A landlord’s Airbnb business does not cancel your rights as a tenant. If the units around you have become short-term rentals, you still have a right to quiet enjoyment, and a landlord who interferes with it directly or indirectly owes you at least three months’ rent (G.L. c. 186, § 14). If the landlord wants your unit back to list it, the landlord must end your tenancy the normal way, with a proper written notice and, if you do not leave, a court case. No lease ends early because a landlord found a more profitable use. Here is what the 2018 short-term rental law does and does not do for tenants.
What counts as a short-term rental
Massachusetts regulates short-term rentals mainly through a tax and registration statute, G.L. c. 64G. A “short-term rental” is an owner-occupied, tenant-occupied, or non-owner-occupied property (an apartment, house, condo, or furnished accommodation) that is not a hotel, motel, lodging house, or bed and breakfast, where at least one room or unit is rented to an occupant and the accommodations are reserved in advance (G.L. c. 64G, § 1). A short-term rental “occupancy” is a stay of not more than 31 consecutive calendar days (G.L. c. 64G, § 1). Stays longer than that fall outside the definition.
An “operator” includes the owner but also a lessee or sublessee (G.L. c. 64G, § 1). A landlord renting out units is an operator, and a tenant who lists a room is one too.
The registry
The state is required to maintain a registry of short-term rental operators who register with the Department of Revenue, and the registry is supposed to be accessible to the public. Location information in the state registry is limited to the street name and the city or town (G.L. c. 23A, § 68). Cities and towns may go further. A municipality may regulate operators by ordinance, require local licensing or registration, limit the number of days a unit may be rented in a year, require code compliance and inspections, impose penalties, and publish its own public registry of short-term rentals (G.L. c. 64G, § 14). Boston and other cities have detailed rules that change. Check the City’s current short-term rental rules, or ask a lawyer, before relying on them.
A landlord operating without registration or in violation of a local ordinance is not automatically liable to you. But it tells you whether the landlord is following the rules, and it can give you leverage in a dispute.
Your right to quiet enjoyment
The protection that does the most work for tenants is G.L. c. 186, § 14. A landlord who “directly or indirectly interferes with the quiet enjoyment of any residential premises by the occupant” is liable for actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus costs and a reasonable attorney’s fee. The same section carries a criminal penalty. The damages can be applied as a setoff against rent the landlord claims you owe.
Short-term rental use creates quiet enjoyment problems in predictable ways:
- Strangers with keys or lockbox codes coming and going at all hours.
- Noise from parties and turnover cleaning.
- Loss of shared spaces, laundry, or parking to guests.
- Security doors propped open, or common-area locks changed to accommodate guest access.
- Trash and recycling overflow, which can also be a Sanitary Code problem.
A single loud night is not a § 14 case. A pattern that seriously interferes with your use of the home, which the landlord knows about and does not fix, can be. The statute reaches indirect interference, so a landlord who sets up a system that produces these conditions and does nothing is exposed.
Write to the landlord each time, briefly, with the date and what happened. Keep photos and video. If it is a code issue (trash, security, broken common doors), call inspectional services or the board of health. The written record wins these cases.
If the landlord wants your unit back for short-term rental
Massachusetts generally does not require a landlord to have “just cause” to end a tenancy at will. A landlord can decide to stop renting to long-term tenants. What the landlord cannot do is skip the steps.
If you have a lease. The landlord is bound by it until it ends. A lease can be terminated early only on grounds the lease itself allows, and wanting to list the unit is not one of them. Read your lease for any early-termination clause and the renewal terms.
If you are a tenant at will. If you pay rent monthly, the landlord must give written notice equal to one full rental period or 30 days, whichever is longer (G.L. c. 186, § 12). If rent is paid at intervals of three months or more, three months’ written notice is required. A notice that is too short, or that does not end on a rent day, can be defective. Do not move out on the strength of a text message or a phone call.
In every case. A notice to quit is not an eviction. Only a court can order you out, and only a sheriff or constable can carry out that order. If you stay past the notice, the landlord must file a summary process case and win it.
Watch the timing. If the notice arrives within six months after you complained in writing about conditions, called the board of health, or joined a tenants’ group, the law presumes retaliation (G.L. c. 186, § 18). A landlord who says the unit is for Airbnb must rebut that with clear and convincing evidence.
Foreclosed buildings. If the bank or other lender that foreclosed still holds title (the statute calls this a ‘foreclosing owner’), it may not evict you except for just cause or under a binding purchase and sale agreement with a bona fide third-party buyer (G.L. c. 186A, §§ 1, 2). Just cause is a short list of tenant-fault grounds; converting to short-term rentals is not on it. The protection does not extend to an unrelated buyer who later purchases the building.
If you want to host
Most leases prohibit subletting without consent, and a short-term guest arrangement is usually treated as a sublet. Hosting in violation of the lease is a for-cause ground for eviction. Get the landlord’s written consent first, check the local ordinance, and register if required. Under the statute you are the operator, and the tax obligations fall on you.
FAQ
Can my landlord give me a shorter notice because the unit is going on Airbnb?
No. The reason for a no-fault notice does not change the required length. For a tenant at will, the notice must be at least one full rental period or 30 days, whichever is longer (G.L. c. 186, § 12).
My landlord says the building is now a “hotel” and I am a guest.
Your status depends on how you have been living there, not on what the landlord calls it. If you rent a residential unit as your home and pay rent by the month, you are very likely a tenant with the protections described above. Rooming house and lodging house occupants have somewhat different rules, so ask a lawyer if that is your situation.
Is there a public list of short-term rentals near me?
The state registry lists accommodations by street name and town (G.L. c. 23A, § 68). Your city or town may publish a more detailed registry (G.L. c. 64G, § 14).
If a landlord’s short-term rental business is interfering with your home, or you have received a notice to quit, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006.
