Imprimir

What if your building is condemned?

También en
English

Notas finales

Legal Tactics
Por
Greater Boston Legal Services
Reviewed
Revisado
Text

If a housing inspector finds that all or a part of the building you live in is "unfit" to live in and that repairs cannot be made while you are living in the property, the Board of Health may issue a finding that the dwelling or a portion of the dwelling is unfit for human habitation.99 This finding may lead to the Board of Health's ordering that the building be condemned, that the landlord close up the property, and that the occupants vacate the portion that is unfit.

Widgets
hearing
Right to a hearing

If a Board of Health intends to condemn a building, it must first send all occupants a written notice. This notice must tell tenants that the Board of Health will hold a public hearing to consider whether the property or a specific part of the property should be condemned and why it should be condemned. The notice must also include a copy of the inspection report and tell you when a hearing is scheduled.100

At the hearing, the landlord, any occupant, or any other person affected may speak up and oppose the condemnation. As a tenant, you may present witnesses and documents showing why the building should not be condemned. The best way to challenge a condemnation is to show that the property is structurally sound and can be safe if certain repairs are made. You can do this by having a person who is trained to inspect residential property testify about the structural integrity of the building at the hearing.

Note

If an inspector determines that the conditions are so dangerous, then there is no advance public hearing but a tenant may request one to contest the determination.101

challenging-order
Challenging an order to condemn

At the same time or any time after a Board of Health determines that a building is unfit for human habitation, it may issue an order to condemn. This order will state that the building must be vacated and that the landlord must secure it.102

As a tenant, you may challenge the Board of Health's order to condemn at a Board of Health hearing or by going to court.103 There are several things you can do at court.

  • If the conditions are not too severe, and your landlord has adequate funds, you can ask the judge to order the landlord to make the repairs necessary to avoid condemnation.
  • If the conditions are not too severe, but the landlord does not have adequate funds, you can ask the judge to appoint a receiver to manage and repair the property (see section called Receiverships).
  • If you are able to get an order that the repairs get made and the apartment not be condemned, you will probably need to leave your apartment for a period of time in order for the repairs to be made. If you have not already sought the help of an attorney, you should do so at this point. If, within one year of the order to condemn, an owner has not made the necessary repairs, the Board of Health may order the building to be demolished.104
moving-expenses
Moving expenses and other help

If the Board of Health condemns your building under the state Sanitary Code and orders you to vacate it, the State Sanitary Code requires (as of May 12, 2023) that the owner provide the affected tenants with comparable suitable housing.105 This housing must be provided for the shorter of:

  • The remaining term of the lease or rental period; 
  • Until the time that the residence is deemed suitable for habitation by the Board of Health; or
  • When the occupant finds alternative permanent housing and voluntarily terminates the tenancy. 

If the Board of Health condemns your unit under the state Sanitary Code and orders you to vacate, the city or town in which the building is located is required to provide occupants with relocation assistance and a relocation payment for their moving expenses unless such payment is otherwise provided.106

Tenants forced to leave their apartments due to violations of the state Sanitary Code may apply for Emergency Assistance shelter from your local Department of Transitional Assistance office. For more information see the Emergency Assistance Advocacy Guide.

You can also apply for emergency (state public and maybe federal public or Section 8) housing from your local housing authority or another housing authority.107 Privately owned developments with a mortgage loan from MassHousing also must provide a priority for apartments to those displaced by code enforcement but there are often long wait lists.108

Expandir todo
Endnotes
Notas finales
1:

 

99. 105 C.M.R. §410.650. See also definition of “Condition Making a Unit Unfit for Human Habitation” at 105 C.M.R. §410.010.

100. 105 C.M.R. §410.650. With one exception, tenants must receive at least 5 days’ notice of the public hearing to determine whether a unit is unfit. 105 C.M.R. §410.650(D). The exception is where the Board of Health determines, in writing, that the danger to life or health is immediate in which case there is no hearing in advance but the tenant may request one to contest the determination. 105 C.M.R. § 410.650 (E).

101. 105 C.M.R. § 410.650(E). See also endnote 71 (relating to where some courts have ordered temporary housing prior to this new provision and where the unit was not formally condemned).

102. If a building is not occupied, the owner and any affected person at this point has a right to a public hearing before the Board of Health.

103. 105 C.M.R. §410.860.

104. 105 C.M.R. §410.831(F).

105. 105 C.M.R. §410.900(E).

106. G.L. c. 79A, §13. The state housing agency, formerly Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and now Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, then pays for half of the cost of moving by reimbursing the local Board of Health. The Bureau of Relocation (BOR) administers the state relocation assistance reimbursements. See 760 C.M.R. §27. 86 Federal Register 40227 (July 27, 2021) contains the current fixed residential moving cost schedule.

107. Where you are being displaced for enforcement of the state sanitary code, you would qualify as an emergency for state public housing and state rental subsidies at any local housing authority that has such housing (but should apply through the online centralized system known as CHAMP). In addition, some housing authorities have similar provisions for emergency status for federally funded public housing and/or Section 8. You would need to check with the individual housing authority as to the type of public housing it has (and if federal, whether it provides for emergency status based on condemnation or displacement due to code enforcement).

108. See MassHousing Tenant Selection Plan, rev. 2022; see also Appendix to G.L. c. 23A, Section 1-7 available in the Acts and Resolves at St. 1966, Chapter 708, Section 1-7, p. 717, which provides: "Tenant selection plans provide that as between applicants equally in need and eligible for occupancy of the unit, preference shall be given to persons displaced by public action or natural disaster...."

Receivership
Chapter 9: Lead Poisoning

Ver más en

Ver más en

¿Le resultó útil esta página?