Section 32N Reprisals for report of violations - Massachusetts Statutes

Section 32N. Any manufactured housing community licensee or his agent who threatens to or takes reprisals against any manufactured housing community resident or group of residents for reporting a violation or suspected violation of section thirty-two L or section thirty-two M or any applicable building or health code to the board of health of a city or town in which the manufactured housing community is located, the department of public health, the department of the attorney general or any other appropriate government agency, shall be liable for damages which shall not be less than one month’s rent or more than five months’ rent, or the actual damages sustained by the manufactured housing community resident or group of residents, whichever is greater, and the costs of the court action brought for said damages including reasonable attorney’s fees. The receipt of any notice of termination of tenancy by such manufactured housing community resident or group of residents, except for nonpayment of rent, within six months after making such a report of a violation or a suspected violation, shall create a rebuttable presumption that such notice is a reprisal against the manufactured housing community resident or group of residents for making such report and said presumption may be pleaded in defense to any eviction proceeding against such manufactured housing community resident or group of residents brought within a year after such report.