Everett, MA Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Chapter 10, Article III, of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, creates the Certificate of Habitability. Section 10-29 sets the standard: the unit in the application must be certified by the Health Department meeting the Sanitary Codes, Article II, Minimum Standards of Fitness for Human Habitation, prior to being occupied. The Health Inspector forwards suspected violations outside the Health Department's scope to the appropriate City of Everett department. No certificate is given until all violations are corrected within the appropriate time.

Section 10-30 covers a refusal. The inspector issues a written order or a copy of the inspection form listing the violations of Article II of the State Sanitary Code in the unit that must be corrected, and the owner who receives the order must notify the Board of Health when the violations are corrected. Section 10-31 sends any appeal of a Health Department decision through the procedures in Article II of the State Sanitary Code. Section 10-32 makes the status public: whether a certificate has been issued for a particular unit is a matter of public record.

Section 10-26 defines the owner broadly: anyone with legal title, anyone with care, charge or control, a mortgagee in possession, a court appointed agent, an officer or trustee of a condominium association, and every person who operates a rooming house. Dwelling includes rooming houses and temporary housing, and dwelling unit includes a condominium unit. Section 10-35 adds a rodent control rule: all premises in the City of Everett must be free of rats and kept rat-free, rat harborages must be eliminated, and buildings must be maintained in a rat-proof condition.