Outline of the eviction process in Massachusetts

Massachusetts is one of the slowest and most procedure-heavy eviction states in the country. The court process is called summary process (M.G.L. c. 239), and it has carried extra steps since the pandemic era, most of which are now permanent: a required attestation form with nonpayment notices, a mandatory stay when a rental-assistance application is pending, and, since June 2023, a two-tier court schedule with a housing specialist before any trial. A landlord who follows the sequence exactly can still expect two to four months from notice to move-out. A landlord who misses a step usually starts over.

1. Grounds and the type of tenancy

The first question in every Massachusetts eviction is what kind of tenancy you have, because it sets the notice period:

• Tenant under a written lease for a fixed term.
• Tenant at will, which includes every month-to-month tenancy and every lease that has expired and continued on the same terms.
• Tenant at sufferance, a former tenant or occupant whose right to be there has already ended.

Recognized grounds are nonpayment of rent, breach of a material lease term, a no-fault termination of a tenancy at will, expiration of a lease, and illegal activity (with an expedited path under M.G.L. c. 139, § 19 for drug or violent activity). Massachusetts has no statewide just-cause requirement, but a no-fault case still has to follow the notice rules to the letter, and the tenant can raise retaliation (M.G.L. c. 186, § 18) and discrimination as defenses in any case.

2. The notice to quit

• Nonpayment: a 14-day notice to quit (M.G.L. c. 186, § 11 and § 12). A tenant at will can cure once in any 12-month period by paying everything owed within ten days of receiving the notice; a tenant under a lease can cure at any time up to the answer date in court. The notice should state only rent, not late fees. A nonpayment notice to a tenant at will must also include the statutory cure notice (“If you have not received a notice to quit for nonpayment of rent within the last twelve months, you have a right to prevent termination of your tenancy...”); if it is left out the notice is still valid, but the tenant can cure up to the answer date instead of within ten days (§ 12).
• Tenancy at will, no fault: written notice of at least 30 days or one full rental period, whichever is longer, ending on a rent day, where rent is paid monthly or more often; three months where it is paid less often (M.G.L. c. 186, § 12). A notice served mid-month that ends mid-month is defective.
• Lease violation: the lease controls. Most Massachusetts leases require a written notice of default with a cure period (seven days is common); if the lease is silent, give at least 30 days or a full rental period.
• Tenant at sufferance: no statutory notice is required, but courts expect a reasonable written demand for possession before filing.

The attestation form. This began as a pandemic measure under Chapter 257 of the Acts of 2020 and is now permanent. Every nonpayment notice to quit must be accompanied by a form, developed by the state's Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, that discloses rental assistance programs and applicable court rules and carries a required statement that the notice is not itself an eviction (M.G.L. c. 186, § 31). No court may accept a nonpayment case for filing without proof the form was delivered with the notice. This requirement started as a pandemic-era order and is now a permanent part of the statute. Some cities, including Boston and Cambridge, require their own tenant-rights notice with a notice to quit; check the city's housing office before serving.

Service can be by constable or sheriff, by hand, or by mail, but you must prove the tenant received it, so most attorneys use a constable. Do not accept rent after a nonpayment notice unless it is the full amount owed and the tenant is entitled to cure; otherwise mark any payment "for use and occupancy only" in writing.

3. Filing the summary process summons and complaint

After the notice period expires, you buy a Summary Process Summons and Complaint from the court, have it served by a sheriff or constable, and file it with the court by the entry date, which is always a Monday. Service must happen at least seven days and no more than thirty days before the entry date, and the papers must be filed by the entry date or the case is void. You can file in the Housing Court for the property's location, or in the District Court or Boston Municipal Court; the Housing Court is the usual choice because it has the housing specialists and the most predictable calendar. Current court filing fees are $120 in Housing Court and $180 in District Court or the Boston Municipal Court, plus a $15 surcharge and a required-summons fee, on top of constable or sheriff service costs.

The rental-assistance stay. In a nonpayment case, if the tenant shows the nonpayment was due to financial hardship and that a rental-assistance application (such as RAFT) is pending, the court must grant a continuance, must stay execution, and may not enter judgment or issue an execution until the application is approved or denied (M.G.L. c. 239, § 15). Encourage the tenant to apply early; a paid rental-assistance award is often the fastest way to recover arrears.

