Which Boston court hears the case
Most Boston evictions are filed in the Eastern Division of the Housing Court, which sits in the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse at 24 New Chardon Street, where the Housing Court’s administrative office is also located. The Housing Court has 15 judges across six divisions and handles every kind of residential case, from evictions to code enforcement, with housing specialists who mediate at the first court event. The Boston Municipal Court also has summary process jurisdiction, but Housing Court is where most owners file.
A tenant sued elsewhere can usually move a case into Housing Court, so filing there from the start avoids a transfer. Cases are entered through the clerk on a Monday entry date after a sheriff or constable serves the summons and complaint.
Massachusetts summary process in a nutshell
State law sets the skeleton: a 14-day notice to quit for nonpayment, or at least 30 days or one rental period for a no-fault end to a tenancy at will, service of the summons 7 to 30 days before a Monday entry date, a first-tier mediation event 30 to 60 days after entry in Housing Court, a trial two weeks later if the case doesn’t settle, a 10-day appeal period and 48 hours’ notice before the levy. Our Massachusetts eviction process guide covers each step and the cure rights. What follows is Boston’s own layer.
Boston’s Housing Stability Notification Act
Since 2020, Boston’s Housing Stability Notification Act, City Code section 10-11, has required every landlord and foreclosing owner who serves a notice to quit or a notice of lease nonrenewal or expiration to do two more things at the same time. The notice must include the city’s Notice of Tenants’ Rights and Resources, a form prepared by the Office of Housing Stability that lists organizations that help tenants. And the landlord must file a copy of the notice with the Office of Housing Stability through the city’s online portal, using the Notice to Quit / Non-renewal of Lease Submission Verification Form.
Nonrenewals carry an extra timing rule. When you are relying on a lease ending rather than a tenant’s fault, the ordinance requires the city’s written notice to reach the tenant at least 30 days before you start summary process, delivered in hand or by certified mail and email.
Enforcement runs through the Office of Fair Housing and Equity and Inspectional Services. The first offense brings a warning, and each later offense can cost up to $300 per day for each tenant who should have received notice. The city says a violation doesn’t halt the eviction itself, but an incomplete notice package is still an easy point for a tenant’s lawyer to raise, and the fines add up quickly in a large building.
- Serve the notice to quit or nonrenewal with the Notice of Tenants’ Rights and Resources attached.
- Upload the notice and tenant contact information to the Office of Housing Stability portal the same day.
- For a nonrenewal or lease expiration, wait at least 30 days after delivering the city notice before serving the summons.
- Keep proof of in-hand delivery, or the certified mail receipt and the email.
A Boston nonpayment notice package, page by page
Boston’s ordinance covers every notice to quit, not only no-fault ones, so a 14-day nonpayment notice in Boston travels with more paper than the same notice in Worcester or Springfield. Assemble the package once and reuse it for every unit.
- The 14-day notice to quit, with the state cure language for a tenant at will.
- The state form required by G.L. c. 186, § 31, which tells the tenant the notice isn’t an eviction and points to rental assistance.
- Boston’s Notice of Tenants’ Rights and Resources, attached to the notice.
- The Office of Housing Stability portal upload, done the same day you serve.
- A ledger ready for a rental assistance application, since a pending qualifying application can pause the case under c. 239, § 15.
What happened to the Jim Brooks Act and rent control?
Neither is law. The Jim Brooks Community Stabilization Act, a home rule petition the City Council passed and the mayor signed in 2017, would have added city-level eviction protections and notice requirements. It needed approval from the Legislature, which never enacted it. Boston owners can still end a tenancy at will without stating a reason, as long as the notice is long enough and the move isn’t retaliatory.
Rent control has been banned statewide since voters approved Chapter 40P in 1994. A 2026 initiative petition, No. 25-21, would have capped increases statewide at CPI or 5%, but on June 23, 2026 the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Cella v. Attorney General that it couldn’t appear on the November ballot because its religious-use exemption made it relate to religion, a subject Article 48 excludes. For 2026, Boston rents are set by the lease and the market.
Boston’s rental registry and inspections
Every rental unit in Boston must be registered with Inspectional Services each year by July 1, including vacant units and units rented to relatives. Fees are $25 per unit for a first registration and $15 per unit for renewals, capped at $2,500 per building or $5,000 per complex. An owner who misses the deadline can be charged $300 a month until the registration is filed, and an owner who never registered owes fees back to 2013.
Registered units are inspected at least once every five years. An owner who lives outside Massachusetts must name a Boston-area emergency contact. The registry is not written as a precondition to filing an eviction, but a lapsed registration and an open inspection report are the first things a tenant’s lawyer will check when building conditions counterclaims.
Worked example: a no-fault nonrenewal in a Dorchester building
Assume an 18-unit Dorchester building and a tenant paying $2,900 a month on a lease that ends on day 61. You want the unit back to renovate before a sale. On day 0 you deliver a nonrenewal notice with the city’s rights notice, in hand, and upload it to the Office of Housing Stability. Both the lease end and the 30-day city rule are satisfied by day 62, when the constable serves the summons.
Assume entry on day 69, the first eligible Monday. The earliest first-tier event is day 99, trial is day 113, the execution can issue on day 123 and the levy follows 48 hours later, on day 125. Because the tenant isn’t at fault, the court can also stay the execution for up to six months, or 12 if someone 60 or older or disabled lives there. A cash-for-keys offer of two months’ rent, $5,800, for a move-out at lease end would save at least 64 days and remove the stay risk.
| Milestone | Day | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Nonrenewal plus city rights notice, filed with OHS | 0 | Boston Code 10-11.4 |
| Lease ends | 61 | Lease |
| Summons served | 62 | Uniform Summary Process Rule 2(b) |
| Entry date | 69 | Rule 2 |
| First-tier court event | 99 | Housing Court Standing Order 1-23 |
| Trial if no agreement | 113 | Standing Order 1-23 |
| Execution issues | 123 | G.L. c. 239, § 5 |
| Earliest levy | 125 | G.L. c. 239, § 3 |
Where the Office of Housing Stability fits
The Office of Housing Stability is the city office created to address displacement. It receives every notice filed under section 10-11, and the ordinance lets a tenant authorize the city to share their information with a public advocacy organization. For an owner, that makes the office less a hurdle than a signal: in Boston, a notice to quit puts the city on notice too, so assume the tenant will learn about legal help before the first court event.
Financial help for arrears runs mostly through state programs. In a nonpayment case, Chapter 239, section 15 requires the court to continue the case and stay the execution while a qualifying emergency rental assistance application is pending, so a ledger that’s ready for a RAFT application can be the fastest route to getting paid.
Selling a Boston apartment building with tenants in place
A sale doesn’t end a Boston tenancy, so most buildings change hands occupied, and a buyer who wants units back faces the same notice package, the same 30-day city wait and the same six-month stay risk you do. Give buyers the rental registry receipts, recent inspection reports, every notice filed with the Office of Housing Stability, open case papers and tenant estoppels.
Skyline Capital Investments buys Boston apartment buildings with five or more units with tenants in place, including buildings with arrears or cases in Housing Court. Send the address and unit count through the form on this page or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours.
