Massachusetts law treats certain lease terms as void no matter what you signed. Not "arguable," not "probably unfair" — void, because the statutes say in terms that they are against public policy. Those categories are specific and named, though, not a general escape hatch. And a clause having no legal force is not the same as it being safe to act against on your own, which is the part this page spends the most time on.
If what you actually need is help understanding what your lease says, that's a different question — our guide on how to read a Boston apartment lease covers it. This one is about enforceability.
Four kinds of clause Massachusetts voids outright
| What your lease says | What the law says | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| The landlord isn't liable for injury or damage, or you agree to indemnify or hold them harmless | Against public policy and void | M.G.L. c.186 §15 |
| You waive your right to a jury trial, or nothing the landlord does counts as a constructive eviction | Against public policy and void | M.G.L. c.186 §15F |
| Anything conflicting with the security deposit statute, or waiving its protections — including charging you for reasonable wear and tear or requiring professional cleaning at move-out | Void and unenforceable | M.G.L. c.186 §15B. See also what a landlord can ask for before you sign |
| You accept the apartment "as is" and waive the warranty of habitability | Void and unenforceable | Massachusetts habitability law |
Those are categories, not a checklist you can run your own lease against. Whether a particular sentence in your particular lease falls inside one is a legal judgment, and this page is not in a position to make it.
"The landlord isn't responsible for anything"
This is the most common void clause and the easiest to spot, because it usually appears as a paragraph of dense text saying the landlord has no liability for anything that happens to you, your guests or your belongings.
Under M.G.L. c.186 §15, any lease provision by which a tenant agrees to indemnify the landlord, hold them harmless, or preclude or exonerate them from any or all liability, to the tenant or to any other person, for injury, loss, damage or liability arising from the landlord's own omission, fault, negligence or other misconduct is against public policy and void.
Two details in that are worth noticing.
It covers liability to other people, not just to you. A clause making you responsible for what happens to a visitor because of the landlord's neglect falls inside it.
And it explicitly reaches common areas — the statute names elevators, stairways, hallways and other appurtenances used in connection with the premises. A badly lit stairwell or an unmaintained elevator is exactly the scenario the section was written for.
What the statute does not do is make a landlord liable for everything. It voids the attempt to contract out of liability for their own fault. Fault still has to be established.
"You waive your right to a jury trial"
M.G.L. c.186 §15F covers residential leases specifically, and voids two things.
A provision by which the tenant waives the right to trial by jury in any later litigation with the landlord is against public policy and void. So is a provision in which the tenant agrees that no act or failure to act by the landlord will be treated as a constructive eviction — that second one is an attempt to disclaim in advance any argument that the landlord made the apartment unlivable.
The same section carries something more consequential. If a tenant is removed from the premises or excluded from them by the landlord or their agent, except pursuant to a valid court order, the statute provides that the tenant may recover possession or terminate the rental agreement, and in either case recover three months' rent or three times the damages sustained, plus the cost of suit including reasonable attorney's fees.
That is what the statute provides. It is not a prediction about any particular case, and whether a given set of facts qualifies is exactly the kind of question that needs a lawyer rather than a blog.
"You'll pay for cleaning and wear and tear"
Massachusetts's security deposit statute contains its own anti-waiver rule, and it's broad. Any lease provision that conflicts with M.G.L. c.186 §15B, and any waiver by a tenant or prospective tenant of any part of it, is against public policy and void and unenforceable.
That sweeps in a set of clauses renters see constantly:
- Charging you for reasonable wear and tear. A deposit covers damage beyond normal use, and a clause redefining ordinary wear as chargeable conflicts with the statute.
- Requiring professional cleaning at move-out as a condition of getting your deposit back.
- Shifting the landlord's own maintenance and repair costs onto you.
- Any attempt to sidestep the statute's limits on what can be collected, how deposits must be held, or the receipts you're owed.
The anti-waiver rule is the reason a signature doesn't rescue these. The whole point of the provision is that the protections cannot be bargained away, including at the moment you most want the apartment.
"The apartment is accepted as is"
Massachusetts implies a warranty of habitability into residential tenancies, and a waiver of it in a lease is void and unenforceable.
The waiver rule itself carries no exceptions. A lease term purporting to waive habitability is void, and that is the whole of it.
What does carry carve-outs is a different statute, and the two are easy to confuse. M.G.L. c.186 §14 covers a landlord willfully interrupting essential services like heat, water or electricity, and it excepts interruptions needed to perform necessary repairs, or caused by natural causes beyond the landlord's control. A building without water because a main broke in a storm is not the same as a landlord contracting out of the duty to provide water.
An "as is" clause in a residential lease, in other words, does not transfer the condition of the apartment to you.
"So can I just ignore it?"
No, and this is the most important paragraph on this page.
A clause having no legal force does not mean you can stop paying rent, move out, withhold money, or refuse an obligation because you've decided a term doesn't count.
The rest of the lease still binds you. Deciding for yourself which parts do and don't apply is one of the most reliable ways tenants lose cases they would otherwise have won — including tenants who were right about the clause.
