Bill H.4356

FILED ON: 2/5/2024

HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4356

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act promoting housing opportunity and mobility through eviction sealing (HOMES).

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. Chapter 239 of the General Laws, as amended by chapter 28 of the acts of 2023, is hereby amended by inserting, in subsection (c), after the words “each court having jurisdiction over an action for summary process” the following words:- , including the number of no-fault evictions, evictions for non-payment of rent, and fault evictions as defined in section 16.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 239, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after section 15 the following section:-

Section 16. (a) As used in this section, the following words, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, shall have the following meanings:-

“Consumer report”, any written, oral or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a person’s credit worthiness, credit standing or credit capacity that is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the person’s eligibility for rental housing or other purposes authorized under section 51 of chapter 93.

“Consumer reporting agency”, any individual, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, cooperative, association, government or governmental subdivision or agency, or other entity that, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties.

“Court”, the trial court of the commonwealth established pursuant to section 1 of chapter 211B and any departments or offices established within the trial court.

“Court record”, paper or electronic records or data in any communicable form compiled by, on file with or in the care custody or control of, the court, that concern a person and relate to the nature or disposition of an eviction action or a lessor action.

“Eviction action”, a summary process action under this chapter to recover possession of residential premises, civil action under section 19 of chapter 139 to obtain an order requiring a tenant or occupant to vacate residential premises, or any other civil action brought against a tenant or occupant to obtain possession of or exclusive access to the residential premises.

“Fault eviction”, an eviction action in which the notice to quit, notice of termination or complaint alleges a material violation of the terms of a residential tenancy or occupancy; provided, however, that an eviction action solely for nonpayment of rent shall not be considered a fault eviction; provided further, however, that an action brought after termination of a tenancy for economic, business or other reasons not constituting a violation of the terms of the tenancy or occupancy shall not be considered a fault eviction.

“Lessor action” any civil action brought against the owner, manager or lessor of residential premises by the tenant or occupant of such premises relating to or arising out of such property, rental, tenancy or occupancy for breach of warranty, breach of any material provision of the rental agreement or other violation of law.

“No-fault eviction” any eviction action in which the notice to quit, notice of termination or complaint does not include an allegation of nonpayment of rent or of violation of any material term of the tenancy or occupancy; provided, however that a no-fault eviction shall include an action brought after termination of a tenancy for economic, business or other reasons not constituting a violation of the terms of the tenancy or occupancy.

(b) Any person having a court record of a no-fault eviction on file in a court may petition the court to seal the court record at any time after the conclusion of the action, including exhaustion of all rights of appeal. The petition shall be on a form furnished by the trial court of the commonwealth, signed under the penalties of perjury, and filed in the same court as the action sought to be sealed. If an action was active in more than 1 court during its pendency, then a petition may be filed in each such court. Notice need not be given to parties to the original action. The court shall comply with the petitioner’s request provided that the court record only pertains to a no-fault eviction and the action has concluded with all rights of appeal exhausted. The court may, in its discretion, process the petition administratively without a hearing.

(c) Any person having a court record in an eviction action for non-payment of rent on file in a court may, on a form furnished by the Trial Court and signed under the penalties of perjury, petition the court to seal the court record. The petition shall be filed in the same court as the action sought to be sealed. If an action was active in more than 1 court during its pendency, then a petition may be filed in each such court. Notice shall be given to parties to the original action. The court shall comply with the petitioner’s request provided that: (i) the record of the action which the petitioner seeks to seal concluded, including exhaustion of all rights of appeal, not less than 3 years before the request; (ii) no eviction action for nonpayment has been brought against the petitioner within the Commonwealth in the 3 years preceding the request; and (iii) the petitioner certifies on the petition that non-payment was due to an economic hardship and such economic hardship has rendered them unable to satisfy the judgment. If no objection is filed by a party within 7 days of filing the petition, the court may, in its discretion, process the petition administratively without a hearing. If an objection is filed within that time, the court shall conduct a hearing to determine the petitioner’s compliance with the foregoing conditions and may require the petitioner complete a financial statement on a form furnished by the Trial Court.

(d) Any person having a court record of a fault eviction on file in a court may, on a form furnished by the Trial Court and signed under the penalties of perjury, petition the court to seal the court record. The petition shall be filed in the same court as the action sought to be sealed. If an action was active in more than 1 court during its pendency, then a petition may be filed in each such court. Notice shall be given to parties to the original action. The court shall comply with the petitioner’s request provided that the record of the action which the petitioner seeks to seal concluded, including exhaustion of all rights of appeal, not less than 5 years before the request and no eviction action for fault or lessor action has been brought against the petitioner within the Commonwealth in the 5 years preceding the request; provided, however, that, if the court record is for a civil action under section 19 of chapter 139, the court shall only comply with the petitioner’s request if, in addition to the preceding requirements, the petitioner has not been convicted of any criminal offense referenced in section 19 of chapter 139 in the 5 years preceding the request and the court finds that sealing the court record is in the interest of justice and public safety. If no objection is filed by a party within 7 days of filing the petition, the court may, in its discretion, process the petition administratively without a hearing. If an objection is filed within that time, the court shall conduct a hearing to determine the petitioner’s compliance with the foregoing conditions.

