MAKE YOUR FREE Massachusetts Eviction Notice

In general, the answer is yes, and you can make a Massachusetts Eviction Notice (specifically known as a 14-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit) to begin the process. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a few protections and limitations have been established for tenants who have not been able to pay rent. Despite the fact that the federal ban on eviction has been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state of Massachusetts and individual municipalities can create and enforce their own regulations for evictions. Check out the consult a local lawyer for more specific input.

If you would like to legally remove a tenant from your rental property in Massachusetts, it may be helpful to give them a Notice of Eviction first. Even if it isn't always required by law, this document can help you avoid court (assuming your tenant will comply.) Some of the circumstances in which you might want one are:

• The tenant is routinely late to pay rent or payments have fallen behind schedule
• The tenant has caused excessive damage to the unit
• The tenant harasses or disturbs the quiet enjoyment of their neighbors
• The tenant is using their unit for criminal activity
• The tenant gets a cat or dog and your rental contract contains a no-animals clause
• The tenant sublets your property against the lease terms

Outside of these examples, a renter typically can be evicted by a property owner due to reasons that are not connected to their own conduct. For instance, when the landlord wishes to move in. Please note that the list shown above is not exhaustive and the legally permitted reasons for evicting a tenant can be different based on your specific city, among other considerations. If you've got any doubts with regard to Massachusetts eviction laws, you can always ask an attorney.

You can click the button labeled "Make document" to check out our Massachusetts Eviction Notice sample and preview the questions that you'll need to answer to customize your eviction letter. To build your MA Notice to Vacate, you'll usually need the following information:

• The location and description of your property
• The full legal name of each inhabitant
• How long the tenant has to address the situation
• How much of the rent is overdue (if any)
• Which of the terms in the lease have not been met

In the event that your tenants are not at fault, you may wish to provide more context since the notice might potentially be unexpected. Additional customization is allowed, as needed. You'll want to confirm that the policies and terms that you mention in the Eviction Notice are present in the rental contract that was signed by all parties.

The law can change over time and the eviction process can be relatively complex. In some cases, there may be different notice periods or other requirements based on the length of the tenant's occupancy and why they are being evicted. With that in mind, it is recommended that you talk to an eviction lawyer before delivering a Notice of Eviction.

Luckily, you don't need to reinvent the wheel when writing your document. With Rocket Lawyer, anyone should feel empowered to draft a free Massachusetts Eviction Notice online with ease. Your notice is constructed piece by piece so you can be certain that it contains the proper details. This method is, in most cases, much less expensive than hiring a conventional provider.

The cost of meeting and hiring a traditional law firm to produce a Notice of Eviction might be between several hundred dollars per hour and thousands, depending on the complexity of the matter. Different from the other websites you may stumble upon, Rocket Lawyer offers much more than an eviction form template. If you do proceed with an eviction lawsuit, your Premium membership offers up to a 40% discount when you hire an attorney. If you want to know what the total cost of an eviction might be, you'll need to take into consideration the fees associated with filing court documents, attorney fees, the value of unrecovered funds, storage and cleaning fees, and finally, the money and time you will spend on finding replacement tenants.

The duration of the eviction process for Massachusetts usually depends on the type of notice, in addition to the total volume of cases happening simultaneously. Below, you'll find a basic summary of Massachusetts notice periods:

• Rent-related: 14-day notice
• Non-compliance with terms: No notice is required by law
• No direct fault: 30-day notice

When your notice period is over, the eviction itself can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months. Please note that with particular types of housing, including where rent is subsidized by the government, the notice period may be longer.

While you can opt to produce a Notice to Vacate without support, the majority of rental property owners who end up going to court will be represented by a lawyer. Seeking out an attorney to double-check your document can take a long time on your own. Another approach worth consideration is to go through the Rocket Lawyer On Call^® attorney network. Rocket Lawyer Premium members are able to ask for a document review from an attorney with experience in landlord-tenant matters or pose additional questions. As a property owner or manager, you can Work Confidently^® with Rocket Lawyer by your side.

When you have completed your Massachusetts Eviction Notice on Rocket Lawyer, you will be able to access it anytime. As a Rocket Lawyer member, you can edit it, save it as a PDF document or Word file, print it out, and make a copy of it as necessary. You will need to sign the notice before serving it on the tenant. You can choose from a few options when serving a notice:

• Use a professional process server
• Send it via certified mail
• Deliver the notice in person

As a reminder, "DIY" or "self-help" evictions are not legal in Massachusetts or any other state. You cannot shut off utilities, padlock the entrances, move personal property, or harass and threaten the tenant in any way in an effort to force them to move. Taking the appropriate lawful actions before and throughout the eviction process will give you the best chance of removing tenants successfully with a final judgment from the court.