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Nervous I am going to lose my house over deliquent tenant!

My young family and I live upstairs in a two family home, and my tenant is refusing to pay rent because she said she can't find a job. I served her with a 14 day notice to quit a few days ago. Can I lose my house over this? I can't afford the entire mortgage!

Evicting tenant

Sorry about your situation.  However, all you can do at this point is press forward with the eviction.  Your case is a good example of why I always tell landlords not to wait when serving the notice to quit.  Even if a tenant believes he will be able to pay the rent later (if you give him a bit of time) sometimes he just can't.  So landlords should always serve the notice to quit as soon as the rent is late.  If the tenant later pays the rent, you can always stop the eviction process. 

When you do get to court, if the tenant has not moved out or paid the rent by then, make sure the judge understands your predicament.  Often, the judges at housing court, in weighing the equities, will give the tenant a lot of time to move out, because they figure that the landlord can afford to lose a month of rent.  Make sure the judge knows you are in trouble too, not just the tenant.  Good luck.  For more general information about the eviction process, visit our Massachusetts Landlord and Tenant discussion forum. 

God Almighty..........

Tenant taped a letter from a lawyer to my door now saying that she won't let us show the apartment since she has "no idea" when she'll be able to move out and it causes her anxiety to have us show it! I am going to lose my house!! I'll immediately have to take my daughter out of preschool now because I can't afford it.
Somebody please tell me that the courts can help with this.

Showing apartment

You can show the apartment at reasonable times and with reasonable notice

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