Facing eviction can be a frightening experience. Not only could you be forced out of your home, but you could also face damage to your credit and could have difficulty finding an apartment in the future with a judgement of eviction on your record.
 
That's why it is so important to try to fight eviction if you believe that you are being treated unfairly and your landlord is acting unlawfully. A Boston tenant lawyer can provide you with assistance fighting eviction so you can try to avoid the serious consequences that can occur.
 
How Can you Fight an Unjust Eviction as a Tenant?
 
When a landlord wants to evict you in Massachusetts, he or she cannot just force you to leave your rental unit. There is a formal legal process that needs to be followed in order for you to be evicted. This process involves the landlord providing you with notice of the eviction and grounds for why you're being evicted. As soon as you receive notice, you can try talking with your landlord to see if you can resolve the problem and avoid the progression of the eviction.
 
If a landlord is committed to moving forward with eviction after providing notice and you don't remedy the situation – such as by paying rent the landlord claims you owe – the landlord would need to file a complaint with the court and you'd be served a summons to attend a hearing.
 
This hearing provides you with your chance to fight an unjust eviction if you believe that your landlord is acting inappropriately or unlawfully. For example, if your landlord is attempting to evict you because the landlord claims you did not pay the required rent on the apartment rental unit, you could successfully avoid eviction by showing that you actually did pay the rent that was required of you.
 
You could also provide justification for not paying the rent, such as showing the court that there were serious unrepaired defects in the property and that you paid out of your rent money to repair those defects in order to make the unit inhabitable after repeatedly requesting the landlord make fixes to no avail.
 
Typically, landlords would need to show that they had grounds for eviction in order for the court to order that a tenant actually be evicted. You could disprove the landlord's arguments for evicting you or could raise affirmative defenses showing your behavior was justified. If you are successful, the court will not grant the landlord's order of eviction so you won't have to leave your home or end up with an eviction on your record.
 
A Boston tenant lawyer can provide you with assistance understanding the eviction process and taking steps to try to fight to remain in your home. You should contact an attorney as soon as you receive notice that you are being evicted because you have a limited time to act if you want to try to remain in your home and avoid having a judgement of eviction on your record.