Criminal cases
Notas finales
Criminal cases are pursued by the district attorney's office on behalf of the citizens of the Commonwealth. They are violations of the law that carry criminal penalties.11
Any person can file a criminal complaint with the court, or ask the police or health department to file a complaint on their behalf.
If the state Sanitary Code has been violated, the Board of Health can also file a criminal complaint. For more about criminal complaints and Sanitary Code violations, see Chapter 8: Getting Repairs Made. For a list of criminal laws most frequently violated by landlords, see When to Take Your Landlord to Court.
Before you file a criminal complaint, ask yourself what outcome you want. In many cases, a criminal complaint may take much longer time to get results. For example, although you can file a criminal complaint if your landlord won’t make Sanitary Code repairs, a civil complaint will move through the system much faster, allowing a civil judge to issue repair orders in just a few weeks. In comparison, a criminal complaint could take several months to get a similar result.
Endnotes
12 . G.L. c. 185C, §19 (housing court procedure); G.L. c. 218, §35A (process for criminal misdemeanor complaints).