Your case belongs in the Housing Court division that covers the city or town where the apartment is. Massachusetts has six divisions, Western, Central, Northeastern, Southeastern, Metro South and Eastern, and together they cover every municipality in the state (G.L. c. 185C, § 1). If your landlord filed in a District Court instead, any party can transfer a case within the Housing Court’s jurisdiction to the Housing Court (G.L. c. 185C, § 20). This post lists what each division covers, explains how transfer works, and describes what a first day in Housing Court looks like.
The six divisions
The statute assigns municipalities to divisions. Here is the breakdown as the statute reads today (G.L. c. 185C, § 1).
Western Division: all cities and towns in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties.
Central Division: all of Worcester County, plus Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Natick, Sherborn, Sudbury and Wayland.
Northeastern Division: all of Essex County, plus Acton, Ashby, Ayer, Bedford, Billerica, Boxborough, Burlington, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Dracut, Dunstable, Everett, Groton, Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton, Lowell, Malden, Maynard, Melrose, North Reading, Pepperell, Reading, Shirley, Stoneham, Stow, Tewksbury, Townsend, Tyngsborough, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Westford, Weston, Wilmington, Winchester and Woburn, and Devens.
Southeastern Division: all of Barnstable, Bristol, Nantucket and Dukes counties, plus Carver, Duxbury, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Hingham, Hull, Kingston, Lakeville, Marion, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Middleborough, Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton, Rochester, Rockland, Scituate and Wareham.
Metro South Division: all of Norfolk County except Brookline, plus Abington, Bridgewater, Brockton, East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater and Whitman.
Eastern Division: all of Suffolk County (Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop), plus Arlington, Belmont, Brookline, Cambridge, Medford, Newton and Somerville.
Notice that Middlesex and Plymouth counties are split among divisions. If you live in either county, find your town in the lists above rather than assuming. Each division sits in more than one courthouse, so check the court’s website or call the clerk for the session location nearest you.
How to find your division in three steps
- Start with the address of the apartment. What matters is where the rental is, not where you work, where the landlord lives, or where the management company has its office.
- Find the town in the lists above. If your town is named, that is your division. If it is not named, find your county. Every town in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Worcester, Essex, Suffolk, Barnstable, Bristol, Nantucket and Dukes counties falls in a division by county, and so does every Norfolk County town except Brookline.
- Find the session. The statute lets each division sit in more than one courthouse, as the Chief Justice of the Housing Court considers convenient (G.L. c. 185C, § 4). Your summons names the court and the address. If you are filing your own case, call the clerk’s office of your division and ask which session hears cases from your town.
What Housing Court can hear
Housing Court divisions have jurisdiction, concurrent with the District Court and Superior Court, over civil cases and crimes arising within their territory under the housing statutes, including the summary process chapter (c. 239), the quiet enjoyment and retaliation provisions of c. 186, §§ 14 and 18, the State Sanitary Code enforcement sections of c. 111, and c. 93A as it relates to housing. They also have jurisdiction over all housing problems, including contract and tort claims that affect the health, safety and welfare of occupants or owners, and equity jurisdiction over those matters (G.L. c. 185C, § 3). In plain terms: evictions, conditions cases, security deposit claims, lockouts, utility shutoffs, and requests for emergency orders all belong there.
Emergency orders and injunctions
In matters within its jurisdiction, a Housing Court judge has all the powers of a Superior Court judge, including the power to grant temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions (G.L. c. 185C, § 3). That is why tenants go to Housing Court when there is no heat in January, when the landlord changes the locks, or when a utility is shut off. You can file a verified complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order the same day. Bring photos, texts, a copy of your lease or rent receipts, and anything that shows the landlord knew about the problem.
Post-foreclosure evictions
Housing Court also hears evictions brought by a bank or buyer after a foreclosure. The statute gives the Housing Court jurisdiction over defenses and counterclaims raised by a person who was entitled to notice of the foreclosure sale, or who was entitled to notice and still lives in the home (G.L. c. 185C, § 3). If you are a former owner or a tenant in a foreclosed building, those defenses can be heard in the same case. The rules for a former owner and a tenant are different, so get advice early.
