How much notice must a landlord give before entering in Massachusetts?

Verified July 8, 2026 All Massachusetts topics →

Pending legislation — not yet law. The rules on this page reflect current law only. The following bill would change it if enacted:

HD2501 / 'An Act enabling local options for tenant protections' (194th General Court, 2025-2026) — Would repeal G.L. c. 40P (the Massachusetts Rent Control Prohibition Act) and replace it with a local-option regime letting municipalities cap annual rent increases at the lesser of CPI or 5% and adopt just-cause eviction. Perennial refile of prior sessions' H.1304/H.1378/H.2103, none of which advanced.Status: Filed in the 194th General Court; in committee; not enacted as of the checked date. Chapter 40P remains fully in force. (checked 2026-07-08).

Massachusetts sets no minimum hours of advance notice for landlord entry — the law instead restricts the purposes: a lease may permit entry only to inspect, make repairs, or show the unit to a prospective tenant, buyer, or lender, and beyond that a landlord may enter only with a court order, when the unit appears abandoned, or to inspect for deposit-deduction damage in the final 30 days of the tenancy.

Any broader entry clause in a lease is unenforceable. Reasonable timing is still expected as a practical and consumer-protection matter — the AG's landlord-tenant regulations treat entry outside these purposes as an unfair practice — so Massachusetts landlords conventionally give 24-48 hours' notice even though no statute requires a specific period.

Massachusetts entry notice at a glance

Advance notice required	No fixed statutory period (see notice standard)
Notice standard	No advance-notice period exists in Massachusetts law. Instead, G.L. c. 186, § 15B(1)(a) limits WHEN entry rights can exist at all: a residential lease may reserve entry only to inspect the premises, make repairs, or show the unit to a prospective tenant, purchaser, or mortgagee; beyond the lease, a landlord may enter under a court order, where the premises appear abandoned, or to conduct a damage inspection within the last 30 days of the tenancy (or after either party gives termination notice). The Attorney General's regulations (940 CMR 3.17(6)(e)) reinforce these limits as consumer-protection rules.
Permitted reasons	Lease-reserved: inspection, repairs, showing to prospective tenants/purchasers/mortgagees. Statutory: court order; apparent abandonment; end-of-tenancy damage inspection within the final 30 days or after notice of termination.
Emergency exception	Not addressed by statute
Time-of-day restrictions	Not addressed by statute

Notes and caveats

notice_hours is null because the statute regulates purposes, not notice periods — a structurally different regime from fixed-hour states like CA, worth explaining on-page. emergency_exception is null because § 15B(1)(a) does not enumerate one; emergency entry rests on common-law necessity, and asserting a statutory exception would overstate the law (same convention as GA/NC). The 940 CMR 3.17(6)(e) AG regulation is the enforcement overlay and can be cited in page copy as official guidance.

Statute citations

G.L. c. 186, § 15B (1)(a) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Massachusetts General Court site (malegislature.gov): G.L. c. 186, § 15B read in full (current text including the St. 2025, c. 9, §§ 54-55 amendments effective 2025-08-01), c. 186, § 12 read in full, c. 186 chapter index and c. 40P location confirmed on malegislature.gov, cross-checked against the Mass.gov official law-library pages on security deposits and landlord-tenant law (which also confirm c. 40P's continued force and the 2025 broker-fee change to c. 112, § 87DDD1/2).