 1A, instead of having to use a notice to quit. Of course, there are some prerequisites before a landlord can avail herself of the statute, like having a written lease at least six months long, with a specific end date, and getting all of that signed by all parties. Then, you should know that the action can’t be started until after the time on the lease has passed which allows for renewal or extension to take place. Then, there is a notice provision about how to inform the tenant. Oh, and you have to be able to convince the court that there is a really good chance the tenant will stay on the premises past the end date of the lease.
Still, given all of the above puffery, you would think that this would be where the issues with leases lie with respect to reluctant-to-leave tenants. No, it is not, not from my vantage point, at least. Interestingly enough, the single biggest problem from my vantage point (aside from the fact that many landlords get leases from online and, while they may be quite good for North Dakota, they don’t seem to do the trick in MA, where G.L. c. 186 is complete with provisions that spell out what is “void as against public policy”)–the single biggest problem is that many landlords simply allow the the lease term to end, and never renew or extend it. They just keep accepting the money. The landlord is thereby electing to “holdover” the tenant. In essence, the landlord has turned the “estate for a term” into a “tenancy at will,” which tenancy will be measured by the way rent is now newly being tendered.
Big takeaway here: Landlords let your record-keeping keep you abreast of when your various lease terms end (and craft holdover provisions in them)!