New Proposal to Expand Housing Court All Over MA

The Judicial Branch’s recent Housing Court recommendation is a great step in the right direction for ensuring a proper forum for foreclosure defense and landlord/tenant cases in Massachusetts.

The Judicial Branch last week submitted a proposal to the Legislature recommending that Housing Court be expanded to all of Massachusetts by 2015.  Currently, only a select number of towns/cities in Massachusetts are within the jurisdiction of a Housing Court.  Malden, for example, a city where many of my clients reside, is not covered by a Housing Court and requires summary process and other housing cases to be heard in the local District Court or Superior Court.

I support this new proposal because, as anyone who has sat in a summary process session has learned, foreclosure cases (and many landlord/tenant cases) have become really, really complicated matters.  Having a court with some specialized knowledge of these cases could go a long way towards having these matters promptly and effectively resolved.