SENATE DOCKET, NO. 728        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1813

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act requiring landlord notice of unsafe conditions.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. The provisions of this bill shall be known as “Robert Taylor’s Law”.

SECTION 2. Chapter 186 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding after Section 19 the following section:-

“SECTION 19A. Notice to tenants of unsafe or unsanitary conditions

A landlord of any real estate except an owner-occupied two- or three-family dwelling shall, within 30 days of a state or local minimum housing code enforcement agency citation or any notification to the landlord of conditions which have the potential to endanger or materially impair the health or safety of tenants, notify all tenants [potentially affected by said violation] of said non-compliance or condition; provided, that additional notification be provided for every additional thirty days for which said real estate remains in non-compliance or in such condition. If any real estate is not in compliance with either state or local health or building codes, no lease for said real estate, nor any extension of any existing lease, shall be proffered to any prospective or current tenant without accompanying notification of the property’s non-compliant status. No provision of notice under this section shall be waivable, either implicitly or explicitly.

The department of public safety and the department of public health, in consultation with the department of housing and community development, shall each promulgate regulations to implement this section, including the incorporation of this section in the state building code and state sanitary code and the form and means of transmission of any notice required by this section.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or eliminate any other rights held by tenants or landlords pursuant to other statutes or regulations.”