4. The two-tier court process

Since June 2023, under standing orders of the Housing Court, District Court and Boston Municipal Court, Massachusetts summary process cases proceed on a modified two-tier schedule:

• A first-tier event with a housing specialist, scheduled 30 to 60 days after the entry date. The specialist explores rental assistance, mediation and a payment or move-out agreement. Agreements reached here are entered as court orders and can be enforced by execution if broken, which is why an "agreement for judgment" with a firm move-out date is often a better outcome than a trial.
• A second-tier trial, scheduled about two weeks later if the case does not resolve at the first-tier event.

You must serve the first-tier notice. In Housing Court the landlord must have a constable or sheriff serve each named defendant with the notice of the first-tier court event, in the same manner as the summons and complaint, no later than 14 days before the event (Housing Court Standing Order 1-23). The tenant's answer must be filed and served no later than three business days before the first-tier event. Tenants may also serve discovery, which automatically postpones the trial date by about two weeks and requires you to produce the lease, ledger, security deposit records, code-inspection reports and similar documents. Expect discovery in any case where the tenant has a lawyer.

5. Trial, judgment and appeal

Trial is before a judge, though either side may be entitled to demand a jury. You will need the notice to quit and proof of service, the attestation, the lease, a rent ledger, and any photographs or inspection reports. The common defenses are a defective or miscounted notice, acceptance of rent after the notice, retaliation, discrimination, and breach of the warranty of habitability or the security deposit law, which can produce a counterclaim larger than the arrears. Judgment for possession enters after trial, and either party then has ten days to file a notice of appeal (M.G.L. c. 239, § 5). To keep possession while an appeal is pending, a tenant appealing a possession judgment must also post a bond, in an amount the court sets, to cover accrued and ongoing rent or use and occupancy and any damage to the property; an indigent tenant can move to waive the bond and instead make periodic payments. An appeal filed without the required bond, deposit or waiver does not stop the landlord from proceeding to execution.

6. Execution and the move-out

An execution for possession cannot issue until the ten-day appeal period has run, cannot issue more than three months after judgment, and cannot be levied more than three months after it issues (M.G.L. c. 239, § 5; c. 235, § 23). In a nonpayment case, once the full money judgment and all use and occupancy since judgment have been paid, you may not levy the execution and must return it to the court as satisfied; you are not required to accept such a payment (M.G.L. c. 239, § 3). A sheriff or constable serves the execution and must give the tenant at least 48 hours' written notice of the move-out date and time, and the execution cannot be served or levied before 9 a.m., after 5 p.m., or on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday (M.G.L. c. 239, § 3). On the move-out date the officer removes the occupants, and a licensed public warehouser moves the tenant's belongings into storage, where under M.G.L. c. 239, §§ 3 to 4 they must be kept for at least six months, insured, before the warehouse may sell unclaimed items at auction. Expect to pay the mover, the officer, and storage costs up front. A tenant can also ask the court for a discretionary stay of execution of up to six months (twelve months for tenants who are 60 or older or disabled) in no-fault cases, conditioned on paying use and occupancy; this stay is not available in nonpayment cases, which instead have the rental-assistance stay described above (M.G.L. c. 239, §§ 9, 10, 15).

Changing the locks, removing doors, shutting off utilities, or otherwise trying to force a tenant out without a court-issued execution is a crime under M.G.L. c. 186, § 14 (a fine or up to six months in jail) and exposes the landlord to civil liability for actual and consequential damages or three months' rent, whichever is greater, plus the tenant's attorney's fees; removing or excluding a tenant without a valid court order also lets the tenant recover three months' rent or three times the damages, whichever applies, plus attorney's fees (M.G.L. c. 186, § 15F). Let the officer and mover do it.

Typical timeline

Step	Typical time
Notice to quit	14 days (nonpayment) or 30 days to a rent day (no fault)
Service to entry date	7 to 30 days
Entry date to first-tier event	30 to 60 days
First tier to trial	about 2 weeks (plus 2 weeks if discovery)
Appeal period	10 days
Execution to move-out	1 to 3 weeks plus 48 hours

An uncontested nonpayment case typically takes ten to sixteen weeks from notice to a completed move-out. A contested case with discovery, a rental-assistance stay or a stay of execution can take six months or more.

