Federal District Court Declines to Stay Massachusetts Eviction Moratorium

On September 25, 2020, in the case of Baptiste v. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Judge Wolf of US District Court in Boston denied the request of two Massachusetts landlords to stay the eviction moratorium claiming that the landlords were unlikely to prevail on most of the merits of the case.

The eviction moratorium was passed by the Legislature in April and has been extended by Governor Baker until October 17, 2020. Judge Wolf indicated that the moratorium was envisioned as a temporary measure. Housing advocates in Massachusetts credit the ban with preventing thousands of evictions throughout the state. Landlords, however, are unable to collect rent from tenants who are unable to pay.

In particular, smaller landlords rely on rental income to cover property operations and are particularly challenged by the law. So long as the Massachusetts moratorium remains in place, the federal eviction moratorium announced last week by the federal Centers for Disease Control will not apply to Massachusetts households.