How much notice do I need to give a tenant that a lease will not be renewed and can I show the home while the lease is active?
Additional Information:
I presently rent my Newton home to an individual on a one year lease. I am dissatisfied with this tenant and will not be renewing his lease. How much notice do I need to give him that I will be terminating him as a renter and how soon can I arrange to start showing it to other potential renters?
Attorney Answer:
The existence of the lease for a one-year term negates any need for you to provide notice to the tenant. As of the last day of the lease, the tenancy terminates by operation of law. If the tenant “holds over” after the expiration of the lease, you may commence eviction proceedings without the need for a notice to terminate the tenancy. The lease probably has language governing your right to show the apartment. In the absence of any such language, the law would provide that showings of the apartment can only occur with the tenant’s consent, but that such consent may not be unreasonably withheld.
Attorney Alan Fanger is a Boston landlord tenant lawyer with offices in Wellesley. He serves the entire Greater Boston and Boston metrowest region including Norfolk County, Suffolk County, Middlesex County and the communities of Arlington, Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Canton, Concord, Dedham, Dover, Framingham, Lexington, Milton, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norwood, Quincy, Sherborn, Sudbury, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, and Weston, Massachusetts.
