As we've reported in a previous blog posts (here and here), a case challenging the practice of assisted living facilities charging a "community fee" on entering the facility has been wending it's way through the Massachusetts court system over the last several years. Now, the Supreme Judicial Court has ruled in James M. Ryan v. Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corp. (SJC-12708, Dec. 5, 2019), that assisted living facilities are subject to landlord-tenant law including its security deposit regulations. The assisted living facility industry had been arguing that the landlord-tenant laws were preempted by assisted living statutes and regulations.
Read More