Receivership
As part of the tenant petition, emergency injunction, or civil complaint, a tenant may ask the court to appoint a receiver.
75. G.L. c. 111, §§127B-127O sets forth the relevant provisions regarding receivership. See also Mass. R. Civ. P. Rule 66. For additional information on receiverships, see the Mass. Attorney General's Abandoned Housing Training Manual and "How to Take the Distress Out of Abandoned Housing” (Mass. Continuing Legal Education, 1998).
76. G.L. c. 111, §127C; G.L. c. 218, §19C provides that district courts have the power to appoint receivers. Receivers can also be appointed under G.L. c. 186, §14. See also G.L. c. 223, §130 for law on dissolution of certain attachments by a receiver.
77. See G.L. c. 111, §127C for the required content of the petition.
78. Because receiverships are a remedy of last resort, it is best to have as much documentation as possible so that when you present a petition to the court, a judge will see what steps you have already taken to get repairs made.
79. See G.L. c. 111, §127D.
80. See G.L. c. 111, §127I ¶2).
81. The filing fee for a tenant petition is $2 (G.L. c. 111, §127D), plus the $15 surcharge (G.L. c. 262, §4C). The filing fee for a "regular" civil complaint in housing court is $135, district court is $195, and superior court is $240 (including the surcharge). Service costs vary, but are generally around $45-65 per defendant.
82. G.L. c. 261, §27A-G.
83. If a tenant paid rent into court under G.L. c. 111, §127F (even where no receiver was appointed), then the tenant cannot be evicted except for tenant fault for the nine months after the court order has ended. See the uncodified statute at Chapter 404 of the Acts of 1968 (approved June 18, 1968), and Olde Holyoke Development Corporation v. Morales, Hampden Housing Court, 90-SP-01291-H (Abrashkin, J., July 3, 1990).
84. In Belizaire v. Hsu and Chen, Cambridge District Court, Civil Action 0152-CV-0629 (Sprague, J., April 10, 2001), the court allowed the tenant's motion to authorize the tenant and the Cambridge Housing Authority to pay the last agreed-upon rent into court.
85. See G.L. c. 111, §127I.
86. Rogers v. Smith, Boston Housing Court, CA-27890, CA-27891, CA-27892, CA-27893, Order for Appointment of Receiver (December 8, 1989).
87. Mena v. Shapiro, Hampden Housing Court, LE-3696-89 (Order of November 16, 1989).
88. Rogers v. Smith, Boston Housing Court, CA-27890, CA-27891, CA-27892, CA-27893, Order for Appointment of Receiver (December 8, 1989).
89. Mena v. Shapiro, Hampden Housing Court, LE-3696-89 (Order of November 16, 1989).
90. See paragraph 7 of the undated Order (issued in June 1987) in Pires et al. v. Ribeiro, Cambridge District Court, 2530/06 (Menton, J.), where the court authorized the receiver to obtain rental subsidies for all the units for a 10-year period. The receiver then obtained state project-based rental subsidies for most of the rental units. Although such subsidies are no longer available, there are Section 8 subsidies which could be attached to rental units.
91. In Harris v. Houde, Worcester Housing Court, CA-90-CV-0052 (Order of February 28, 1990), the Fitchburg Community Development Corporation volunteered to become receiver of eight properties without requesting any additional fees for its services.
92. See, e.g., Garcia v. Shea, Hampden Housing Court, CA-90-CV-0022-H (Order of March 8, 1990), where the receiver, V.P.M., Inc., was paid 6% of the collected rents over and above its out-of-pocket expenses, but only after securing vacant units and making emergency repairs.
93. Pursuant to G.L. C. 111, §127I, receivers can have a lien with priority over all other liens except municipal liens. Such liens may be assigned to lenders for purposes of securing loans for repairs, operations, maintenance, and management of priority. See also Turner v. State Wharf and Storage Co., 263 Mass. 92 (1928).
94. In Lowell, the Coalition for a Better Acre, a nonprofit community development corporation, when seeking financing for the redevelopment of a 267-unit subsidized apartment complex, was instrumental in creating the Lowell Development Financial Corporation (LDFC), which set up a special loan pool to increase affordable housing development in Lowell. Start-up funds for LDFC came from nine local banks. For information about how the loan pool was set up, see Everybody in the Pool, HOUSING MATTERS, Vol. 4, #3 (December 1990), published by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. The Mass. Attorney General’s office uses revolving loans from the Chelsea Restoration Corporation.
95. In Garcia v. Shea (endnote 92), Mena v. Shapiro (endnote 87), and Cardona v. Sheedy, Hampden Housing Court, CA-91-CV 0181 (September 10, 1991), mortgagees of the properties involved agreed to advance to the receivership money for repairs to the extent rent money collected was insufficient. Depending upon the language of the bank's mortgage agreement with the landlord, money given by the bank to the receiver may be added to the landlord's mortgage and may have the same priority as the bank's original mortgage.
96. In Olde Holyoke Dev. Corp. v. Morales, Hampden Housing Court 90 SP 01291 H (July 3, 1990), the court held that, pursuant to Chapter 898 of the Acts of 1965, Section 4, as amended by Chapter 404 of the Acts of 1968, Section 1 (approved June 18, 1968) after a receivership ends, for nine months following the receivership, the new owner was prohibited from terminating the tenancy without a reason. The reasoning of this decision would presumably also prohibit rent increases during this nine-month period.
97. Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, as amended, 12 U.S.C. §§2901 et seq. The state community reinvestment law is found at G.L. c. 167, §14. For more about federal CRA history, regulations, and how to access CRA lending information, see the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council website.
You may want to call the bank and ask to speak with its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) officer. Every bank appoints an officer to monitor compliance with the CRA. If a bank has been unresponsive to your requests for assistance, you may want to write a letter to the bank, outlining all of the relevant facts and specifically stating what you would like the bank to do. At the end of the letter, ask the bank to "include your letter in their Community Reinvestment Act Public Comment File." As a result of making this request, the bank will be required to show your letter to government officials who monitor the bank's compliance with this law. You may also want to send a copy of your letter to the monitoring agency. Remember to keep a copy of the letter for future reference.
98. In Fitchburg, tenants of the Harris receivership, [Harris v. Houde, Worcester Housing Court, CA-90-CV-0052-H (Order of February 28, 1990)], worked closely with city officials in their efforts to get the bank to deal with three properties for which it held mortgages; the Fitchburg Board of Health pursued the bank by issuing correction orders regarding the properties; the Planning Department pursued contacts with bank officials in the unrealized hopes of negotiating the properties' sale to the CDC; and the mayor wrote a letter to the bank, attaching a local paper's editorial condemning the bank's inaction.