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In how many days does landlord have to return the countersigned lease?
Anonymous2 views1 answers
I recently signed a lease, payed the first month rent, but have not received the countersigned copy yet. I've been waiting for the countersigned copy for 2 weeks now, and I wonder if there's a law that says if the landlord does not countersign and give the lease back to the tenant in such and such days, the lease is void, because I cannot hang on to this property and wait until the move-in date only to figure out that I need to find a new place to move into right away...
John KeramarisLandlord / Tenant LawyerWoburn, MA ·
The Landlord has 30 days to return a copy of the executed lease. This is provided by the General Laws and deemed to open the door to 93A damages for failure to comply with the time period.
940 CMR Sec 3.17 Provides, in pertinent part:
(c) It shall be unfair and deceptive practice for an owner to fail to give the tenant an executed copy of any written rental agreement within 30 days of obtaining the signature of the tenant thereon.
The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship or an ongoing duty to respond to questions. This is not intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change. For a specific answer to your question, you should speak with an attorney who practices in this specific area of law.
