Will the pandemic prompt more renters to ditch long-term leases?
The are two alternatives to long-term leases that tenants may find more attractive in this pandemic-burdened economy.
The novel coronavirus has shed a harsh spotlight on the Boston area’s competitive and expensive rental market, including how tenants lease apartments.
The majority lease for a year or two, but Massachusetts law recognizes two other tenancies that could play more of a role as the pandemic’s economic effects linger.
(Breaking your lease during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The first is a “tenancy at will,” which is generally a month-to-month agreement between a landlord and a tenant to keep paying for an already-occupied apartment.
“Let’s say a tenant passes a lease term, and they keep paying rent after; it then turns into a tenancy at will,” said Boston real estate lawyer Adam T. Sherwin.
Tenancies at will are typically beneficial to both sides: The landlord keeps getting rent, and the tenant continues to have a place to stay. All it takes is an oral agreement to seal the deal, but getting something in writing is advisable, the tenant groups and lawyers we spoke to advised.
These agreements could become more common amid the uncertainty of the pandemic, as renters, especially those who continue to telecommute, mull whether to renew long-term leases.
Where a tenancy at will gets tricky, the lawyers said, is when it comes time to break it. A lot of people might assume that either party can simply just walk away from it. Not true. Just like with a more conventional lease, one side has to warn the other in advance that the agreement is ending.
Massachusetts law establishes time frames for when tenants and landlords are required to give notice. If the rent is due every three months or more, then either party has to give at least three months’ notice that they are terminating the lease, according to Michelle Rosin, a Boston real estate lawyer. If the rent is due every one or two months, then the notice must be equal to the interval between scheduled payments or 30 days, whichever is longer, Rosin explained. If the tenant has stopped paying rent, however, then the landlord needs to give only two weeks’ notice.
But what happens if a tenant won’t leave? A “tenancy of sufferance” is when someone who had been legally allowed to rent the apartment sticks around even after a landlord gives sufficient notice.
Ending a tenancy at sufferance creates another potentially tricky situation given the pandemic. An eviction is required, but there is a moratorium on them in Massachusetts due to the novel coronavirus. And that moratorium probably won’t lift until weeks after Governor Charlie Baker’s emergency declaration ends.
“Unless the tenant at sufferance is damaging the apartment or threatening another person’s safety, an eviction is not allowed right now,” Sherwin explained.
Sherwin said he has heard enough from landlords during the pandemic that he expects “a huge backlog of evictions” once the moratorium is lifted.
Right now, it’s unclear how common tenancies of sufferance are in the Boston area — they’re unheard of in the region’s legion of newer luxury developments — but tenancies at will are frequent enough that landlords do debate the pros and cons, said Doug Quattrochi, executive director of MassLandlords, a nonprofit.
“My anecdotal perception is that it’s split,” he said comparing the number of tenancies at will against the number of conventional long-term leases.
The longer conventional leases bring more stability, especially for landlords, said Skip Schloming, executive director of the Small Property Owners Association, a Cambridge-based advocacy group. Month-to-month arrangements on the other hand can provide flexibility for tenants and landlords. They are also preferable in areas of the region where “the tenant and landlord populations are perhaps not quite as literate, so they share an informal understanding of their rights and responsibilities,” Schloming said via e-mail.
There is one big challenge in tenancies at will for landlords however, Quattrochi said: Getting people to maintain a month-to-month agreement during the winter. Many month-to-month tenants will try to end their agreements then, when fewer people are looking to rent, according to MassLandlords.
That’s where a long-term pact comes in handy — probably one inked before the cold comes.
Subscribe to the Globe’s free real estate newsletter — our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design — at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @globehomes.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com