Not on its own. Only the owner or lessor can bring an eviction case, but in an October 2026 decision the Appeals Court held that the Housing Court had jurisdiction where the owner and its property manager were both named as plaintiffs. The court affirmed the eviction judgment and rejected the tenant’s late filing and other procedural arguments. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
In November 2024, the owner of the building, acting through its property management company, served the tenant with a rent increase notice. The notice offered a new tenancy starting January 1, 2025, at a higher rent, and told the tenant to leave if he did not agree. The tenant did not sign it. A summary process case was then filed in the Northeast Housing Court, with both the owner and the property manager named as plaintiffs. After a trial, the judge entered judgment for possession for the landlord and denied the tenant’s motion for reconsideration.
What the court decided
In Lennhoff Properties, LLC v. Henry, No. 25-P-1370 (Mass. App. Ct. October 5, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision), the Appeals Court affirmed the judgment and the order denying reconsideration. It rejected each of the tenant’s arguments.
Who can bring the case. Only the owner or lessor of the property may bring an eviction case. If the named plaintiff is neither, the court has no jurisdiction and must dismiss. Rental Prop. Mgt. Servs. v. Hatcher, 479 Mass. 542 (2018). The tenant relied on Hatcher, but here both the property manager and the owner were named on the complaint, and no one disputed at trial who owned the building. So the Housing Court could hear the case.
The late filing. The landlord tried to file on the scheduled entry date. The clerk rejected the filing because the return of service for the notice to quit was missing. The landlord fixed the problem and the case was docketed the next day. The court held the judge did not abuse his discretion in letting the case go forward, pointing to a Housing Court standing order on time standards that calls for judgment that gives the parties a fair chance to present their claims.
New arguments on appeal. The tenant argued for the first time on appeal that the landlord’s filing attorney missed the first court date and that he never got a notice of appearance for the attorney who did attend. Because he did not raise these points in the trial court, he could not raise them on appeal. Carey v. New England Organ Bank, 446 Mass. 270, 285 (2006).
The continuance. The judge allowed the landlord’s motion to postpone the trial on the morning it was set to start because the landlord’s lawyer suddenly could not attend. Whether to grant a continuance is up to the trial judge, and the court found no abuse of discretion.
Reconsideration. A motion for reconsideration must point to changed circumstances, such as new evidence or a change in the law, or to a specific error in the ruling. Audubon Hill S. Condominium Ass’n v. Community Ass’n Underwriters of Am., Inc., 82 Mass. App. Ct. 461, 470 (2012). The tenant identified neither. The court also found no error in refusing to make the landlord produce the rent increases of every other tenant in the building, since the tenant did not explain how that would help his case.
What this means for you
This was a loss for the tenant, and it shows some common traps. Here, a one day filing delay caused by a clerk’s rejection did not require dismissal, because the judge had discretion to let the case proceed. Under Massachusetts law, a notice ending a tenancy at will may include an offer of a new tenancy on different terms, such as higher rent, without making the notice invalid. G.L. c. 186, § 12.
The Hatcher defense is real and powerful, but it only works when the named plaintiff is not the owner or lessor. If the owner is named on the complaint, a property manager’s presence as a co-plaintiff did not defeat the case.
Timing matters most. Arguments you do not make in the Housing Court are usually lost for good. And a reconsideration motion that does not identify new evidence, a change in the law or a specific error will fail.
What to do now
- Read any rent increase notice closely. Note the date, the new rent, and the deadline to respond.
- When you are served, check who is named as plaintiff and compare it to the owner on public records.
- Raise every defense and procedural objection in writing in the Housing Court, before or at trial, not for the first time on appeal.
- If you ask for discovery, explain how the information helps your defense.
- Talk to a lawyer before the answer deadline. Many tenants have defenses or counterclaims they do not know about.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Housing Court deadlines are short.
