By Andrew L. Bardetti
Supervising Attorney, Elder Law Unit
South Coastal Counties Legal Services
As of May 5, a new law went into effect allowing tenants to “seal” their eviction record. When an eviction record is sealed it will no longer be publicly available. Whether you can seal your eviction record depends on the type of case and what happened in that case.
If you, the tenant, won your eviction case or had it dismissed, then you can seal your record immediately after the appeal period passes. This is possible for any type of eviction case. The time to appeal an eviction case typically ends 10 days after the judgment entered.
If you did not win or have your case dismissed, then whether you can seal your record depends on the type of case. First, if your case was a no-fault eviction—meaning your landlord evicted you for reasons other than violating a lease or failing to pay rent—then you can petition to seal your record after the appeal period is over. Second, if your case was a non-payment of rent case and you paid back the money owed, then you can ask the court to seal your record as soon as the landlord files a Notice of Satisfaction. That notice is a document stating you paid the landlord. The landlord is supposed to file this Notice of Satisfaction within 14 days of your paying your landlord. If the landlord does not do that, then you may petition the court to determine that you have paid the landlord by filing a Petition for Judgment or Agreement to be Deemed Satisfied. There must be a record that the judgment was paid in order to seal your eviction record earlier than 4 years after the conclusion of the case.
Third, in situations where you did not pay your landlord in a non-payment case, you can petition to seal your eviction record if your case, including the appeal period, ended at least 4 years ago. You must also certify in your petition that you could not pay because of a financial hardship, and you must not have had any other non-payment eviction case or a “lessor action” filed against you in the past 4 years. A lessor action against you would be some kind of civil complaint against an owner of rental property.
Fourth, if the case was a fault eviction or cause case—meaning you violated your lease—then you can petition to seal your eviction record if the case, including the appeal period, ended at least 7 years ago. Also, no other fault eviction case or lessor action may have been brought against you in the last 7 years before you file to seal your record. Another type of eviction like a no fault or non-payment, does not impact your ability to file. These requirements are similar if your eviction was a Chapter 139, Section 19 civil action, and you must also not have been convicted of a criminal offense.
Unless your case has been dismissed or a judgment entered in your favor, you must provide notice to the other party that a petition to seal the eviction record has been filed. The other party can file an objection to the petition. The Court has discretion about whether to hold a hearing to discuss the petition with you, but in most cases if no objection is filed, the Court can process the petition without a hearing.
For more information on how to seal you including the appropriate forms to use, see https://www.mass.gov/info-details/sealing-eviction-court-records. There is also more information on eviction sealing available at masslegalhelp.org.
This information is provided by South Coastal Counties Legal Services (SCCLS) which provides free legal services to eligible clients. SCCLS will be hosting eviction sealing clinics online via Zoom on July 30th, 2025 from 1:00-4:00pm, and August 20, 2025 from 1-4pm. If you want to attend, or have another civil legal matter, you are welcome to contact our New Bedford office at 774-488-5979, call our central intake line at 1-800-244-9023, or submit an inquiry online at sccls.org.
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