Housing Clinic Helps with Landmark Legislation to Seal Eviction Records

By: Elaine McArdle

For the first time in Massachusetts history, tenants will have the opportunity to seal an eviction record, following years of legislative advocacy by a coalition of tenant-rights activists spearheaded by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and Esme Caramello, while she was Faculty Director of Harvard Legal Aid Bureau,  and including the team at LSC’s Housing Law Clinic.

The eviction record-sealing provision was passed as part of the Affordable Homes Act, also known as the Housing Bond bill, which was signed into law by Governor Maura Healy on August 6 as Chapter 150 of the Acts of 2024. The Act provides that tenants can petition the court to seal an eviction record at different times depending on the type of case and the outcome; for example, a tenant who wins an eviction case can immediately petition to have the record sealed. The new law also makes it illegal for a consumer reporting agency to include information in their reports about a sealed eviction record.

“This legislation is a gigantic step forward for tenants whose housing prospects have been wrecked by permanently available public eviction records,” says Julia Devanthéry, Director of the Housing Justice for Survivors Project at the Housing Law Clinic.

The Act goes into effect on May 3, 2025, and the eviction records provisions go into effect 270 days after that. A Fact Sheet gives more information on how records can be sealed.