3 rules for unincorporated Plymouth County, Massachusetts.
Verified from official government sources
Rent control is illegal across every Plymouth County community. Massachusetts voters banned it in 1994 through Question 9, now codified as MGL c.40P §4: no city or town may enact, maintain, or enforce rent control of any kind. Landlords set rent freely.
MGL c.40P §4
No city or town may enact, maintain or enforce rent control of any kind, except that any city or town that accepts this chapter may adopt rent control regulation that provides:
Massachusetts has no statewide just-cause eviction law, and no Plymouth County town can add one. A landlord ends a tenancy at will with 30 days' written notice, or 14 days for nonpayment of rent, then files summary process under MGL c.239 §1.
MGL c.239 §1
If a forcible entry into land or tenements has been made, if a peaceable entry has been made and the possession is unlawfully held by force, if the lessee of land or tenements or a person holding under him holds possession without right after the determination of a lease by its own limitation or by notice to quit or otherwise...
Rental registration and inspection are local powers, not county ones. The State Sanitary Code under MGL c.111 §127A lets each town's board of health enforce housing standards, and cities like Brockton run rental registration and inspection programs. A landlord registers with the municipality, not the county.
MGL c.111 §127A
Local boards of health shall enforce said code in the same manner in which local health rules and regulations are enforced, but, if any such local boards fail after the lapse of a reasonable length of time to enforce the same, the department may in like manner enforce said code against any violator.
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