It’s bad enough to lose the power to evict if only in certain cases (see related story above). But the domestic violence legislation proposed by H.1241 and S.755, without saying so, introduces the principle of “just cause” eviction into potentially all eviction situations. Specifically, if the tenant claims to be a victim of domestic violence, then the landlord can only evict that tenant for reasons unrelated to domestic violence. To make sure the landlord is complying with the domestic violence eviction prohibition, the landlord will have to provide the judge with a “just cause” for eviction, which cannot be any acts, even criminal acts, related to domestic violence. To know whether the reason for eviction is unrelated to domestic violence, the judge would need to know the exact reason for eviction. Once that reason comes out into the open, the tenant can rebut it.

“Just cause” eviction is when landlords can only evict a tenant for a “good” reason that they must prove to the court exists in the case of the tenant being evicted – such as failure to pay rent, of course, but also any material breach of the written or implied rental agreement: excessive noise, failure to store and dispose of trash properly, taking in unauthorized tenants, keeping pets against the terms of the lease, operating a business out of the home, and so forth.
 

Road to rent control

Currently in Massachusetts, landlords can do a “no fault” eviction with a 30-day notice. Even though the landlord may have a reason, the reason is not stated in a “no fault” eviction and does not have to be proven to a judge, which often reduces the intensity of conflict in an eviction. The evicted tenants are not being accused of any wrongdoing. In contrast, “just cause” eviction means the tenant must be informed of a specific reason for the eviction, which the tenant can argue against to the judge. If the tenant wins the argument, the landlord does not get the power to evict that tenant.

It is problematic enough to have to prove one has a “just cause” for eviction. But it gets worse. “Just cause” eviction always goes along with rent control, because if a tenant cannot be evicted for a reason that the landlord would like to evict the tenant for, all the landlord needs to do is raise the rent beyond the ability of the tenant to pay – and effectively evict the tenant by the rent increase. To guard against this possibility, whenever “just cause” eviction is allowed, it always includes some sort of limit on how much the rent can be raised. Thus, in a domestic violence situation where the landlord wants to evict but is prohibited if this legislation were to pass, the courts would begin to formulate rules that any rent increase over, say, 5% or 10% is not allowed because it likely is being used as a way to evict the tenant contrary to the law.
 

Expandable law

Finally, this domestic violence legislation with all its drawbacks includes the likelihood that it will be easily used and abused by people who are not involved in domestic violence, but claim to be so in order to get the eviction protections and rent control that this legislation gives. All the legislation requires is an assertion on the part of the alleged victim that she (or he) is a victim of abuse. The alleged victim may need to provide a date on which the abuse allegedly took place and perhaps a brief verbal story of what the abuse was (“He hit me”), but no more than that. No evidence, no proof, no witnesses are required.

Given the importance of a roof over the head, especially one where the rent is controlled, people will lie to keep it. We thus have legislation here that would be widely abused, introducing a whole new sweeping set of landlord-tenant disputes that will run up landlords’ costs and the aggravation of doing business in an already difficult business, and usher in rent control. Once established through this legislation, the rent control aspect could easily become subject to further formalization by the legislature. 

Action Alert!

Victims of domestic violence bills 

It has taken us a while to realize that H.1241 and S.755, the nearly identical domestic violence bills, would sneak us into “just cause” eviction and from there into a dangerous form of rent control. Please read the articles above. Then take action! Click here for Action Alert!