We hate to brag but…
Downing Van Dyke was recently awarded a four-year contract by the Boston Housing Authority to provide Housing Court litigation services! Downing Van Dyke now represent the largest housing provider in the City of Boston and the sixth largest housing authority in the nation! This partnership will allow Downing Van Dyke to expand its subsidized housing practice and will allow us to provide further expertise to all our clients participating in voucher programs. This relationship will reunite Attorney Louis with the Boston Housing Authority, where he worked for ten years advocating for the public housing agency before joining Downing Van Dyke.
Michael J. Louis
PARTNER
Prior to joining Downing Van Dyke, Attorney Louis spent 10 years in-house representing the Boston Housing Authority (the largest landlord in New England), specializing in all phases of Summary Process actions, Appeals, fair housing / discrimination defense, and Section 8 terminations.
We previously alerted our clients to an important change in the Massachusetts State Sanitary Code, but we wanted to make sure we sent another reminder as we have seen some slow adoption of this new requirement.
If you are already doing this – awesome job! If not just make sure you are providing the required 48 hours’ notice to all your tenants in the future.
You must provide at least 48 hours’ (written) notice to your tenants when entering their unit and you should make an appointment if possible.
Massachusetts no-fault evictions – A trap for the unwary
On September 5, 2023, the Appeals Courts in Hampden County decided Ferreira v. Charland, which was a no-fault summary process eviction by the Landlord against the Tenant. In the eviction, the Tenant filed a counterclaim, saying that the Landlord had violated the law related to charging tenants for water, which requires a landlord to install water conservation devices that limit the amount of water being used if they wish to charge tenants for water. The Tenant raised this claim as a defense to possession under G.L. c 239 §8(a). The Landlord attempted to fix the relatively minor violations of the water usage law by sending the Tenant two checks for all of the water charges.
The Trial Court Judge felt that the Tenant’s counterclaim was barred since the Landlord attempted to fix this very minor mistake and theTenant had suffered no harm, because she had received the full amount of her damages. However, the Appeals Court felt differently.
They ruled that a landlord’s attempt to send monies for damages after commencement of a summary process action will not cancel out the tenant’s claim for possession based upon violation of the law. In essence, if a tenant can make out even a minor claim for damages in a no-fault case, they will keep possession of their apartment!
Upon discussing the decision, Attorneys at Downing Van Dyke were surprised to see an opinion that was so punitive to landlords. Attorney Champigny commented that “it is becoming harder to be successful in a no-fault eviction considering that a tenant can raise §8 defense at any time and prevail.”
Our take is that no-fault cases should only be pursued as a last resort. Many of our subsidized clients may not even have this option but even if you do you should speak to one of our attorneys prior to pursuing a no-fault case.
DVD can help
Please contact us with any questions or concerns about all these changes. We’re here to help you navigate the ever-changing property management landscape!