"This term is void" is the beginning of a conversation with someone who can read your actual lease. It is not a course of action.
The distinction is between what a court would do with a clause if it were ever tested, and what you should do next week. Those aren't the same question. A term can be plainly void and it can still be a serious mistake to behave as though the lease doesn't exist.
There's also a practical asymmetry. If a landlord relies on a void clause, they lose that argument. If you act unilaterally on your reading of it and you're wrong about which obligations were affected, you can end up in breach of the parts that were always enforceable.
Why landlords include them anyway
Renters usually assume a printed clause means something, and that assumption is doing the work. As one Boston renter put it: "Landlords can and WILL include ILLEGAL clauses in the lease as a scare tactic."
That's a fair read of the situation, though it doesn't require assuming bad faith in every case. Plenty of leases are recycled templates, some borrowed from other states, where nobody has reviewed them against Massachusetts law in years. Others are drafted broadly on the theory that a clause costs nothing to include and might deter a tenant from pressing a point.
The clearest evidence that these clauses are common is that the legislature bothered to void them. Statutes don't get written about terms nobody uses.
One structural note. Most leases contain a severability clause, which says that if one provision is found invalid the rest survives. That's generally how it works: an unenforceable term usually doesn't void your whole lease, and it usually doesn't release you from the tenancy. Finding a void clause is not a way out of a lease you regret.
What to do if you spot one before you sign
If you're still pre-signature, you have more room than you will later.
- Ask for it to be struck. Point at the clause and ask for it to be removed or amended. A landlord using a stale template will often agree without much argument, because they weren't relying on it.
- Get any change in writing, on the document you sign. A verbal assurance that a clause "doesn't really apply" is worth very little, and the signed lease is what governs.
- Keep a copy of exactly what you signed, including any addendum, initialed page or fee schedule.
- Don't treat spotting one as a reason to walk on its own. A boilerplate non-liability paragraph in an otherwise reasonable lease from a responsive landlord is a weaker signal than how that landlord has behaved during the process.
If what you actually want is help working through the document, how to read a Boston apartment lease covers that end to end, and what standard lease clauses and addendums mean explains the ordinary terms this article doesn't touch.
Where this stops being general advice
This page describes what several Massachusetts statutes say. It can't tell you how they apply to your lease, and the questions renters most want answered are exactly the fact-specific ones:
- Whether a particular clause in your lease is void. The wording and the context decide it, and small differences matter.
- What to do about a landlord relying on a clause right now, especially if money or your tenancy is at stake.
- Whether a severability clause saves the rest of your lease in your situation.
- Anything involving being locked out, removed, or having utilities shut off. That falls under the M.G.L. c.186 §15F removal issue covered earlier, the stakes are high, and it needs a lawyer rather than an article.
Free and low-cost help exists: MassLegalHelp, Greater Boston Legal Services, and the Attorney General's consumer line. Our guide to who handles which landlord problem covers which office to approach for what.
Frequently asked questions
Can a landlord put anything they want in a lease?
No. Massachusetts law voids specific categories outright, including landlord non-liability clauses, jury-trial waivers, terms conflicting with the security deposit statute, and waivers of the warranty of habitability.
If a clause is illegal, is my whole lease void?
Usually not. Most leases include a severability clause, and the general position is that one invalid term doesn't invalidate the rest. Finding a void clause is not a way out of a lease.
Can my lease make me responsible for the landlord's negligence?
No. M.G.L. c.186 §15 voids provisions that indemnify or exonerate a landlord from liability for their own omission, fault, negligence or misconduct, including in common areas like stairways and elevators.
Can my lease say I waive a jury trial?
It can say it, but M.G.L. c.186 §15F makes that provision void in a residential lease, along with any term saying nothing the landlord does counts as a constructive eviction.
Can I be charged for normal wear and tear?
A clause conflicting with the security deposit statute, or waiving its protections, is void and unenforceable. That reaches charges for reasonable wear and tear and mandatory move-out cleaning requirements.
I signed it. Does that matter?
Not for these categories. The anti-waiver rules exist precisely because a signature would otherwise be treated as agreement, and they apply to prospective tenants as well.
Can I stop paying rent if my lease has an illegal clause?
No. A void clause doesn't suspend the rest of the lease, and acting unilaterally is how tenants who were right about the clause still lose. Get advice about your specific document first.
How we sourced this
The statutory grounds here come from the Massachusetts General Laws: Chapter 186 §15 on landlord non-liability and indemnity provisions, §15F on jury-trial waivers, constructive eviction and removal without a court order, and §15B on security deposits, which contains its own anti-waiver provision.
The Attorney General's office publishes a Guide to Landlord and Tenant Rights and has publicly pressed courts to protect Massachusetts renters from illegal lease terms and improper deposit withholding.
These are Massachusetts statutes and apply statewide, not only in Boston. Statutes are amended, so check the linked text before relying on it.
This article is informational and isn't legal advice.