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Stopping Eviction Before Trial

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Legal Tactics

By

Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School

Reviewed

January 2025

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This section explains some ways you may be able to stop an eviction before trial.

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pay-rent-owed

Paying the rent owed

a. Tenants with Leases

If you have a lease and you receive a Notice to Quit for non-payment of rent, you can "cure" the non-payment and prevent the eviction by paying your landlord all the past and present rent owed. Your landlord cannot evict you for non-payment of rent if they are claiming that you failed to pay something other than rent (like portions of a security deposit, late fees, or repair costs).⁵³ Therefore, you do not need to pay those charges in order to cure.

If you cure the non-payment after you receive a summons and complaint, you must pay all the rent owed, interest on the amount owed, and your landlord's costs of filing an eviction case, on or before the answer date.⁵⁴ (See The Landlord’s Costs to File an Eviction Case). The answer date is 3 business days before the First Tier Court Event.⁵⁵

If you cure a non-payment of rent after your landlord has filed an eviction case in court (that is, after you receive a summons and complaint), make sure you get a written, dated receipt for the amount that you paid and a written agreement from the landlord that they will dismiss the case. Make sure that the landlord then files a dismissal with the court.

b. Tenants without Leases

If you are a tenant at will and are being evicted for non-payment of rent, you can "cure" the non-payment and stop the eviction by paying all the back and current rent you owe within 10 days after receiving a notice to quit. However, if you have received another 14-day notice to quit for non-payment of rent from your landlord within the previous 12 months, you do not have a right to cure the non-payment.⁵ ⁶

If the 14-day Notice to Quit does not contain a statement that tells you that you can cure the non-payment within 10 days, you can stop the eviction by paying all rent owed by the answer date.⁵⁷ The answer date is 3 business days before the First Tier Court Event.⁵⁸ Unlike tenants under lease, you do not have to pay court costs or interest to “cure” the non-payment.

c. Your Landlord Refuses Payment

If you attempt to "cure" the non-payment of rent by offering to pay the full amount owed but your landlord refuses to accept it, you should either have a witness watch you try to pay the rent or send the rent again by certified mail and request a return receipt. If the landlord refuses to accept the certified mail, save the return receipt that proves they refused delivery. If your landlord brings an eviction case against you in court, this return receipt will be important proof that you tried to cure the non-payment within the time period allowed by law, and your witness can testify about your attempt to pay the rent. If your landlord has an attorney, you can bring the payment to the attorney. Again make sure to obtain a receipt, such as a photocopy of the check or money order with a notation of the date and name and signature of the person who received it.

d. Your Landlord Accepts Rent After Sending Notice

If your landlord accepts rent after sending you a Notice to Quit, the acceptance of rent may result in the creation of a new tenancy at will.⁵⁹ Your landlord can prevent creating a new tenancy and reserve their rights to evict you by notifying you that they will accept your money "for use and occupancy only." This is called a "reservation of rights," and a landlord must notify you of this before or at the time you make the rent payments; writing "for use and occupancy" on the back of the rent check is not sufficient because you do not receive it until you receive your next monthly bank statement.⁶⁰ Although acceptance of even 1 rent payment may be sufficient to cure the non-payment,⁶¹ whether or not the tenancy has been reinstated is a question of fact that must be decided by the court under the particular circumstances of each case.⁶²

landlords-costs

The landlord’s costs to file an eviction case

The costs of filing an eviction case include the purchase of a summons and complaint form ($5), the cost of serving these papers on you (amount varies), and the cost of actually filing them in court ($135 in housing court, $195 in district court) plus an additional $22–$26.54 for e-filing. If the First Tier Court Event notice was served on you, then those costs as well. These costs cannot include fees for the landlord's lawyer or any of the costs of serving a Notice to Quit on you (like constable fees).⁶³

Late government assistance check

If non-payment of rent is caused by a late rental subsidy check or late check from the Department of Transitional Assistance or the Social Security Administration and you receive a Notice to Quit and a court summons and complaint, you should immediately ask the court to continue (postpone) the hearing date for at least 7 days so that the check can arrive. Once you receive the check, if you pay the landlord the rent owed, interest on this amount, and the landlord's costs of filing an eviction through this continuance period, the court must treat the tenancy as not having been terminated and must dismiss the case.⁶⁴ See The Landlord’s Costs to File an Eviction Case. You could also try to use this procedure if your rent varies by income and you have a pending rent decrease request at a housing authority or subsidized housing provider.
If part of the rent owed should have been paid by a housing agency, you may want to consider bringing the housing agency into the case as a party in the lawsuit through a legal process called “impleading.”⁶⁵ This is complicated, you may want to seek legal help.

