Does Massachusetts have an implied warranty of habitability?

Statute and a court-recognized implied warranty, each doing independent work. Massachusetts has no single statute saying a landlord shall maintain fit premises. The affirmative standards live in the State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410.000, which the Department of Public Health promulgates under chapter 111 section 127A, and the statutory machinery around it supplies the remedies: chapter 111 section 127L for repair and deduct, chapter 239 section 8A for the rent-withholding defense, and chapter 186 sections 14, 18 and 19 for interference with quiet enjoyment, retaliation and unsafe conditions.

How long does a landlord have to make repairs in Massachusetts?

14 days. The private repair track runs on two counts, not one: after the tenant gives the owner written notice of a violation certified by the board of health or local code enforcement agency, the owner must begin repairs within 5 days and complete them within 14 days. The unsafe-conditions statute uses no number at all, requiring correction within a reasonable time after written notice sent by registered or certified mail, or notice from a board of health or code enforcement agency.

Can a tenant repair and deduct in Massachusetts?

Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: A tenant may not deduct more than four months' rent in any twelve-month period. The base is the highest monthly rent during the tenancy or during the twelve months before the violation is repaired, whichever period is shorter.

Can a tenant withhold rent for repair problems in Massachusetts?

Only on conditions that commonly defeat it — see this page — How: withholding raised as a defense once the landlord sues; a court or agency escrow program — Withholding in Massachusetts is a defense, not a right the statute grants up front. Chapter 239 section 8A applies in an action to recover possession brought on a notice to quit for nonpayment of rent, or where the tenancy was terminated without fault of the tenant, and it lets the tenant claim amounts including the difference between the agreed rent and the fair value of the use and occupation of the premises, plus sums spent on certified repairs and other statutory damages.

Can a landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs in Massachusetts?

Protected by a general retaliation statute — The statute counts in months: receipt of a notice terminating the tenancy other than for nonpayment of rent, a notice of rent increase, or notice of any substantial alteration in the terms of the tenancy within six months after the tenant's protected act creates a rebuttable presumption that the notice or action is a reprisal. — The presumption is rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence of an independent justification for the landlord's action — a materially heavier burden than the ordinary civil standard. Damages are the greater of actual damages or not less than one month's rent and not more than three months' rent, plus costs and a reasonable attorney's fee.

Can a lease make the tenant responsible for repairs in Massachusetts?

Not waivable — any qualifier is stated on this page. The bar is real but textually qualified. The Supreme Judicial Court held that the implied warranty, in so far as it is based on the State Sanitary Code and local health regulations, cannot be waived by any provision in the lease or rental agreement; the opinion does not claim more than that, so a flat 'the warranty can never be waived' overstates it.

What does Massachusetts law require a landlord to repair?

Verified August 29, 2026 All Massachusetts topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. This page reflects the law in force today. The following measure would change Massachusetts's landlord-tenant law:

HD2501 / 'An Act enabling local options for tenant protections' (194th General Court, 2025-2026) — Would repeal G.L. c. 40P (the Massachusetts Rent Control Prohibition Act) and replace it with a local-option regime letting municipalities cap annual rent increases at the lesser of CPI or 5% and adopt just-cause eviction. Perennial refile of prior sessions' H.1304/H.1378/H.2103, none of which advanced. Status: Filed in the 194th General Court; in committee; not enacted as of the checked date. Chapter 40P remains fully in force. (checked July 8, 2026).

Massachusetts sets its habitability standards by regulation rather than by a single statute: the State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410.000, tells owners what a dwelling must have, and a landlord who falls short faces both code enforcement and private remedies.

Cited to 105 CMR 410.000 (State Sanitary Code Chapter II, Minimum Standards of Fitness for Human Habitation) 410.003, 410.100, 410.110, 410.150, 410.160, 410.180, 410.420, 410.550, 410.630, 410.640 and 8 more cited sources · Verified August 29, 2026

Alongside it every residential lease, written or oral, carries a court-made warranty that the premises are fit for human occupation, and because the rent obligation depends on that warranty a tenant can defend a nonpayment eviction on the condition of the unit. Heat must be supplied from September 15 through May 31 at 68 degrees during the day and 64 at night, never above 78, with hot water between 110 and 130 degrees. A tenant whose violation has been certified by the board of health, and whose owner fails to begin repairs within 5 days or finish within 14, may repair and deduct up to four months' rent in any twelve-month period — the highest such ceiling in the country. Rent withholding works as a defense and counterclaim once the case is in court, where a deposit with the clerk is discretionary rather than automatic, and sanitary code failures are also enumerated unfair practices, which opens multiple damages and fees. Retaliation for a repair complaint within six months is presumed, rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence.

