Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)

Citation: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)
Parent Document: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2019-04-10
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7178223/adjartey-v-cent-div-of-the-hous... ↗

Full Text

802 chars

Because the document's title -- "notice to quit" -- does nothing to clarify its meaning, a tenant may reasonably misunderstand the legal force of a notice to quit. A standard notice to quit states that a tenant may be evicted if he or she fails to vacate the premises within a certain period of time.2 Receipt of a notice to quit, however, does not legally require the tenant to move out of his or her home. See Commonwealth v. Chatham Dev. Co., 49 Mass. App. Ct. 525, 528, 731 N.E.2d 89 (2000). Rather, it simply declares the landlord's intent to go to court to seek an eviction order if the tenant does not move out voluntarily before the stated deadline. Nevertheless, a tenant may reasonably -- but incorrectly -- believe the notice to quit to mean that he or she must move out before the deadline.

Other Sections in This Document (125)

Full Text