Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 139, § 1 (2026)

Orders adjudging burnt or dangerous buildings, structures or vacant land to be nuisances; notice, hearing and service of copy of order

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 1. The aldermen or selectmen in any city or town may, after written notice to the owner of a burnt, dilapidated or dangerous building or other structure, or his authorized agent, or to the owner of a vacant parcel of land, and after a hearing, make and record an order adjudging it to be a nuisance to the neighborhood, or dangerous, and prescribing its disposition, alteration or regulation. The city or town clerk shall deliver a copy of the order to an officer qualified to serve civil process, who shall forthwith serve an attested copy thereof in the manner prescribed in section one hundred and twenty-four of chapter one hundred and eleven, and make return to said clerk of his doings thereon.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1979–2008 · leading case: City of Worcester v. Eisenbeiser, 387 N.E.2d 1154 (Mass. App. Ct. 1979).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

City of Worcester v. Eisenbeiser, 387 N.E.2d 1154 (Mass. App. Ct. 1979). · cites it 2× “This is an appeal by the city of Worcester (city) from judgments entered in the Superior Court which (1) annulled a demolition order issued by the city pursuant to G. L. c. 139, § 1, and (2) awarded the defendant Eisenbeiser damages in the amount of $23,000 for the wrongful…”

City of Boston v. Rochalska, 890 N.E.2d 157 (Mass. App. Ct. 2008). “” G. L. c. 139, § 1, as amended through St.”

Gencarelli v. City of Worcester, 22 Mass. L. Rptr. 134 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2007). · cites it 6× “In addition Plaintiff was advised that the property may be subj ected to proceedings under G.L.c. 139, §1 that might lead to an order requiring demolition of the property.”

Morais v. City of Lowell, 738 N.E.2d 1158 (Mass. App. Ct. 2000). · cites it 2× “143, § 6, prescribes the duties of a local inspector upon being informed that a building is dangerous, and G. L. c. 139, §§ 1 & 3, provide for actions by a city to abate building-related nuisances.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.