Massachusetts habitability & repairs at a glance

Where the duty comes from	Statute and a court-recognized implied warranty, each doing independent work
Duty source details	Massachusetts has no single statute saying a landlord shall maintain fit premises. The affirmative standards live in the State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410.000, which the Department of Public Health promulgates under chapter 111 section 127A, and the statutory machinery around it supplies the remedies: chapter 111 section 127L for repair and deduct, chapter 239 section 8A for the rent-withholding defense, and chapter 186 sections 14, 18 and 19 for interference with quiet enjoyment, retaliation and unsafe conditions. Alongside all of that, the Supreme Judicial Court held in Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway (1973) that every residential lease, written or oral, for a term or at will, carries an implied warranty that the premises are fit for human occupation, and that decision still does independent work: it made the tenant's rent obligation dependent on the landlord's compliance, set the damages measure, listed the materiality factors, and supplied the termination remedy.
Who is covered	Statewide — no coverage split
Where the repair standards live	An administrative, sanitary, or health code adopted under separate authority
What must be kept in repair	The operative standards are regulatory. The State Sanitary Code sets minimum standards of fitness for human habitation and covers kitchen and bathroom facilities, potable and hot water, heating systems and temperatures, electrical service, fire safety, structural elements, egress, sanitation and pests, lead, and occupancy limits. The kitchen standard requires cabinets or shelving, a countertop, a sink, and space and facilities for a cooktop, oven and refrigerator with freezer, together with a conventional cooktop and oven of at least 1.7 cubic feet and a refrigerator with freezer of at least 11.0 cubic feet combined, except so far as a written rental agreement places those on the occupant. The bathroom standard requires a toilet with a seat and a sink in the same room plus a bathtub or shower, not reached by passing through another unit. Habitable space must not be subject to excess moisture, must give at least seven feet of ceiling height over three quarters of the floor area, and must provide 150 square feet for the first occupant plus 100 for each additional, with sleeping rooms at 70 square feet for one occupant or 50 per occupant for two or more. Unless the regulation says otherwise, the owner provides all maintenance, repairs and equipment needed to comply. A separate regulatory list names the conditions always deemed to endanger or materially impair health or safety, including a water supply failure lasting 24 hours or longer, a heat failure, a utility shutoff not restored, blocked egress, lead paint violations, structural defects, missing smoke or carbon monoxide detection, and a failure to keep the unit free of pests. Local housing codes count too: the withholding defense is tied to the standard of fitness established under the state sanitary code, the state building code, or any other ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation setting such standards.
Heat standard type	A duty to supply heat or maintain temperatures while the unit is occupied
Heat standard details	The owner must provide heat in every habitable room and every room containing a toilet, shower or bathtub from September 15 through May 31, at a minimum of 68 degrees Fahrenheit between 7:00 A.M. and 11:00 P.M. and 64 degrees between 11:01 P.M. and 6:59 A.M., and the heating system must never push a room above 78 degrees. Temperature is measured five feet above the floor and more than five feet from an exterior wall. A local board of health may shift the season, ending it no earlier than May 15 or starting it no later than September 30, by posting notice on the municipality's website. The owner must also supply and maintain a heating system capable of those temperatures; fireplaces, wood or pellet stoves and portable electric space heaters do not count as a heating system, and certain portable and unvented heaters are prohibited outright. Hot water must be supplied between 110 and 130 degrees at fixtures generally, and between 110 and 120 degrees at a bathtub or shower.
Headline repair day count	14 days
Notice and repair-window rules	The private repair track runs on two counts, not one: after the tenant gives the owner written notice of a violation certified by the board of health or local code enforcement agency, the owner must begin repairs within 5 days and complete them within 14 days. The unsafe-conditions statute uses no number at all, requiring correction within a reasonable time after written notice sent by registered or certified mail, or notice from a board of health or code enforcement agency. The withholding defense has no cure clock either; its gate is knowledge, not time, and it turns on the owner having known of the conditions before the tenant fell into arrears, with written notice of a board of health inspection creating a presumption that the owner knew on the date the notice was received. Board of health enforcement runs on its own clocks: for conditions on the always-deemed-dangerous list the board must order correction within 12 hours of the inspection and require a good-faith effort to correct within 24 hours of service, and for other violations it must order within seven calendar days of the inspection and allow up to 30 calendar days from service, with no order exceeding 30 days unless a hearing has been held.
