Renters will soon be able to have the opportunity to have their eviction records sealed as part of changes included in the state’s Affordable Homes Act, which comes into effect on 3rd May 2025.
270 days after the Act comes into effect, renters who have been evicted at some time in the past, or who have won a court case against eviction, can file a petition with the court to have their public eviction record sealed. The procedure for sealing an eviction record will depend on the circumstances which led to the eviction record. In some cases, the renter may get their eviction record sealed immediately after petitioning the court, but in other cases, the landlord involved in the eviction may be given an opportunity to challenge the petition.
The addition to the eviction sealing section in the Affordable Homes Act is at least in part due to advocacy from a number of tenants-rights activists over many years. These bodies include the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), the Legal Service’s Center’s Housing Law Clinic, as well as the Faculty Director of Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, Esme Caramello.
How do landlords and credit agencies know about a renter’s previous eviction?
Eviction records on the court database have been accessible online since 2013. After this time, even much earlier eviction records stored on the database became accessible to anyone interested in checking them, usually as part of the screening process of prospective tenants. Since the late 1980s, there have been over a million eviction records entered into the database.
While landlords and credit agencies have benefited from the availability of eviction records, it hasn’t helped renters who have experienced an eviction, or have fought an eviction sometime in the past. Because landlords can use the database to screen rental applicants, it has typically made it more difficult for renters to secure a tenancy.
How the eviction sealing process will work
Both tenants and landlords need to know about the way the eviction sealing changes will have an impact on them. In addition to landlords, credit screening agencies and rental agencies will also be frozen out of eviction records and there would be penalties for any credit screening agency that uses its knowledge of prior evictions to adjust a renter’s credit rating.
The process for sealing an eviction record depends on the circumstances behind the eviction. There are basically four different categories of eviction. These are:
- No-fault evictions;
- Failure to pay rent evictions;
- At-fault evictions;
- Dismissed evictions.
No-fault evictions
No-fault evictionsThis category of evictions includes many situations in which a landlord has ended a tenancy for reasons which weren’t directly anything to do with the tenant. Most commonly, the landlord has decided to sell the property, but there may be other reasons why the landlord decides to terminate the tenancy which are not due to non-payment of rent by the tenant or because the terms of the lease had been breached by the tenant.
Any tenant who has experienced a no-fault eviction can file a petition to have the record of the eviction sealed. Notice must be given to the landlord, who then has 7 days to post an objection against the petition. If the District Court or Housing Court where the petition was filed does not receive an objection, the petition will be approved without a hearing and the record of eviction will be sealed.
Failure to pay rent evictions
Evictions that happen because the tenant has been unable to pay rent are treated slightly differently from fault eviction cases. Sealing an eviction record is available to tenants who have had a clean eviction record for the last 4 years and state that the reason that they couldn’t pay the rent was due to genuine financial hardship. The petition must be accompanied by notification of the landlord, who then has 7 days to post an objection. If there is an objection made, then a hearing is conducted to find out whether the non-payment of rent was due to genuine financial hardship. The tenant may be required to provide financial evidence for the non-payment.
If the tenant paid their debt to the landlord at a later date, then the landlord is required to file a ‘satisfaction of judgment’ within 14 days. If the landlord doesn’t do this, then the tenant can file a petition for satisfaction of judgment and subsequently file a petition to seal the record of eviction.
At-fault evictions
At-Fault, also called For Cause evictions are those in which the tenant was evicted for breaching the terms of the tenancy or lease. For example, criminal activity, complaints of too much noise, smoking in a no-smoking tenancy, damage to the tenancy or other serious behavioral issues might all be regarded as reasons for an at-fault eviction.
The procedure is almost the same as for no-fault evictions, i.e. the landlord must be notified of a petition to seal an eviction, who is given 7 days to post an objection. The petitioner must also have had a clean eviction record for the last 7 years to be able to file a petition for sealing previous records. When there has been criminal activity involved in the reasons for the eviction, a hearing will be held to determine whether the former tenant had actually been charged with a criminal offence and therefore whether a sealed eviction record would be in the interest of public safety or not.
It should be noted that when sealing of eviction records was being debated as part of the new Affordable Homes Act, housing providers and those acting in the interests of landlords questioned how effective the notification of landlords after a court has received a petition to seal an eviction record might be.
Dismissed evictions
Dismissed evictions are typically due to an eviction order being challenged by the tenant who wins the case for having the eviction rejected or dismissed. Typically, this dismissal has been included on the database, making it potentially more challenging for the tenant to find appropriate rental property at a later date when a landlord checks the records.
The new provisions for sealing eviction records will allow a renter who had a dismissed eviction to file a petition to seal the eviction record without having to notify the landlord. In this case, the record will be sealed almost immediately.
Legal help from a Massachusetts real estate attorney
Whether you are a tenant wanting to seal an eviction record once this is possible, or a landlord who has been notified of such a petition and wishes to object, it may be preferable to get sound legal advice from a real estate attorney who is familiar with the provisions of the new Act as they apply to eviction records.