Today, July 21, 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a letter extending certain provisions of the Massachusetts Eviction and Foreclosure Moratorium Act (the “Eviction Moratorium”) by 60 days through October 17, 2020.

The extended provisions include those which (a) prohibit courts from accepting or moving forward with non-essential evictions of small business tenants and (b) prohibit commercial landlords from charging late fees to small business tenants for failure to pay rent if the tenant provides notice and documentation to the landlord within 30 days that the non-payment was due to a financial impact from COVID-19.

To qualify as a small business tenant under the Eviction Moratorium, the tenant occupying the leased premises (and any party that controls, is controlled by or is in common control with the tenant) cannot (i) operate in multiple states, (ii) operate in multiple countries; (iii) be publically traded or (iv) have 150 or more full-time equivalent employees.

For additional details about the Eviction Moratorium please see our prior Client Alert on the Massachusetts Eviction and Foreclosure Moratorium Act.