Motion to dismiss

If a landlord fails to follow the proper steps to terminate your tenancy or file an eviction case in court, you may be able to get your case dismissed before the trial.⁶⁶ For example, if your landlord does not send you a proper Notice to Quit, you have paid all the rent you owe, or you were not properly served with a summons and complaint, you should file what is called a motion to dismiss as soon as possible.

To do this, fill out the Motion to Dismiss form (Booklet 7).⁶⁷ Bring it to court and deliver a copy to the landlord or their attorney. Your answer should include the reasons for dismissal that you wrote in your motion to dismiss.

If the matter is not resolved at the First Tier Court Event, ask the court to schedule the motion to dismiss for a date prior to any trial date. If a judge denies your request to dismiss the case, you should raise at trial the same reasons that you checked off in the motion and in your answer.

Note

When landlords go to court to evict tenants, they sometimes make legal claims against tenants for money damages other than rent. For example, a landlord may claim that you have damaged the apartment and that they should be compensated, or they may claim that you owe late fees or attorney’s fees. The law does not allow a landlord to ask for such money damages in an eviction case, and you should ask a judge to dismiss any claims for money other than rent.⁶⁸

Negotiating a settlement

Before you get to court or at the First Tier Court Event, you may want to try to negotiate a resolution to the case, called a settlement, with the landlord. A landlord may agree to what you want in exchange for some promise on your part. Keep in mind that, even if you lose the case, it will cost your landlord both time and money to go to court. Saving of time and money are two incentives for a landlord to settle. Depending on what you want, it may also be more advantageous for you to settle out of court than to go through a trial.

Before attempting to reach a settlement, you should carefully consider what you want and what you can reasonably expect to get from the court, based on the strength of your case.

Use The Answer (Booklet 3) to help you identify and evaluate potential defenses and counterclaims.
Do not agree to a payment plan for back rent that is more than you can afford.
If you do not have another place to live, do not agree to move.

Before you accept any agreement, read it very carefully. If you reach an agreement, you should file it with the court. Do not trust your landlord or their attorney to do this without your being there. Too many tenants have found out the hard way that their landlord could not be relied upon to file the settlement agreement, but instead decided to proceed with the eviction case—without the tenant being there.

You may settle your case at any time during an eviction before a judge or jury makes a final decision after the hearing. For more on how to negotiate a good settlement, see Chapter 14: Using the Court System - Negotiating a Good Settlement.

tenancy-preservation-program

Tenancy Preservation Program

The Housing Court has a special program called the Tenancy Preservation Program (TPP). TPP seeks to prevent homelessness. It works with individuals and families facing eviction because of a reason related to a physical or mental health disability. Disabilities may include developmental health issues, substance abuse, and aging related impairments.

TPP is voluntary and free. TPP staff work with landlords and tenants to develop a reasonable accommodation for the disability. TPP staff identify the reasons for the eviction and needed services, then develop a treatment plan to keep the tenancy going. TPP makes regular reports to all parties involved in the case including the court, the landlord, and the tenant. And TPP monitors the case for as long as is necessary.

To be eligible for TPP a household member must have a disability and the disability must relate to the lease violation. If you are in housing court and feel that TPP can help you ask the Clerk to direct you to TPP staff.

For more information see Tenancy Preservation Program.

Expand All

Paying the rent owed

a. Tenants with Leases

If you have a lease and you receive a Notice to Quit for non-payment of rent, you can "cure" the non-payment and prevent the eviction by paying your landlord all the past and present rent owed. Your landlord cannot evict you for non-payment of rent if they are claiming that you failed to pay something other than rent (like portions of a security deposit, late fees, or repair costs).⁵³ Therefore, you do not need to pay those charges in order to cure.

