What the Federal Moratorium on Evictions Means for Tenants in 2021

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:59:44 GMT

What the Federal Moratorium on Evictions Means for Tenants in 2021

For many tenants, 2020 was a year of stress and uncertainty, and 2021 is shaping up to be little better. Economic and emotional hardships like lockdown-related job loss, school closure, and sickness have made it feel like you have nowhere to go.

For over a year, disease control professionals advised state governors and federal regulators that, under these circumstances, tenants were not supposed to “go” anywhere. So various state and federal moratoriums halting eviction proceedings for failures to pay rent rolled across the nation. Here in Massachusetts, Governor Baker’s moratorium began on April 20, 2020, and was extended until October 16, 2020. And the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) issued a federal moratorium on evictions beginning September 4, 2020, that remains in effect today and is scheduled to end on June 30, 2021.

Massachusetts landlords must go through the courts to obtain an eviction. Especially now, lockouts and “self-help” evictions are unlawful. So what does this process look like, and what protections do tenants have today?

Here are a few things you should know:

The first step in the eviction process for a landlord is to send a “Notice of Termination” or “Notice to Quit” to the tenant. This notice needs to indicate why the tenancy is being terminated. Reasons may include failure to pay rent, breach of contract, or endangering other tenants. For "tenants at will," there doesn’t need to be a specific reason, but the landlord has to provide 30 days written notice before beginning an eviction proceeding against a tenant at will. If there’s a written contract, what constitutes a breach has to be based on the contract. If the termination is based on a failure to pay rent, the tenant must receive at least 14 days’ notice and be offered the opportunity to pay the rent to prevent eviction.
Landlords must place Notices to Quit in a conspicuous area where the tenant frequents or hand them to the tenant directly. The court will deem service invalid if there is evidence that the notice was not actually received for some reason (such as the landlord mailing it to the tenant's address but the letter never reaching the tenant).
During the COVID-19 emergency, Massachusetts landlords that issue a notice to quit for non-payment of rent to a residential tenant must also complete an affidavit attesting to certain facts. This requirement comes from 400 CMR 6.00, through Chapter 257 of the Acts of 2020. As a tenant, please be aware that a landlord can start the process of evicting you now, even if they can’t remove you from the premises.
If you’re a tenant who has just received a notice to quit, you don’t have to leave your unit immediately. You are entitled to a legal proceeding where you can bring defenses against the eviction and can only be forced to leave after a court order.
Many tenants are protected, even now, by the Federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention Order. Protected persons include individuals:

(a) with a net household income under $99,000 ($198,000 for couples);
(b) who are unable to pay rent due to a substantial loss in income or extraordinary medical expenses;
(c) are likely to become homeless if evicted;
(d) have sought or tried to obtain local rental assistance; and
(e) who are making best efforts to pay as much rent as possible

If you meet these requirements, you must fill out an eviction protection declaration and give it to your landlord. Here is a link. The CDC Order does not eliminate your obligation to pay rent or late fees, but it keeps a roof over your head.

Stay safe!

Adrian LeCesne, Esq.

Consider Arbitration in The Covid Era: benefits for construction, housing, and commercial disputes

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:57:28 GMT

Consider Arbitration in The Covid Era: benefits for construction, housing, and commercial disputes

The Covid-19 pandemic, state and federal lockdowns, and consumer withdrawal from public spaces have changed the world. And resilient businesspeople have responded by developing new skills and adapting to the circumstances. In light of the massive backlog of cases in civil courts caused by closures and capacity reductions, I encourage you to consider arbitration.

1. Courts are overwhelmed, forcing commercial disputes down on priority lists.

Since March of 2020, state and federal courts have been operating at less than full capacity, causing staggering backlogs in cases. Many courts have shifted into a sort of “triage” mode—immigration courts hearing only detained dockets for months; housing courts hearing only evictions “for cause” due to moratoriums; and civil courts pushing trial dates back by months and more freely offering continuances. Everything but the courts' most essential or emergency functions has been slowed, if not completely postponed. If health, safety, or a person’s individual liberty is not in jeopardy, it isn’t a priority case, and judges frequently push non-emergency matters far down on their calendars out of necessity.

Commercial disputes, from breach of contract to fraud, revolve around money. An unreliable contractor who doesn’t build to specifications may ruin a homeowner’s life but seldom causes his death. A commercial tenant and landlord can nurse a dispute for years. But, because disputes about money can be cured by the payment of money, courts are more likely to view them as less urgent.

