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Ex. MA-052 Order Primary source read

Chapter 65 of the Acts of 2020

An Act Providing for a Moratorium on Evictions and Foreclosures During the COVID-19 Emergency

General Court (Legislature); approved by the Governor · Massachusetts (State)

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The record

Jurisdiction
Massachusetts
Level
State
Authority
Emergency law under Mass. Const. amend. art. 48
Issued
2020-04-20 Apr. 20, 2020
Effective
2020-04-20 (emergency law) (read as 2020-04-20)
End
Sections 3-4 expired 120 days after enactment (Aug. 18, 2020) unless postponed by the Governor in increments of not more than 90 days (s. 6); postponed once, to October 17, 2020 (extension date from secondary sources); s. 2 (video foreclosure counseling) extended to Dec. 15, 2021 by ch. 20 of 2021, s. 6 (read as 2020-12-31)
In force
Apr. 20, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020
Quarters
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q4
Limitation types
Courts and public officesOther
Addressees
  • landlords and owners of residential dwelling units
  • landlords of 'small business premises units'
  • mortgagees
  • courts
Functions reached
  • PM property management: evictions and notices to quit barred
  • CM commercial leasing of small business premises
  • SV lenders' foreclosure operations
  • CL/AP closings and counseling by video
Collection
Massachusetts MA

Operative words

Notwithstanding chapter 186 or chapter 239 of the General Laws or any other general or special law, rule, regulation or order to the contrary, a landlord or owner of a property shall not, for the purposes of a non-essential eviction for a residential dwelling unit: (i) terminate a tenancy; or (ii) send any notice, including a notice to quit, requesting or demanding that a tenant of a residential dwelling unit vacate the premises.... "Small business premises unit", a premises occupied by a tenant for commercial purposes... [excluding tenants that] operate multi-state;... multi-nationally;... publicly traded; or... [have] not less than 150 full-time equivalent employees.... Sections 3 and section 4 shall expire 120 days after the effective date of this act or 45 days after the COVID-19 emergency declaration has been lifted, whichever is sooner; provided, however, that the governor may postpone such expiration in increments of not more than 90 days.

Enforcement

Courts barred from entering judgment or executing on non-essential evictions; notices void

Notes

Followed by ch. 257 of 2020 (notice-to-quit and continuance protections), which ch. 20 of 2021 ss. 12-17 retied to the CDC eviction order.

Retrieval note

The Governor's July 2020 postponement to October 17, 2020 was not itself retrieved.

A record of The COVID Project. The instrument's text is the source's; the summary fields are The COVID Project's reading of it. Not legal advice.