sparr | How a "4-6 month" eviction takes 2+ years in MA (Reply)

You might have heard that an eviction in Massachusetts takes 4-6 months. While this is technically an accurate average across all eviction proceedings, it's skewed by most cases settling within the first month or two, usually through mediation or payment. If a case goes to trial to have a tenant removed, it always takes 6+ months.
A tenant with no valid defense who loses every motion, hearing, and appeal can still delay the eviction repeatedly, sometimes a dozen times or more. Each delay adds weeks or months and they can add up to years.

Disclaimers:

This is not legal advice. If you need legal help, consult an attorney. Free legal aid is often available through volunteer lawyer programs.
While court records are public, collecting bulk data is difficult. This article is based on review of dozens of cases but does not represent every case or possible outcome.
Tenants should have fair legal protections, especially against unjust eviction attempts. Nothing here is intended to suggest otherwise.

Timeline of a Prolonged Eviction

This breakdown of the length of each step assumes the landlord acts quickly while the tenant asks for more time and appeals as often and long as possible.
Steps marked with ** delay the case regardless of the legitimacy of the case or the specific request, usually before it reaches a judge for consideration, sometimes based on law. Steps marked with * only delay the case if a judge allows it. Unmarked steps are mostly mandatory once the process has gotten that far.

Phase 1: Before Mandatory Mediation (2-4 Months)

[14-62 days] Landlord serves the notice to quit and waits the required period.
[1-2 weeks] Sheriff serves court papers then Landlord files the case.
[30-60 days] Clerk schedules a "first tier event" with mandatory mediation.

Phase 2: From Mediation to Trial and Ruling (1-14 months)

**[1-3 weeks] Tenant requests extra time to file an answer.
*[0-4 weeks] Judge may grant the request.
**[1-2 months] Tenant applies for rental assistance, pausing the case. Ignoring deadlines or submitting incorrect information can delay the application.
*[0-4 months] Tenant applies for rental assistance repeatedly until a judge stops accepting the delays.

If rental assistance is approved for less than is owed, the landlord will be required to forgive the excess to receive any payment. If they receive payment, they will have to restart the eviction process from the beginning for continued non-payment.

**[1-3 weeks] Tenant requests additional time for discovery.
*[0-8 weeks] Judge may grant the request.
**[1-3 weeks] Tenant requests additional time for the pre-trial process.
*[0-8 weeks] Judge may grant the request.
*[0-6 weeks] Judge usually reschedules the jury trial as a bench trial if the tenant has still failed to follow the earlier processes.
[1 day] The actual trial, whether jury or bench, will usually take less than one full day in court, but...
[0-6+ weeks] Judge may take the case under advisement indefinitely.

From Ruling to Docketing of Appeal (1-7 months)

[0-1 month] Judge may include a delay before entry of judgment.
**[10 days] Tenant waits to file their notice of appeal.
**[1-3 weeks] Tenant asks the judge to reconsider their decision.
*[0 or 10 days] Judge may change their decision.
**[1-3 weeks] Tenant asks the judge to change a specific detail of their decision.
*[0 or 10 days] Judge may change their decision.
Tenant files the notice of appeal.
**[1-3 weeks] Tenant asks to waive the appeal bond.
**[2-3 weeks] Tenant appeals the appeal bond waiver decision.
**[1-3 weeks] Tenant asks to waive the cost of transcripts.
**[2 weeks] Tenant waits before ordering transcripts.
[1 week] Transcriber creates and sends transcripts to the parties and court.
[1-3 weeks] Clerk "assembles the record" of case details for the appeal court.
**[2 weeks] Tenant waits to docket the case with the appeal court.

Landlord may be able to shortcut some of the transcript steps by ordering the transcript(s) in advance, usually for hundreds of dollars.