Repair and deduct	Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: A tenant may not deduct more than four months' rent in any twelve-month period. The base is the highest monthly rent during the tenancy or during the twelve months before the violation is repaired, whichever period is shorter. This is the highest repair-and-deduct ceiling in the country, and it is a ceiling on this remedy only, not a general limit on what a tenant may recover. — This is not self-help on a bare complaint. The violation must first be certified by the board of health or the local code enforcement agency — or, in Boston, Worcester and Cambridge, by the commissioner of housing inspection or by a court. The tenant then gives the owner written notice, and the remedy opens only if the owner fails to begin repairs within 5 days or to complete them within 14. No rights arise for conditions or violations caused by the tenant, by a member of the tenant's family or household, or by a business invitee or guest, and none arise if the tenant has unreasonably denied the owner access to the unit. Amounts a tenant reasonably spends under this section are expressly recoverable as part of the withholding counterclaim, so the two remedies stack rather than compete.
Rent withholding or escrow	Only on conditions that commonly defeat it — see this page — How: withholding raised as a defense once the landlord sues; a court or agency escrow program — Withholding in Massachusetts is a defense, not a right the statute grants up front. Chapter 239 section 8A applies in an action to recover possession brought on a notice to quit for nonpayment of rent, or where the tenancy was terminated without fault of the tenant, and it lets the tenant claim amounts including the difference between the agreed rent and the fair value of the use and occupation of the premises, plus sums spent on certified repairs and other statutory damages. Four conditions must hold: the owner knew of the conditions before the tenant fell into arrears; the landlord does not show the tenant caused them, though the tenant carries the burden as to violations appearing solely in the part of the premises under the tenant's control; the premises are not a hotel or motel, nor a lodging or rooming house where the occupant has stayed less than three consecutive months; and the landlord does not show the conditions cannot be remedied without the premises being vacated, subject to a carve-out for lead paint removal. Proof of a sanitary or building code violation that may endanger or materially impair health, safety or well-being creates a presumption that qualifying conditions existed, and a certified inspection report is prima facie evidence. While the requirements are met there is no recovery of possession pending final disposition. Escrow is discretionary, not automatic: the court may require the tenant to pay the fair value of use and occupation, less the tenant's award, to the clerk, and tenants may deposit disputed amounts voluntarily; funds may be spent on repairing the premises, including through a receiver. If the landlord's net award exceeds the tenant's, the landlord still does not recover possession if the tenant pays the balance within one week after receiving written notice from the court of the amount due. The retaliation protections apply within this section as well.
Termination over habitability failures	Yes — supplied by court decisions — There is no uniform-act termination statute in Massachusetts. The right comes from the implied warranty: on a material breach the tenant may terminate the lease and recover any security deposit paid, while remaining liable for the reasonable value, if any, of the use of the premises for the time the tenant was in possession. Materiality is judged on stated factors — the seriousness of the defects and their effect on habitability, how long they persist, whether the owner or the owner's agent received written or oral notice, whether the residence could be made habitable within a reasonable time, and whether the defects resulted from abnormal conduct or use by the tenant. Because the court made the rent obligation dependent on the landlord's compliance, a tenant does not need to prove constructive eviction to reach this remedy. A tenancy terminated without fault of the tenant also opens the withholding defense.
Essential-service remedies	Yes — distinct statutory remedies for essential-service failures — Essential failures ride the fastest enforcement clock. A water supply failure lasting 24 hours or longer, a heat failure below the required temperatures, and a utility shutoff that is not restored all sit on the list of conditions always deemed to endanger or materially impair health or safety, which means a board of health must order correction within 12 hours of inspecting and require a good-faith effort to correct within 24 hours of service, rather than allowing the 30 days other violations get. Chapter 186 section 14 adds a private remedy where a landlord fails to furnish water, hot water, heat, light, power or gas: the tenant recovers the greater of actual and consequential damages or three months' rent, plus costs and a reasonable attorney's fee, and those damages may be applied as a setoff or in recoupment against a rent claim; courts also have equity jurisdiction to restrain violations, and the section carries a criminal penalty of a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $300 or imprisonment for not more than six months. The deliberate shutoff and lockout side of the same section is covered with the eviction rules.
