Massachusetts Notice Clocks for a Tenancy at Will

A tenancy at will doesn’t have an end date, so Massachusetts law supplies one through notice. The section is M.G.L. c. 186, § 12. It matters to both sides, because either party can use it.

The ordinary notice

The section opens by saying estates at will may be determined by either party by three months’ notice in writing. It then adds the rule for shorter rent periods: if the rent reserved is payable at periods of less than three months, the notice is sufficient if it equals the interval between the days of payment or thirty days, whichever is longer. For rent due monthly, that is a full rent period and at least 30 days.

The notice can offer new terms

The statute says the written notice may include an offer to establish a new tenancy for the same premises on terms different from the tenancy being terminated, and that including the offer does not affect the notice’s validity.

Nonpayment is shorter

In case of neglect or refusal to pay the rent due from a tenant at will, fourteen days’ notice to quit, given in writing by the landlord to the tenant, is sufficient to determine the tenancy.

The right to pay and stay

The tenancy is not determined if the tenant, within ten days after receiving the notice, pays or tenders the full amount of any rent due to the landlord, the landlord’s attorney, or the person to whom the tenant customarily pays rent. This applies only to a tenant who has not received a similar notice from the landlord within the twelve months preceding.

The notice has to say so

Every nonpayment notice to determine an estate at will must contain the statute’s notification telling the tenant about that right. If it fails to contain the notification, the time within which the tenant may pay or tender is extended to the day the answer is due in any action by the landlord to recover possession. Leaving it out doesn’t otherwise affect the notice’s validity.

When a government payment is late

If the neglect or refusal to pay was caused by a failure or delay of the federal government, the commonwealth or any municipality, or any departments, agencies or authorities thereof, in mailing or delivering a subsistence or rental payment, check or voucher other than a salary payment, the court in an action for possession must continue the hearing not less than seven days so the appropriate agency can be notified. If all rent due with interest and costs of suit is tendered to the landlord within that time, the court treats the tenancy as not having been terminated.

What this section does not cover

This is the estate-at-will section. A fixed-term lease ends according to its own terms, and other statutes govern other parts of a tenancy. Not sure what you signed, or what a notice in your hand actually does? Ask me. Diana Kim, REALTOR®, eXp Realty.