If you cure the non-payment after you receive a summons and complaint, you must pay all the rent owed, interest on the amount owed, and your landlord's costs of filing an eviction case, on or before the answer date.⁵⁴ (See The Landlord’s Costs to File an Eviction Case). The answer date is 3 business days before the First Tier Court Event.⁵⁵

If you cure a non-payment of rent after your landlord has filed an eviction case in court (that is, after you receive a summons and complaint), make sure you get a written, dated receipt for the amount that you paid and a written agreement from the landlord that they will dismiss the case. Make sure that the landlord then files a dismissal with the court.

b. Tenants without Leases

If you are a tenant at will and are being evicted for non-payment of rent, you can "cure" the non-payment and stop the eviction by paying all the back and current rent you owe within 10 days after receiving a notice to quit. However, if you have received another 14-day notice to quit for non-payment of rent from your landlord within the previous 12 months, you do not have a right to cure the non-payment.⁵ ⁶

If the 14-day Notice to Quit does not contain a statement that tells you that you can cure the non-payment within 10 days, you can stop the eviction by paying all rent owed by the answer date.⁵⁷ The answer date is 3 business days before the First Tier Court Event.⁵⁸ Unlike tenants under lease, you do not have to pay court costs or interest to “cure” the non-payment.

c. Your Landlord Refuses Payment

If you attempt to "cure" the non-payment of rent by offering to pay the full amount owed but your landlord refuses to accept it, you should either have a witness watch you try to pay the rent or send the rent again by certified mail and request a return receipt. If the landlord refuses to accept the certified mail, save the return receipt that proves they refused delivery. If your landlord brings an eviction case against you in court, this return receipt will be important proof that you tried to cure the non-payment within the time period allowed by law, and your witness can testify about your attempt to pay the rent. If your landlord has an attorney, you can bring the payment to the attorney. Again make sure to obtain a receipt, such as a photocopy of the check or money order with a notation of the date and name and signature of the person who received it.

d. Your Landlord Accepts Rent After Sending Notice

If your landlord accepts rent after sending you a Notice to Quit, the acceptance of rent may result in the creation of a new tenancy at will.⁵⁹ Your landlord can prevent creating a new tenancy and reserve their rights to evict you by notifying you that they will accept your money "for use and occupancy only." This is called a "reservation of rights," and a landlord must notify you of this before or at the time you make the rent payments; writing "for use and occupancy" on the back of the rent check is not sufficient because you do not receive it until you receive your next monthly bank statement.⁶⁰ Although acceptance of even 1 rent payment may be sufficient to cure the non-payment,⁶¹ whether or not the tenancy has been reinstated is a question of fact that must be decided by the court under the particular circumstances of each case.⁶²

The landlord’s costs to file an eviction case

The costs of filing an eviction case include the purchase of a summons and complaint form ($5), the cost of serving these papers on you (amount varies), and the cost of actually filing them in court ($135 in housing court, $195 in district court) plus an additional $22–$26.54 for e-filing. If the First Tier Court Event notice was served on you, then those costs as well. These costs cannot include fees for the landlord's lawyer or any of the costs of serving a Notice to Quit on you (like constable fees).⁶³

Late government assistance check

If non-payment of rent is caused by a late rental subsidy check or late check from the Department of Transitional Assistance or the Social Security Administration and you receive a Notice to Quit and a court summons and complaint, you should immediately ask the court to continue (postpone) the hearing date for at least 7 days so that the check can arrive. Once you receive the check, if you pay the landlord the rent owed, interest on this amount, and the landlord's costs of filing an eviction through this continuance period, the court must treat the tenancy as not having been terminated and must dismiss the case.⁶⁴ See The Landlord’s Costs to File an Eviction Case. You could also try to use this procedure if your rent varies by income and you have a pending rent decrease request at a housing authority or subsidized housing provider.
If part of the rent owed should have been paid by a housing agency, you may want to consider bringing the housing agency into the case as a party in the lawsuit through a legal process called “impleading.”⁶⁵ This is complicated, you may want to seek legal help.