Retaliation protection	Protected by a general retaliation statute — The statute counts in months: receipt of a notice terminating the tenancy other than for nonpayment of rent, a notice of rent increase, or notice of any substantial alteration in the terms of the tenancy within six months after the tenant's protected act creates a rebuttable presumption that the notice or action is a reprisal. — The presumption is rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence of an independent justification for the landlord's action — a materially heavier burden than the ordinary civil standard. Damages are the greater of actual damages or not less than one month's rent and not more than three months' rent, plus costs and a reasonable attorney's fee. A companion provision applies the same protection inside a summary process action for possession, and the rent-withholding section expressly imports these protections into that defense. — Commencing, proceeding with, or obtaining relief in a judicial or administrative action to enforce housing laws; reporting a violation or suspected violation to a board of health, an inspector, or another agency responsible for enforcing them; making a written complaint to the landlord about a violation; exercising rights under the utility-service statute; and organizing or joining a tenants' union or similar organization.
Damages, penalties, and defenses	Two different abatement measures operate, and they are not the same figure. The court's measure under the implied warranty is the difference between the value of the apartment as warranted and the rental value of the apartment in its defective condition, limited to the period the unit remained uninhabitable after the landlord had notice of the defects — notice bounds the damages window, it is not just procedure. The withholding statute states its claimable amount differently, as the difference between the agreed rent and the fair value of the use and occupation of the premises, plus amounts reasonably spent on certified repairs. On top of that, the Attorney General's regulations make a set of condition and maintenance failures enumerated unfair or deceptive acts: renting a unit that at the inception of the tenancy contains a condition amounting to a violation of law that may endanger or materially impair the occupant's health, safety or well-being or is unfit for human habitation; failing during the tenancy, after notice under the repair-and-deduct statute, to remedy a violation or keep the unit fit; failing to disclose to a prospective tenant a violation the owner knew of or could have found on reasonable inspection; representing that a unit meets all legal requirements when it does not; and failing to comply with the State Sanitary Code or other applicable law within a reasonable time after notice of a violation from the tenant or an agency. Those characterizations open chapter 93A relief, where a willful or knowing violation carries multiple damages and attorney's fees. The unsafe-conditions statute adds a damages action for the tenant or any person rightfully on the premises injured by a failure to correct, with no fee provision of its own, and it does not apply to an owner-occupied two- or three-family dwelling. The landlord's defenses run through the same three points everywhere: the condition was caused by the tenant, the tenant's household, or a guest or business invitee; the tenant unreasonably denied access; and the condition cannot be remedied without the premises being vacated.
Can the duty be waived or shifted	Not waivable — any qualifier is stated on this page
Waiver and delegation rules	The bar is real but textually qualified. The Supreme Judicial Court held that the implied warranty, in so far as it is based on the State Sanitary Code and local health regulations, cannot be waived by any provision in the lease or rental agreement; the opinion does not claim more than that, so a flat 'the warranty can never be waived' overstates it. The rent-withholding defense carries its own express bar: any provision of a rental agreement purporting to waive that section is against public policy and void. Massachusetts has no uniform-act-style carve-out letting a landlord delegate repairs to the tenant of a single-family home. The one narrow reallocation the standards themselves allow is that a written rental agreement may place the cooking stove, oven and refrigerator on the occupant.
Leading court decisions	Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 363 Mass. 184, 293 N.E.2d 831 (1973) — Held that in a rental of any premises for dwelling purposes, under a written or oral lease, for a specified time or at will, there is an implied warranty that the premises are fit for human occupation, meaning that at the inception of the rental there are no latent or patent defects in facilities vital to residential use and that those essential facilities will remain livable for the term. The warranty, in so far as it is based on the State Sanitary Code and local health regulations, cannot be waived by any lease provision. The tenant's covenant to pay rent is dependent on the warranty, so constructive eviction need not be shown; damages are the difference between the value of the unit as warranted and its rental value in the defective condition, limited to the period after the landlord had notice; and on a material breach the tenant may terminate and recover the security deposit, remaining liable for the reasonable value of any use of the premises while in possession.
Local rules	Local law does substantial work in Massachusetts. Boards of health enforce the State Sanitary Code building by building, and it is a board's certification of a violation that unlocks the repair-and-deduct remedy; in Boston, Worcester and Cambridge the certifying official is instead the commissioner of housing inspection, or a court. A board of health may also move the heating season within stated limits by posting notice on the municipality's website. The withholding defense is written to reach standards of fitness set by the state sanitary code, the state building code, or any other ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation establishing such standards, so a municipal housing code is part of the answer wherever one exists.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Massachusetts Habitability & Repair Laws (verified August 29, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/habitability/massachusetts/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

