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Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 293 N.E.2d 831 (1973)

Citation
Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 293 N.E.2d 831 (1973)
Parent Document
Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 293 N.E.2d 831 (1973)
Jurisdiction
Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date
1973-03-05

Other Sections in This Document (181)

Full Text

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[11] We face a slightly different situation from that which confronted the court in the Javins case, supra. At the time of the Javins decision, the Washington, D.C., Code did not contain any rent withholding provisions which the tenants could implement when their apartments were in uninhabitable condition. The Code merely provided for criminal sanctions by public agencies when landlords maintained their apartments in violation of the Code. Thus, the Javins case holding, which granted tenants private rent withholding powers and contractual remedies which could abate or extinguish their rental obligations, constituted a judicial reform of landlord-tenant common law which radically expanded the scope of remedies previously available to the tenant under the housing codes. Since the Massachusetts Legislature has already passed a rent withholding statute, a decision to grant alternative rent abatement or suspension remedies would constitute a far less radical alteration of existing tenant remedies than that accomplished by the Javins decision.