Transfer from District Court
Landlords sometimes file eviction cases in a District Court. Nothing requires them to use the Housing Court. But the statute gives you a way out. Any civil action within the jurisdiction of the Housing Court that is pending in another court department may be transferred to the Housing Court by any party (G.L. c. 185C, § 20). That includes the tenant.
Why transfer? Housing Court judges hear housing cases every day. Housing specialists mediate on the first court date. Tenant assistance programs and legal services lawyers are often present. The procedures for raising counterclaims under G.L. c. 239, § 8A and for seeking a stay under G.L. c. 239, § 15 are familiar to the court.
Timing matters. The statute does not set a deadline, but the court’s rules do govern how and when a transfer is filed. File the transfer as soon as you are served, before the first court date, and ask a lawyer about the specific form. Do not wait until the day of trial.
The statute also lets the Housing Court pull in related cases. When two or more actions about the same housing accommodation are pending in the Housing, District, Probate and Family or Superior Court, the Housing Court’s chief justice or first justice can order them all transferred to Housing Court on any party’s motion (G.L. c. 185C, § 20). That matters if, for example, you have a conditions case in one court and the landlord files an eviction in another.
Transfer runs toward the Housing Court, not away from it. The Supreme Judicial Court has held that neither G.L. c. 231, § 103, which does not apply to summary process cases, nor G.L. c. 212, § 4 gives a tenant an automatic right to transfer a Housing Court eviction to the Superior Court. A judge’s refusal to transfer can be reviewed on appeal after final judgment or by a petition to a single justice of the Appeals Court (Linardon v. Staybridge Suites, SJC-13849 (Mar. 2, 2026)).
Housing specialists
Each division has housing specialists, appointed by the first justice of that court (G.L. c. 185C, § 16). They run mediation sessions and help parties work out payment plans and move-out dates. A housing specialist cannot act as anyone’s lawyer (G.L. c. 185C, § 17). If you have defenses or counterclaims, raise them before you sign anything.
Jury trials and inspection reports
Most Housing Court matters are decided by a judge. But where the state or federal constitution guarantees a jury, and the party has not waived it, the case is tried in the Housing Court before a jury (G.L. c. 185C, § 21). Tenants in summary process cases can ask for a jury. Read our post Can I have a jury? Yes! before you decide, because a jury demand changes the timeline and the preparation.
The same section gives inspection reports special weight. In any Housing Court trial, the report of a city housing inspector or a local board of health inspector is prima facie evidence of the facts stated in it (G.L. c. 185C, § 21). That means the report proves the conditions unless the other side offers evidence to the contrary. If your case involves bad conditions, get a written inspection report and bring a copy to every court date.
What to expect on the first day
Arrive early. Court sessions are busy and the clerk calls a list. Bring your summons, your answer, your lease, rent records, photos and any notices.
Most sessions begin with a call of the list, after which cases are sent to a housing specialist for mediation. The specialist is a neutral court employee, not your lawyer and not the landlord’s. If you reach an agreement, it is written up and presented to the judge. If you do not, the case is scheduled for trial or a further hearing. Read every agreement before you sign it, because many are written so that a single missed payment leads straight to judgment.
If you have a pending RAFT application in a case based solely on nonpayment, tell the clerk and the housing specialist at the start and bring proof of the application. If the nonpayment was due to financial hardship and you show the court the pending application, the court must continue the case and may not enter judgment while the application is pending (G.L. c. 239, § 15).
Housing Court is also where you go if your landlord locks you out or shuts off utilities. The court can order you restored to the unit, and the statute allows damages of three months’ rent or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney’s fees (G.L. c. 186, § 14).
What to bring to Housing Court
- The summons and complaint, the notice to quit, and the envelope it came in.
- Your written answer and any counterclaims.
- Your lease or rental agreement, and proof of every rent payment (bank records, money order stubs, receipts).
- Photos and videos of conditions, with dates.
- Texts, emails and letters to and from the landlord about repairs.
- Board of health or inspectional services reports.
- Proof of any pending RAFT or other rental assistance application.
Common mistakes
- Going to the wrong courthouse. Read the summons for the exact address. A division may have several sessions.
- Skipping the answer. The answer is where you raise defenses and counterclaims. If you do not file it, you may lose the chance to raise them.
- Missing a date. A missed court date can lead to a default judgment, even in a strong case.