The heating season moved in 2023 — The current season runs September 15 through May 31. Sources still printing September 16 through June 14 are quoting the pre-2023 code. The night figure is 64 degrees between 11:01 P.M. and 6:59 A.M., not 68 around the clock, and there is a ceiling as well as a floor: the heating system may not push any room above 78 degrees. A local board of health can shift the season, but only within limits — it may end no earlier than May 15 and start no later than September 30.
Four months' rent is a repair ceiling, not a rent ceiling — The four-months figure is the maximum a tenant may deduct for repairs in a twelve-month period, measured against the highest monthly rent during the tenancy or during the twelve months before the violation is repaired, whichever period is shorter. It is not a cap on what a tenant can recover in a withholding case, and it is not a licence to stop paying rent. It also is not available on the tenant's say-so: without a certification from the board of health or local code enforcement agency — the commissioner of housing inspection or a court, in Boston, Worcester and Cambridge — there is no repair-and-deduct right at all.
'The warranty can never be waived' overstates the case — The Supreme Judicial Court's non-waiver holding carries a parenthetical that most summaries drop: the warranty cannot be waived by any lease provision in so far as it is based on the State Sanitary Code and local health regulations. The statutory withholding defense has its own flat bar on waiver. Beyond that the opinion does not say, and the sanitary code itself allows a written rental agreement to put the cooking stove, oven and refrigerator on the occupant.
Withholding is a defense, not a right to stop paying — Chapter 239 section 8A gives the tenant a defense and counterclaim once the landlord sues for possession; it does not itself authorize withholding. Withholding is simply what puts a tenant in the position to use it, and the tenant who withholds is betting on the four statutory conditions holding up. A deposit with the court clerk is discretionary — the court may require the fair value of use and occupation less the tenant's award, and tenants may deposit voluntarily — so a Massachusetts tenant is not automatically paying rent into court.
Two clock sets, and they belong to different parties — The private repair clocks are 5 days to begin and 14 days to complete after certified notice. The board of health enforcement clocks are different: for a condition on the always-deemed-dangerous list, an order within 12 hours of inspection requiring a good-faith effort to correct within 24 hours of service; for anything else, an order within seven calendar days requiring correction within 30 calendar days, and no order longer than 30 days without a hearing. Mixing the two produces the common error that a Massachusetts landlord has 30 days to fix a heat failure.
Two different abatement formulas — The court's warranty measure is the value of the unit as warranted minus its rental value in the defective condition, running only from the date the landlord had notice. The withholding statute frames its claim as the agreed rent minus the fair value of use and occupation. Where the rent sits below market value the two produce different numbers, and quoting one as though it were the other is a common slip.
Sanitary code failures are also unfair practices — The Attorney General's regulations enumerate renting or maintaining a unit in violation, and ignoring sanitary code notices, as unfair or deceptive acts. That is the route to consumer-protection relief, including multiple damages and attorney's fees for a willful or knowing violation. Two details are worth keeping: the in-tenancy limb is tied to notice given under the repair-and-deduct statute, and the regulation makes these enumerated unfair practices rather than automatic liability.

