How much notice is required to raise the rent in Massachusetts?

Verified July 8, 2026 All Massachusetts topics →

Pending legislation — not yet law. The rules on this page reflect current law only. The following bill would change it if enacted:

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 2026-07-08).

Massachusetts has no statute dedicated to rent-increase notice, but for tenants at will (month-to-month) the mechanism is built into the termination statute: a landlord raises rent by giving a written notice under G.L. c. 186, § 12 equal to the rent-payment interval or 30 days, whichever is longer — and the statute expressly allows that termination notice to include an offer of a new tenancy at different terms, which is how the rent-increase-by-notice-to-quit works.

For a monthly tenancy that means at least a full rental period's notice, timed to the rent day. There is no cap on the size or frequency of increases; rent control has been prohibited statewide since the 1994 voter initiative codified as chapter 40P, and no city or town — including Boston, whose home-rule petitions have stalled — may impose it.

Massachusetts rent increase notice at a glance

Notice — month-to-month	30 days
Varies by increase size	Not addressed by statute
Fixed-term leases	Rent under a lease for a fixed term cannot be raised mid-term unless the lease provides for it (e.g., a § 15C-compliant tax escalation clause). At expiration the landlord may propose any new rent for a renewal or new tenancy.
Statewide rent control / stabilization	No
Rent control details	Rent control is prohibited statewide by G.L. c. 40P, the Massachusetts Rent Control Prohibition Act, adopted by voter initiative in 1994. Municipal home-rule petitions to reintroduce rent stabilization (e.g., Boston's 2023 petition) have not been approved by the Legislature, and the perennial local-option 'Tenant Protection Act' bills that would repeal c. 40P are flagged above, not incorporated.
Local rent control preempted	Yes
Frequency limits	Not addressed by statute

Notes and caveats

notice_days_month_to_month is 30 rather than null, unlike the TX/GA/NC derivation states, because § 12 expressly contemplates the notice 'includ[ing] an offer to establish a new tenancy... on terms different from that of the tenancy being terminated' — the statute itself codifies the rent-increase mechanism rather than leaving it wholly to derivation. Page copy must still explain the mechanics: the notice must equal the rent interval or 30 days (whichever is longer) and terminate on a rent day, so a mid-month notice can effectively require closer to 60 days. Tenancies with rent payable at intervals of three months or more require three months' notice. For leases, § 15C separately regulates tax-escalation clauses.

Statute citations

G.L. c. 186, § 12 Official source
G.L. c. 40P (Massachusetts Rent Control Prohibition Act) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Massachusetts General Court site (malegislature.gov): G.L. c. 186, § 15B read in full (current text including the St. 2025, c. 9, §§ 54-55 amendments effective 2025-08-01), c. 186, § 12 read in full, c. 186 chapter index and c. 40P location confirmed on malegislature.gov, cross-checked against the Mass.gov official law-library pages on security deposits and landlord-tenant law (which also confirm c. 40P's continued force and the 2025 broker-fee change to c. 112, § 87DDD1/2).