Painful eviction process outside of Boston
I own a condo in Medford, Ma and have gone through a very long and painful eviction process. I used to live in this condo and moved out of state, and rented out my condo. My tenant suffered a serious health situation and lost his job last June. Then he stopped paying rent. His lease ended in August 2025, and he continued to live in my condo without paying rent or having a lease. I started the eviction process on September 1 filing for the Notice to Quit. I went through the next steps and our first court appointment was on January 2, 2026. We made an agreement with the mediator at the court to give him 4 more months (January, February, March, and April) to find a different place to live. He wanted to continue to live for free, but when the mediator asked him, "if you can't pay the full rent, what can you pay?" He said $500 a month. May 1 came and he still had not moved out. A social services agency filed a motion to stay the execution of the eviction, so he got another 2 weeks (for free) until we had a motion hearing at the court. He didn't show up for the motion hearing and the judge denied his request. Now I'm waiting for the formal eviction form to serve to the tenant. This final process will cost between $1200 and $2200.
I've lost almost $20,000 in rent and there's nothing to be done about it. I can't believe this process took this long and that I had suffer this financial hardship. I used my savings to cover these costs. This is a broken system.