Common questions: Massachusetts habitability & repairs

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Does Massachusetts have an implied warranty of habitability?: Statute and a court-recognized implied warranty, each doing independent work. Massachusetts has no single statute saying a landlord shall maintain fit premises. The affirmative standards live in the State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410.000, which the Department of Public Health promulgates under chapter 111 section 127A, and the statutory machinery around it supplies the remedies: chapter 111 section 127L for repair and deduct, chapter 239 section 8A for the rent-withholding defense, and chapter 186 sections 14, 18 and 19 for interference with quiet enjoyment, retaliation and unsafe conditions.
How long does a landlord have to make repairs in Massachusetts?: 14 days. The private repair track runs on two counts, not one: after the tenant gives the owner written notice of a violation certified by the board of health or local code enforcement agency, the owner must begin repairs within 5 days and complete them within 14 days. The unsafe-conditions statute uses no number at all, requiring correction within a reasonable time after written notice sent by registered or certified mail, or notice from a board of health or code enforcement agency.
Can a tenant repair and deduct in Massachusetts?: Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: A tenant may not deduct more than four months' rent in any twelve-month period. The base is the highest monthly rent during the tenancy or during the twelve months before the violation is repaired, whichever period is shorter.
Can a tenant withhold rent for repair problems in Massachusetts?: Only on conditions that commonly defeat it — see this page — How: withholding raised as a defense once the landlord sues; a court or agency escrow program — Withholding in Massachusetts is a defense, not a right the statute grants up front. Chapter 239 section 8A applies in an action to recover possession brought on a notice to quit for nonpayment of rent, or where the tenancy was terminated without fault of the tenant, and it lets the tenant claim amounts including the difference between the agreed rent and the fair value of the use and occupation of the premises, plus sums spent on certified repairs and other statutory damages.
Can a landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs in Massachusetts?: Protected by a general retaliation statute — The statute counts in months: receipt of a notice terminating the tenancy other than for nonpayment of rent, a notice of rent increase, or notice of any substantial alteration in the terms of the tenancy within six months after the tenant's protected act creates a rebuttable presumption that the notice or action is a reprisal. — The presumption is rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence of an independent justification for the landlord's action — a materially heavier burden than the ordinary civil standard. Damages are the greater of actual damages or not less than one month's rent and not more than three months' rent, plus costs and a reasonable attorney's fee.
Can a lease make the tenant responsible for repairs in Massachusetts?: Not waivable — any qualifier is stated on this page. The bar is real but textually qualified. The Supreme Judicial Court held that the implied warranty, in so far as it is based on the State Sanitary Code and local health regulations, cannot be waived by any provision in the lease or rental agreement; the opinion does not claim more than that, so a flat 'the warranty can never be waived' overstates it.

Citations

105 CMR 410.000 (State Sanitary Code Chapter II, Minimum Standards of Fitness for Human Habitation) · 410.003, 410.100, 410.110, 410.150, 410.160, 410.180, 410.420, 410.550, 410.630, 410.640 (verified 2026) Official source
G.L. c. 111, § 127A (authority for the State Sanitary Code) (verified 2026) Official source
G.L. c. 111, § 127L (repair and deduct) (verified 2026) Official source
G.L. c. 239, § 8A (rent withholding; grounds, presumptions, procedure) (verified 2026) Official source
G.L. c. 186, § 14 (interference with quiet enjoyment; failure to furnish utilities) (verified 2026) Official source
G.L. c. 186, § 18 (reprisal for reporting violations or tenant organizing) (verified 2026) Official source
G.L. c. 186, § 19 (unsafe conditions; correction after written notice) (verified 2026) Official source
940 CMR 3.17 (Attorney General's regulations; conditions and maintenance of a dwelling unit) · 3.17(1) (verified 2026) Official source
G.L. c. 93A, § 9 (consumer protection remedies) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct reading of the State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410.000 (Minimum Standards of Fitness for Human Habitation, State Sanitary Code Chapter II), in the Department of Public Health's official published text as amended in the 2023 cycle, with the temperature, hot water, kitchen and bathroom, habitability, deemed-dangerous-condition and correction-time sections read in full; the Attorney General's general regulations, 940 CMR 3.00, read at section 3.17 in the official published text; the official text of the General Laws on the Legislature's site at chapter 111 sections 127A and 127L, chapter 239 section 8A, and chapter 186 sections 14, 18 and 19; the bill histories for H.1489 and H.1664 and the 194th General Court's session calendar on the same site; and the full opinion in Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 363 Mass. 184 (1973), with its citation confirmed against the court's own filing date.