Appeals Court (7-15+ months)

**[40 days] Tenant waits to file their brief.
**[1-3 weeks] Tenant asks to extend the deadline.
*[0-3 months] Judge may allow extending the deadline.
[0-30 days] Landlord files their brief.
**[14 days] Tenant waits to file a reply.
**[1-3 weeks] Tenant asks to extend the deadline.
*[0-3 months] Judge may allow extending the deadline.
[4-9+ months] Appeals court makes a decision, possibly after scheduling oral arguments.

Supreme Judicial Court (??)

There is much less data available about eviction case processes and outcomes in the SJC. I haven't found enough examples to confidently propose timeframes for this phase.

Execution (2+ months)

[1-2 weeks] Landlord applies for execution of the eviction.
[1-2 months] Sheriff schedules the execution.
Tenant requests a stay of execution.
*[1+ months] The judge may grant the request. Sometimes repeatedly.
[1 day] Sheriff escorts the tenant off the property.

Civil Orders and Judgments

Some parts of the eviction case will usually result in an order that the tenant pay overdue and/or ongoing rent. The landlord might also file a civil case for unpaid rent or other costs and damages. Most eviction defendants are "judgment-proof". Even with court orders for payment, landlords usually never recover unpaid rent.

Potential Partial Solutions

Here are some specific changes to the current process that could reduce the impact of the delaying tactics described above.

Disallow Consecutive Delays

Multiple motions or requests in the same phase of the case should be heard at the same time and only delay the case once. e.g. A single delay between mediation and trial for more time to file an answer, participate in discovery, draft a pre-trial memorandum, and/or pursue rental assistance. Ditto for the requests to waive appeal bond and to waive transcript costs. Ditto for the notice of appeal, motion to reconsider, motion to amend, etc.

Speed Up Scheduling

Housing Court is supposed to be faster than other courts, yet many motion hearings are scheduled 2-3 weeks out, sometimes as much as 8 weeks. When things go faster in Superior Court than Housing Court, something is probably amiss.

Single Justice Appeals

Eviction appeals could be handled by the Single Justice session of the Appeals Court, with a higher bar for basis and bond for further appeal to a panel.

Shorter Timelines

This is surely my most politically charged suggestion. While I agree that states with 1 week evictions are unreasonable, I think our year or longer is just as bad.

From eviction notice to case filing should be 1 month at most, not 2.
Mediation should be scheduled and notice served as the same time as the case filing. It should be 1-3 weeks out like any other notified hearing, not 1-2 months plus 1-2 weeks.
Rental assistance application should be a single 1 month delay.
If non-payment continues after rental assistance, the case should pick back up with no delay, not restart.
Tenants should have days, not weeks, to take steps like ordering transcripts.
Removing the tenant after the final day in court should take days, not months.

Legal Improvements

While I'm at it, here are a few places I think the eviction process and adjacent matters should be more explicitly defined by law, rather than subject to the non-binding opinions of hundreds of different judges. These are, admittedly, more tied to my personal experience than the rest of the article.

Required contents of a notice to quit. It could even be a standard form, with instructions.
Consequences for violating a court order to pay rent while an eviction case is ongoing.
The process for enforcing lease rules regarding losing access to parts of the property, e.g. "If you poop in the pool then you can't use the pool any more".

Author

Thanks for reading this far. My name is Clarence Risher and my friends call me Sparr. As I write this, I am about 10 months into two prolonged evictions in MA in the only home I've ever owned, which have prevented me from selling the property. It's a complex situation, but most of the complexity isn't really relevant to the evictions. I've reached the Appeal Bond Waiver Appeal step once and been through the earlier steps a few times. I anticipate at least 9 more months of delays.
I don't expect this article to make a difference soon enough to affect my own cases. I know that some tenants might use this as a guide to abuse the system. My goal here is to raise awareness of the problems in an attempt to motivate the legislature and courts to make this process more just and fair.
I can be reached at sparr0@gmail.com if you have questions about my personal experience or any of the more general things I've written about here. I am also open to hearing new information that I may have overlooked or misunderstood when writing this article.