Before filing a complaint in court, you must decide who the complaint is against. Most of the time, this will be easy. If the landlord has violated the law, you will want to file a complaint against the landlord. If, while trying to find an apartment, you have been discriminated against, you may have a claim against a real estate agent and a landlord. If you have been dealing with a private management company and have never met the landlord or do not know who the landlord is, you can file a complaint against the management company. Although it is not absolutely necessary, if a management company is involved, it is best to file a complaint against both the management company and the landlord.1
If you live in publicly owned or publicly subsidized housing, you may have a legal claim against the housing authority or your subsidized landlord. You may also have a valid reason to sue the government agency responsible for making sure your program is run right.
Who Owns Your Building
If you want to take your landlord to court, you will need to get the building owner's full legal name and address. Your landlord could be an individual, a corporation, or another type of company. If you don't know who owns your building, you may be able to find out by:
- Checking your lease,
- Checking any rent receipts or receipts for security deposits,
- Asking your landlord or people at the management office,
- Looking for a sign in your building (owners of buildings with three or more apartments must post their name, address, and phone number),2
- Going to the tax assessor's office in your city or town hall, which has information about who owns property organized by address, or
- Going to the county Registry of Deeds office (which may have staff who can help you).
If the landlord has had the building taken away by a bank because she did not pay her mortgage, there may be a new landlord or the bank may own your building. You must find out whether there is a new landlord before filing a lawsuit. Go to the Registry of Deeds for the county you live in and look up your property. If you cannot find anything that shows that your landlord has been foreclosed upon, you can file the lawsuit against your landlord. Your lawsuit, however, may be dismissed or thrown out by the judge if the judge finds that the landlord has lost the property or been foreclosed upon. For more about foreclosures, see Chapter 21: Foreclosures.
If your landlord has declared bankruptcy, you cannot bring a lawsuit or counterclaim against her in housing or district court.3 If you want your complaint heard by a judge, you must go before the bankruptcy court, and that court will hear your complaint or allow you to go forward in state court. You can call the bankruptcy court in Boston (617-565-8950) or Worcester (508-770-8900) to see if your landlord has declared bankruptcy. When you call, make sure you know exactly who owns your building.
Endnotes
1 . The state Sanitary Code defines an owner as "every person who alone or severally with others a) has legal title to any dwelling, dwelling unit, mobile dwelling unit, or parcel of land, vacant or otherwise, including a mobile home park; or b) has care, charge or control of any dwelling, dwelling unit, mobile dwelling unit, or parcel of land, vacant or otherwise, including a mobile home park, in any capacity including but not limited to agent, executor, executrix, administrator, administratrix, trustee or guardian of the estate of the holder of legal title; or c) mortgagee in possession; or d) agent, trustee or other person appointed by the courts. Each such person is bound to comply with the provisions of these minimum standards as if he were the owner." See 105 C.M.R. §410.036. See also LAS Collection Management v. Pagan , 447 Mass. 847 (2006), for a discussion of whether a property manager can bring a summary process action. See also Code Enforcement Dept. of Springfield v. Segelman , 71 Mass. App. Ct. 1118 (2008) (unpublished opinion), regarding personal liability for operational and relocation expenses as an "owner" under the Code.
2 . 105 C.M.R. §410.481.
3 . 11 U.S.C. §362 states that a petition for bankruptcy filed under the Bankruptcy Code operates as a stay as to all actions already filed or which may be filed in the future. To proceed with any action already filed or to start a new lawsuit, permission must be received from the bankruptcy court, or the case must be litigated in the bankruptcy court and not in any other court.
Produced by Faye B. Rachlin Created July 2008