Motion to dismiss

If a landlord fails to follow the proper steps to terminate your tenancy or file an eviction case in court, you may be able to get your case dismissed before the trial.⁶⁶ For example, if your landlord does not send you a proper Notice to Quit, you have paid all the rent you owe, or you were not properly served with a summons and complaint, you should file what is called a motion to dismiss as soon as possible.

To do this, fill out the Motion to Dismiss form (Booklet 7).⁶⁷ Bring it to court and deliver a copy to the landlord or their attorney. Your answer should include the reasons for dismissal that you wrote in your motion to dismiss.

If the matter is not resolved at the First Tier Court Event, ask the court to schedule the motion to dismiss for a date prior to any trial date. If a judge denies your request to dismiss the case, you should raise at trial the same reasons that you checked off in the motion and in your answer.

Note

When landlords go to court to evict tenants, they sometimes make legal claims against tenants for money damages other than rent. For example, a landlord may claim that you have damaged the apartment and that they should be compensated, or they may claim that you owe late fees or attorney’s fees. The law does not allow a landlord to ask for such money damages in an eviction case, and you should ask a judge to dismiss any claims for money other than rent.⁶⁸

Negotiating a settlement

Before you get to court or at the First Tier Court Event, you may want to try to negotiate a resolution to the case, called a settlement, with the landlord. A landlord may agree to what you want in exchange for some promise on your part. Keep in mind that, even if you lose the case, it will cost your landlord both time and money to go to court. Saving of time and money are two incentives for a landlord to settle. Depending on what you want, it may also be more advantageous for you to settle out of court than to go through a trial.

Before attempting to reach a settlement, you should carefully consider what you want and what you can reasonably expect to get from the court, based on the strength of your case.

Use The Answer (Booklet 3) to help you identify and evaluate potential defenses and counterclaims.
Do not agree to a payment plan for back rent that is more than you can afford.
If you do not have another place to live, do not agree to move.

Before you accept any agreement, read it very carefully. If you reach an agreement, you should file it with the court. Do not trust your landlord or their attorney to do this without your being there. Too many tenants have found out the hard way that their landlord could not be relied upon to file the settlement agreement, but instead decided to proceed with the eviction case—without the tenant being there.

You may settle your case at any time during an eviction before a judge or jury makes a final decision after the hearing. For more on how to negotiate a good settlement, see Chapter 14: Using the Court System - Negotiating a Good Settlement.

Tenancy Preservation Program

The Housing Court has a special program called the Tenancy Preservation Program (TPP). TPP seeks to prevent homelessness. It works with individuals and families facing eviction because of a reason related to a physical or mental health disability. Disabilities may include developmental health issues, substance abuse, and aging related impairments.

TPP is voluntary and free. TPP staff work with landlords and tenants to develop a reasonable accommodation for the disability. TPP staff identify the reasons for the eviction and needed services, then develop a treatment plan to keep the tenancy going. TPP makes regular reports to all parties involved in the case including the court, the landlord, and the tenant. And TPP monitors the case for as long as is necessary.

To be eligible for TPP a household member must have a disability and the disability must relate to the lease violation. If you are in housing court and feel that TPP can help you ask the Clerk to direct you to TPP staff.

For more information see Tenancy Preservation Program.

Endnotes

1:

53. See Patti v. White, Boston Housing Court, No. 11-SP-2116 (Pierce, C.J., Dec. 27, 2011) (costs of missing trash containers and removal of personal property stricken); Deep v. Tremblay, Western Housing Court, No. 10-SP-4716 (Fields, J., Apr. 15, 2011) upheld without addressing specific issue, 81 Mass. App. Ct. 1131 (2012, Rule 1:28) (late fees); Alzamora v. Voguenel, Boston Housing Court No. 06-SP-3517 (Edwards, J., Nov. 15, 2006); Miguel v. Veenstra, Southeast Housing Court, No. 05-SP-3364 (Edwards, J., Dec. 9, 2005); Hackett v. Smith, Boston Housing Court, No. 14-SP-1109 (Muirhead, J., Apr. 11, 2014) (mailbox replacement and additional water usage).

