Landlords seeking to evict tenants will continue to face pandemic-era requirements when initiating cases, but no new eviction moratorium, under bills speedily making their way through Beacon Hill before Massachusetts’ COVID-19 state of emergency ends tomorrow.
Legislation to keep remote public meetings, eviction protections, health care flexibilities and an assortment of other pandemic policy adjustments on the books past this week cleared the Senate on Thursday, leaving a tight window for action from the House and Gov. Charlie Baker today.
Both bills produced by the Senate and the House Ways & Means would continue pandemic-era requirements that courts delay eviction cases while rental assistance applications are pending. Neither bill contains language creating or extending an eviction moratorium despite false claims to the contrary the Small Property Owners Association landlord group emailed out to its supporters over the weekend. The state’s own eviction moratorium lapsed last year, and local landlords are solely bound by the federal eviction moratorium, issued by the Centers for Disease Control.
Under the bills, any notices to quit given by a landlord to a tenant also come with a form created by the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development that includes information on the state’s multi-hundred-million-dollar rental assistance programs, trial court rules and other related information.
The forms will also need to continue to prominently display the following text: “THIS NOTICE TO QUIT IS NOT AN EVICTION. YOU DO NOT NEED TO IMMEDIATELY LEAVE YOUR UNIT. YOU ARE ENTITLED TO A LEGAL PROCEEDING IN WHICH YOU CAN DEFEND AGAINST THE EVICTION. ONLY A COURT ORDER CAN FORCE YOU TO LEAVE YOUR UNIT.”
Under the bills, landlords must also continue to notify state officials and show proof to a court that they delivered this form to their tenant when filing an eviction case.
The eviction protections will last until April 1, 2022.
Just under 17 percent of Massachusetts renters were behind on their rent in May according to Census Bureau survey data recently analyzed by National Association of Realtors researchers.
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said the extension bills – which include a grab-bag of topics from outdoor dining rules to mail-in voting to work flexibility for physician assistants – will allow lawmakers to conduct a broader debate over which policies best serve the state’s evolving needs and should be pursued on a more permanent basis.
The wide-ranging bills also include temporary extensions of pandemic-era legal authorizations for reverse-mortgage counseling and notary services.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s COVID-19 state of emergency ends Tuesday, with many of the pandemic adaptations put in place through order, regulation and law set to expire as well on or after that day. House lawmakers were advised Friday that they should be prepared to vote on a new version of the Senate’s bill in a Tuesday session.
How soon any of the extension can become law will depend on how long it takes the branches to agree on a compromise, and how quickly Gov. Charlie Baker agrees to it. Baker and legislative leaders are slated to have a conference call Monday.
State House News Service contributed to this story.
Correction 9:46 a.m., June 15, 2021: An earlier version of this story misstated when certain eviction protections would expire under a proposed state law. They would end April 1, 2022.