For parties, however, the damage caused by delay is still real and meaningful. When courts are unable to help resolve disputes about jurisdiction, discovery, or applicable law, parties have the alternative of choosing a forum. And courts, generally, will respect these decisions.

2. Efficient, inexpensive technologies are available for parties that are flexible.

Lockdowns, quarantines, and closures over the last year have forced virtually everyone to learn new skills related to remote meetings and virtual forums. This is good if you want to arbitrate outside of court. A landlord living in India can participate in a housing court mediation in Massachusetts on equal footing with a former tenant because everyone, even the judge, is at home or in their personal office.

Clients familiar with technologies like Zoom and Webex can view documents with you as you mark them up, which is often more efficient than a phone call alone. If evidence is properly assembled, moving through documents with parties and a designated neutral can be fast and virtually pain-free, without the cost of travel and paying for a physical forum.

For cases where you want to “look the witness in the eye to see if he sweats," these may not be ideal circumstances—when dealing with parties that have a history of dishonesty or misrepresentation, for example—there are certain qualities that a physical forum offers that can’t quite be reproduced.

You don't see when someone averts his eyes or hesitates; you can’t watch opposing counsel. But for cases that involve principally business disputes, conflicts about dates, evaluation of quality, and professional opinions; for situations where parties are open to stipulating documents and other electronic discovery; and for situations where the better solution is to negotiate an answer but both sides are a shade too proud to bend to letters alone, these new innovations can be viewed as the silver lining on a dark cloud by creating a cheap forum that isn’t court.

3. Arbitration is flexible.

If you are considering a virtual forum, arbitration is a tool that is not merely equal to a court but superior. When you go to a civil court, you have no ability to choose the judge. No choice in his or her background or qualifications. Nor are you able to determine when or how the proceedings will go.

But if the parties can discuss terms in advance, arbitration allows you to craft rules, calendars, and qualifications that guarantee that the issues are heard in the way the parties originally intended for them to be heard. I cannot stress enough how much impact your choice of arbitrator can have. If you have a construction fraud dispute, you can stipulate that your arbitrator be an architect or a lawyer who has litigated at least 5 construction fraud cases or that he or she reside in another state or speak a specific second language (of great benefit in international commercial dispute contexts). If you know that your case turns on a deep understanding of a specialized technological issue or industry-specific knowledge, choosing a neutral with relevant knowledge is an incredible opportunity.

Arbitration offers another benefit that some parties value tremendously: privacy. If your case is unique, you may not want to spend time in a forum where your issue must be resolved in perfect conformity with decades, possibly centuries, of precedent. Sometimes you just want to get things done, based on the facts, in a way that is fair. At other times, one or more of the parties is fighting because to lose would be a reputational injury, and that would be a greater wound than the dollars-and-cents in controversy. Arbitration allows the parties to resolve things quietly, without creating public records or precedent. If you’re the plaintiff in a wrongful arrest case or the victim of fraud who wants the world to know, this may not be a benefit for you. But if the parties are “respectable” businesses that have a disagreement, there is great wisdom in resolving it without fanfare.

It is true that choosing to arbitrate reduces the ability of parties to “fight” over the discovery of documents. But this is mitigated by the ability of the arbitrator to allow reasonable discovery and the necessarily inverse savings in time and tedium that go along with limited discovery. Again, if you’re an environmentalist plaintiff sleuthing out illegal toxic effluent discharges, you likely want and prefer the rigidity of court discovery. But if you’re two neighbors in a dispute about runoff from a home remodeling project, the depth of facts and documents may not merit the cost and delay of court.

And there’s always the question of juries. Courts are unique here in providing a jury of your “peers.” If you have any reservations about placing your legal questions of fact in the hands of a dozen strangers who would likely rather be somewhere else, please consider arbitration as a low-cost and flexible alternative. These days, you might even be able to do it without leaving the house.

law-office-of-adrian-lecesne

What the Federal Moratorium on Evictions Means for Tenants in 2021

What the Federal Moratorium on Evictions Means for Tenants in 2021

Consider Arbitration in The Covid Era: benefits for construction, housing, and commercial disputes

Consider Arbitration in The Covid Era: benefits for construction, housing, and commercial disputes

1. Courts are overwhelmed, forcing commercial disputes down on priority lists.

2. Efficient, inexpensive technologies are available for parties that are flexible.

3. Arbitration is flexible.