(e) Any person having a court record of an eviction action that resulted in dismissal or final judgment in favor of the defendant may petition the court to seal the court record at any time after the conclusion of the action, including exhaustion of all rights of appeal. The petition shall be on a form furnished by the Trial Court, signed under the penalties of perjury, and filed in the same court as the action sought to be sealed. If an action was active in more than 1 court during its pendency, then a petition may be filed in each such court. Notice need not be given to parties to the original action. The court may, in its discretion, process the petition administratively without a hearing.

(f)(i) A party who obtains a judgment or enters into an agreement in an eviction action solely for nonpayment of rent, shall, not more than 14 days after satisfaction of the judgment or agreement, file with the court in which the judgment or agreement was entered a notice of satisfaction of the judgment or agreement. A party that has satisfied the judgment or agreement may, upon noncompliance with this subsection by the opposing party, file a petition for the judgment or agreement to be deemed satisfied. Notice shall be given to all parties. The court shall comply with the petitioner’s request to deem the judgment or agreement satisfied if the court record only pertains to an action for nonpayment of rent and the judgment or agreement has been satisfied. If no objection is filed by a party within 7 days of filing the petition, the court may, in its discretion, process the petition administratively without a hearing. If an objection is filed within that time, the court shall conduct a hearing to determine the petitioner’s compliance with the foregoing conditions.

(ii)Upon the filing of a notice of satisfaction of judgment or agreement, or court order deeming the judgment or agreement satisfied, a party may petition the court to seal the court record pertaining to that action. The petition shall be on a form furnished by the Trial Court of the Commonwealth, signed under the penalties of perjury, and filed in the same court as the action sought to be sealed. If an action was active in more than 1 court during its pendency, a petition may be filed in each such court. Notice shall be given to parties to the original action. The court shall comply with the petitioner’s request and seal the court record if the judgment or agreement has been satisfied and the action has concluded with all rights of appeal exhausted. If no objection is filed by a party within 7 days of filing the petition, the court may, in its discretion, process the petition administratively without a hearing. If an objection is filed within that time, the court shall conduct a hearing to determine the petitioner’s compliance.

(g) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the court may, in its discretion, process a petition under this section administratively without a hearing or waive any requirement under this section upon a determination by the court that such waiver is in the interest of justice and public safety.

(h) Upon motion and for good cause shown, or as otherwise authorized by this section, court records sealed under this section may, at the discretion of the court upon a balancing of the interests of the litigants and the public in nondisclosure of the information with the interests of the requesting party, be made available for public safety, scholarly, educational, journalistic or governmental purposes only; provided, however, that the personal identifying information of the parties involved in the action shall remain sealed unless the court determines that release of such information is appropriate and necessary to fulfill the purpose of the request. Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to permit the release of personal identifying information for commercial purposes.

(i) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the dissemination of information contained in a court record sealed pursuant to this section as the court deems necessary or appropriate or the collection of a money judgment.

(j) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person or their representative from obtaining access to sealed eviction records in which the person is a party.

(k) A consumer reporting agency shall not disclose the existence of, or information regarding, a court record sealed under this section or use information contained in a sealed court record as a factor to determine any score or recommendation to be included in a consumer report unless the court record was available for inspection with the court not more than 45 days of the report date. A consumer reporting agency may include in a consumer report, information found in publicly available court records; provided, however, that the consumer report shall include a person’s full name, whether an eviction action was a fault eviction, no-fault eviction, action for non-payment of rent, or lessor action, and the outcome of any eviction action if such information is contained in the publicly available court record. Information contained in a sealed court record shall be removed from the consumer report or from the calculation of any score or recommendation to be included in a consumer report not more than 45 days from the entry of the sealing on the court’s public docket. Any consumer reporting agency that violates this subsection shall be liable to the person who is the subject of the consumer report for damages sustained by the consumer as a result of the failure and the costs of the action, including reasonable attorney’s fees. The attorney general shall enforce the provisions of this paragraph; provided, however, that nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to waive the rights of any person to proceed on a private right of action under this subsection or pursue any other right or remedy under any other law or regulation.

(l) An application used to screen applicants for housing or credit that seeks information concerning prior eviction actions or lessor actions of the applicant shall include the following statement: “An applicant for housing or credit with a sealed record on file with the court pursuant to section 16 of chapter 239 of the General Laws may answer ‘no record’ to an inquiry relative to that sealed court record.” Any order granting a petition to seal an eviction record under this section shall contain the following notice: “An applicant for housing or credit with a sealed record on file with the court pursuant to section 16 of chapter 239 of the General Laws may answer ‘no record’ to an inquiry relative to that sealed court record.”

SECTION 3. Section 52 of chapter 93 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, at the end of subsection (a), the following clause:- (7) court records sealed pursuant to section 16 of chapter 239.

SECTION 4. Subsection (k) of section 16 of chapter 239 shall take effect November 1, 2024.

SECTION 5. Section 3 shall take effect November 1, 2024.