Walk It Through: The Fourteen Day Notice
A notice to quit, the ten days to pay, conditions as a defense, and the heat cut off.
A tenancy at will. Rent is late, and a fourteen day notice to quit arrives.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One tenancy at will and one case. Written leases, notices for reasons other than rent, the repair and deduct remedy after an inspection, and the summary process schedule are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Notice to quitThe landlord's written notice ending a tenancy; for unpaid rent, a fourteen days' notice ends either a lease or a tenancy at will.
- Summary processThe court action through which a landlord recovers possession after a notice to quit.
- Tenancy at willA tenancy without a lease term, ended for a reason other than rent by written notice of the interval between rent days or thirty days, whichever is longer.
- Quiet enjoymentThe tenant's right a landlord may not interfere with, including by willfully failing to furnish water, heat, light, power, gas or other required services.
- Unlawful evictionRemoving or shutting out a tenant other than under a valid court order. The tenant may recover possession or end the agreement, and recovers three months' rent or three times the damages either way.
- Fair valueWhat the premises are worth in their condition. A tenant sued for possession may claim the difference between the agreed rent and the fair value as a defense or counterclaim.