54. G.L. c. 186, §11.

55. In housing court, the answer is due 3 business days before the initial First Tier Court Event even if that date is later postponed. However, in district court, the standing order does not limit the deadline to the initial Case Management Conference (CMC), so it should be due 3 business days before any CMC (initial or re-scheduled).

56. G.L. c. 186, §12.

57. G.L. c. 186, §12.

58. District Court Fourth Amended Standing Order 10-20 and Housing Court Interim Standing Order 1-23. See Housing Court Standing Orders. See District Court Standing Orders.

59. Mastrullo v. Ryan, 328 Mass. 621, 624 (1952); Jones v. Webb, 320 Mass. 702, 705 (1947); Collins v. Canty, 60 Mass. 415 (1850); Brossi v. Bordes, Central Housing Court, No. 23-H85-SP-3451 (Mitchell-Munevar, J. Oct. 12, 2023).

60. Whitehouse Restaurant, Inc. v. Hoffman, 320 Mass. 183, 186-87 (1946). See Psillos v. Morales et al., Metro South Housing Court, No. 23-H82-SP-951 (Theophilis, J. Aug. 28, 2023).

61. Roseman v. Day, 345 Mass. 93 (1962) (applying the rule to business lease).

62. Slater v. Krinsky, 11 Mass. App. Ct. 941, 942 (1981) (rescript).

63. Com. v. Chatham Dev. Co., 49 Mass. App. Ct. 525, 527 (2000).

64. G.L. c. 186, §§11, 12.

65. Mass. R. Civ. P. 14.; Loring Towers Assocs. v. Furtick, 85 Mass. App. Ct. 142, review denied, 468 Mass. 1107 (2014).

66. Mass. R. Civ. P. 12(b). The most common ground is that the court lacks jurisdiction or power to decide the case. Mass. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). Jurisdiction in summary process is limited by statute to cases in which the defendant is in possession of the premises "unlawfully against the right of the plaintiff." G.L. c. 239, §2. See Jimary Series LLC v. Jacobus, Northeast Housing Court, No. 22-H77-SP-3560 (Gonzalez, J. March 1, 2023) (failure to prove that notice to quit was served to the correct address may be grounds for dismissal); Leclerc v. Rivera, Western Housing Court, No. 19--H79-SP-1378 (Fein, F.J. Dec. 3, 2019) (conflicting language regarding statutory cure rights may be grounds for dismissal); Martin v. Ventura, Central Housing Court, No. 23-H85-SP-2552 (Mitchell-Munevar, J. August 10, 2023) (courts should not accept eviction papers without proof of delivery of a notice to quit).

67. There are different kinds of Motions to Dismiss which are available to unrepresented tenants from the Lawyer for the Day programs based in Housing Court. Sample motions available on MassLegalServices.org with log-in.

68. G.L. c. 239, §2 defines the court's jurisdiction in summary process and allows the landlord only to recover possession of the premises, rent, and/or use and occupation. "Summary process is a purely statutory procedure and can be maintained only in the instances specifically provided for in the statute." Cummings v. Wajda, 325 Mass. 242, 243 (1950). See Project 77 LLC v. Stokes & Slayton, Eastern Housing Court, No. 18-H84-SP-1547 (Muirhead, F.J. Apr. 12, 2019)(attorney’s fees cannot be pursued in a summary process action); Ngunga v. Kennerson, Central Housing Court, No. 23-H85-SP-2287 (Carvajal, J. Aug. 17, 2023)(last month’s rent and security deposit not collectable in non-payment of rent eviction); 11 Overlook Drive (MA) Owner v. Martinez, Eastern Housing Court, No. 23-H84-SP-4329 (Bagdoian, J. Nov. 6, 2023)(unpaid utility costs and parking fees are not properly part of a nonpayment summary process claim). A landlord is also generally prohibited from recovering non-payment under prior leases. LP Granite LLC v. Finklea, Eastern Housing Court, No. 21-H84-SP-2257 (Kelleher, F.J. Nov. 14, 2022).

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Eviction

Housing, Apartments & Shelter

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Eviction

Housing, Apartments & Shelter