Recent law changes landlords should know

• Eviction record sealing (effective May 5, 2025). Under M.G.L. c. 239, § 16, a tenant can petition to seal a case that was dismissed or decided in the tenant's favor right away, a no-fault case as soon as it ends, and a nonpayment case as soon as the judgment has been satisfied. An unpaid nonpayment case can be sealed after four years, only if no other nonpayment eviction has been brought against the tenant in that time and the tenant certifies economic hardship. Fault cases can be sealed after seven years with no new fault eviction in that period. Landlord duty: within 14 days after a nonpayment judgment or agreement is satisfied, the party who obtained it must file a notice of satisfaction with the court (§ 16(k)). Landlords get seven days' notice to object. Housing applications must state that an applicant whose case has been sealed may answer that there is no record, the Attorney General enforces that requirement, and screening reports will show fewer eviction filings over time.
• Nonpayment attestation and rental-assistance stay made permanent. The nonpayment attestation form (M.G.L. c. 186, § 31) and the mandatory continuance and stay of execution while a qualifying rental-assistance application is pending (M.G.L. c. 239, § 15) both began as pandemic-era orders and are now permanent parts of the statute.
• Two-tier scheduling in place since June 2023. The modified two-tier process described above has applied statewide in the Housing Court, District Court and Boston Municipal Court since standing orders took effect on June 5, 2023.
• Broker fees (effective August 1, 2025). Under M.G.L. c. 112, § 87DDD 1/2, added by the fiscal 2026 budget, a rental broker's fee must be paid by whichever party, landlord or tenant, hired the broker, so a landlord who hires a listing agent can no longer pass that fee to the incoming tenant.

What actually goes wrong

• Filing a nonpayment case without the required attestation form, which gets the case dismissed.
• Serving a no-fault notice that does not end on a rent day, or that is one day short of a full rental period.
• Accepting a partial payment after a notice to quit without documenting it as use and occupancy only, which can waive the notice.
• Missing the entry-date math: papers not filed by the Monday entry date void the case.
• Not budgeting for the first-tier event and, if the case does not settle, a second-tier trial about two weeks later.
• Trying to remove a tenant or their belongings without a served execution, which is a crime and creates civil liability.
• Assuming an appeal alone stops the execution; without the required bond, deposit or an indigency waiver, it does not.

When to bring in an attorney

Massachusetts is a state where a lawyer pays for itself in most contested cases. The notice rules, the attestation, the entry-date math and the two-tier schedule each offer a way to lose months, and tenant-side legal aid is active in every Housing Court. Hire counsel when the tenant has a lawyer, when there is a security deposit or habitability issue that could become a counterclaim, when the tenant is elderly or disabled, when the property is in Boston, Cambridge or Somerville, or when the case involves a subsidy. The Massachusetts attorneys listed below represent landlords in the Housing Courts and most will handle an uncontested nonpayment case for a flat fee.

Sources

• M.G.L. c. 186 (Estates for Years and at Will), §§ 11, 12, 14, 15F, 18, 31; M.G.L. c. 239 (Summary Process), §§ 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 15 and 16; M.G.L. c. 139, § 19; M.G.L. c. 235, § 23 (execution validity); M.G.L. c. 112, § 87DDD 1/2 (broker fees).
• Chapter 257 of the Acts of 2020, where the nonpayment attestation requirement began, now permanent at M.G.L. c. 186, § 31; Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, advisory on the August 2025 broker-fee law.
• Uniform Summary Process Rules 2, 3 and 7; Interim Housing Court Standing Order 1-23; District Court Fourth Amended Standing Order 10-20; Boston Municipal Court Standing Order 1-23 (two-tier process); Massachusetts Trial Court fee schedule; mass.gov guidance on eviction and rental assistance.

This guide is general information for Massachusetts landlords, not legal advice, and it does not cover every local ordinance or the facts of any specific case. Confirm current deadlines, fees and forms with the court where you plan to file, or with a Massachusetts landlord-tenant attorney, before you act.