- Signing an agreement you cannot keep. Agreements often allow the landlord to get judgment if one payment is late.
Appeals from Housing Court
If you lose, the deadline to appeal is short. A party who appeals a judgment in a summary process case, including a judgment on a counterclaim, must file a notice of appeal within 10 days after the judgment enters (G.L. c. 239, § 5). An appeal from the Housing Court or the Superior Court goes to the Appeals Court. An appeal from a District Court judgment goes to that court’s Appellate Division.
A tenant who appeals a judgment for possession usually has to post a bond set by the court. If you are indigent and have a defense that is not frivolous, the court must waive the bond. You will still be ordered to pay all or part of the rent as it comes due while the appeal is pending, but the court cannot require any other payments or deposits (G.L. c. 239, § 5). File the motion to waive the bond with your notice of appeal, inside the 10 days.
Recent Massachusetts appeals decisions
These recent Massachusetts appellate decisions apply the rules above. Unpublished Rule 23.0 decisions are persuasive only, not binding precedent.
- Linardon v. Staybridge Suites (Supreme Judicial Court, March 2, 2026): The SJC held a tenant has no automatic right to transfer an eviction case from Housing Court to Superior Court.
- Peristere v. WMS Properties (Appeals Court, April 17, 2026; unpublished): A tenant who lost in Housing Court could not later remove the eviction case to Superior Court.
- Herrera v. Osowska (Appeals Court, August 20, 2026; unpublished): A former owner could not move a final post-foreclosure eviction judgment from Housing Court to Superior Court.
- Wells Fargo v. Earle (Appeals Court, April 28, 2026; unpublished): The Housing Court has jurisdiction over a post-foreclosure eviction even when the home is registered land.
- Ducharme v. Mobile Home Rent Control Board of Chicopee (Appeals Court, May 22, 2026): A mobile home park tenant may seek Housing Court review of a rent board increase for her own park.
- Morecroft v. CPF Taylor Pond, LLC (Appeals Court, November 20, 2025; unpublished): An MCAD lack of probable cause dismissal does not bar a tenant’s later fair housing suit in Housing Court.
- Lennhoff Properties v. Henry (Appeals Court, October 5, 2026; unpublished): An eviction brought by the owner and its manager together was within Housing Court jurisdiction.
- How Strict Is the 10-Day Eviction Appeal Deadline?: A late motion for reconsideration cannot revive the 10-day deadline to appeal an eviction judgment.
- Missed Use and Occupancy Can Cost You a Jury Trial: A former owner who kept missing court-ordered use and occupancy payments after foreclosure lost her jury trial.
For more, see our summaries of 2026 Massachusetts appeals decisions and 2025 Massachusetts appeals decisions.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Housing Court cover all of Massachusetts?
Yes. The six divisions listed in G.L. c. 185C, § 1 together include every city and town in the state.
My landlord filed in District Court. Am I stuck there?
No. Any party to a case within the Housing Court’s jurisdiction may transfer it to Housing Court (G.L. c. 185C, § 20). File the transfer promptly and ask a lawyer about the form and timing.
I live in Boston. Which division?
Eastern Division, which covers all of Suffolk County plus Arlington, Belmont, Brookline, Cambridge, Medford, Newton and Somerville.
I live in Brockton. Which division?
Metro South Division, which includes Brockton along with Norfolk County (except Brookline) and Abington, Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater and Whitman.
Can Housing Court hear my conditions or security deposit claim even if there is no eviction?
Yes. The court has jurisdiction over housing problems generally, including contract and tort claims affecting the health, safety and welfare of occupants (G.L. c. 185C, § 3).
Can I move my Housing Court eviction to Superior Court?
Not as of right. The Supreme Judicial Court held in Linardon v. Staybridge Suites (2026) that a tenant has no automatic right to transfer a Housing Court eviction to the Superior Court.
Can I get a jury in Housing Court?
Yes, where the constitution guarantees one and you have not waived it. The jury trial is held in the Housing Court (G.L. c. 185C, § 21).
How long do I have to appeal an eviction judgment?
Ten days after the judgment enters (G.L. c. 239, § 5). File any motion to waive the bond within the same 10 days.
If you have been served with eviction papers in any Massachusetts court, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or contact us online before your answer is due.
