Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 1
Rights of aliens
Section 1. Aliens may take, hold, transmit and convey real property, and no title to real property shall be invalid on account of the alienage of a former owner.
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 184 — General Provisions Relative to Real Property
Massachusetts · statute · Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184 · 42 active provisions
Provisions
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 2
Conveyance of land subject to contingent remainder, executory devise or other estate in expectancy
Section 2. If a contingent remainder, executory devise or other estate in expectancy is so granted or limited to a person that in case of his death before the happening of the contingency the estate would descend to his heirs in fee simple, he may, before the happening of the contingency, sell, assign or devise the lan…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 3
Contingent remainders; taking effect; limitations
Section 3. A contingent remainder shall take effect, notwithstanding any determination of the particular estate, in the same manner in which it would have taken effect if it had been an executory devise or a springing or shifting use, and shall, as well as such limitations, be subject to the rule respecting remoteness…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 4
Land held in fee tail; liability for debts of tenant in tail
Section 4. Land held in fee tail, except an estate tail in remainder, shall be liable for the debts of the tenant in tail, both in his lifetime and after his decease, as if held in fee simple; and if taken on execution or sold by executors, administrators, guardians or conservators, the creditor or purchaser shall hold…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 5
Conveyance vesting life estate and remainder to heirs
Section 5. If land is granted or devised to a person and after his death to his heirs in fee, however the grant or devise is expressed, an estate for life only shall vest in such first taker, and a remainder in fee simple in his heirs.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 6
Interpretation of words importing want or failure of issue
Section 6. In a limitation of real or personal property by deed, will or other instrument in writing, executed after April thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, the words ''die without issue'', or ''die without leaving issue'', or ''have no issue'', or ''die without heirs of the body'', or other words importing…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 6A
''Heirs'' and ''next of kin'' construed
Section 6A. In a limitation of real or personal property to a class described as the ''heirs'' or ''next of kin'' of a person, or described by words of similar import, to take effect in enjoyment upon the happening of an event within the period of the rule against perpetuities, the class shall, unless a contrary intent…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 7
Creation of estate in common, joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety
Section 7. A conveyance or devise of land to two or more persons or to husband and wife, except a mortgage or a devise or conveyance in trust, shall create an estate in common and not in joint tenancy, unless it is expressed in such conveyance or devise that the grantees or devisees shall take jointly, or as joint tena…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 8
Conveyance to grantor and another
Section 8. Real estate, including any interest therein, may be transferred by a person to himself jointly with another person in the same manner in which it might be transferred by him to another person, and a conveyance of real estate by a person to himself and his spouse as tenants by the entirety shall create a tena…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 8A
Name and address of owner; request for information; records; penalty
Section 8A. In any city or town which accepts this section, the assessors shall, if they have reason to believe that the name and address of the grantee of record in a transfer of real estate is not the name and address of the owner of the real estate, by written notice, request such grantee to submit the name and addr…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 9
Conveyance by tenant for life or years of greater estate
Section 9. A conveyance by a tenant for life or years which purports to grant a greater estate than he possesses or can lawfully convey shall not work a forfeiture of his estate, but shall pass to the grantee all the estate which such tenant can lawfully convey.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 10
Acts of owner of precedent estate upon expectant estate; effect
Section 10. No expectant estate shall be defeated or barred by an alienation or other act of the owner of the precedent estate, nor by the destruction of such precedent estate by disseisin, forfeiture, surrender or merger.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 11
Barring of estates tail
Section 11. The two preceding sections shall not prevent the barring of estates tail in the manner provided in chapter one hundred and eighty-three, nor an expectant estate from being defeated in a manner provided for or authorized by the person creating such estate.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 12
Fixtures annexed by life tenant; determination; removal
Section 12. Fixtures annexed to the freehold by a life tenant or by his assigns may be removed during the continuance of the life estate or within a reasonable time thereafter; and in determining what are fixtures, the common law rules prevailing between a landlord and a tenant for years shall govern. This section shal…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 14
Sale of timber standing on land used by other than owner of fee
Section 14. If the supreme judicial court or the probate court for the county where the land lies finds that wood or timber, standing on land the use and improvement of which belongs, for life or otherwise, to a person other than the owner of the fee therein, has ceased to improve by growth, or ought for any cause to b…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 15
Proceedings affecting title to real property; recording and registration of memoranda of lis pendens; persons affected
Section 15. (a) A wit of entry or other proceeding that affects the title to real property or the use and occupation thereof or the buildings thereon, shall not have any effect except against the parties thereto, their heirs and devisees and persons having actual non-record notice thereof, until a memorandum containing…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 16
Certificate of judgment, decree or final disposition; recording
Section 16. At any time after final judgment or a decree in favor of the defendant, or after the discontinuance, dismissal or other final disposition, by consent of parties or otherwise, of a proceeding mentioned in the preceding section, or in case of the non-entry of the writ, petition or bill of complaint, the clerk…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 17
Judgments or decrees; effect of recording
Section 17. A judgment or decree, at law or in equity, rendered after June eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, affecting the title to real property, shall not have any effect except against the parties thereto, their heirs and devisees and persons having actual notice thereof, unless a certified copy of the record…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 17A
Agreement for purchase and sale of real estate; acknowledgment; recordation
Section 17A. No agreement for the purchase and sale of real estate or any extension thereof shall be received for record in any registry of deeds unless such agreement or extension thereof is acknowledged by the parties agreeing to sell such real estate or one of them. No agreement for the purchase and sale of real est…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 17B
Mortgage loan application; real estate consisting of a certain dwelling house; required statements and information
Section 17B. Every application for a mortgage loan on 1–to–4–family residential property and occupied or to be occupied in whole or in part by the obligor on the mortgage debt shall be made on a printed form which shall contain the following 2 statements in type of at least 2 points larger than the other type used on t…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 18
Entry into land; legal proceedings required to recover possession of land or tenements; jurisdiction
Section 18. No person shall make an entry into land or tenements except in cases where his entry is allowed by law, and in such cases he shall not enter by force, but in a peaceable manner. No person shall attempt to recover possession of land or tenements in any manner other than through an action brought pursuant to…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 19
Entry for breach of condition; certificate; recordation
Section 19. If real property has been conveyed by deed on a condition therein expressed, which is not a mortgage and if proceedings based upon right of entry for breach of such conditions have not been barred by section thirty-one A of chapter two hundred and sixty, the grantor, his heirs and devisees upon breach of su…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 20
Right of entry or action for recovery of real property; descent or discontinuance
Section 20. No descent or discontinuance shall take away or defeat any right of entry or of action for the recovery of real property.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 21
Encumbrances upon real property; duty of grantor to inform grantee
Section 21. If real property upon which any encumbrance exists is conveyed by deed or mortgage, the grantor, in whatever capacity he may act, shall before the consideration is paid, by exception in the deed or otherwise make known to the grantee the existence and nature of such prior encumbrance so far as he has knowle…
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 22
Encumbrance of record; liability for removal
Section 22. Whoever conveys real property by a deed or mortgage which contains a covenant that it is free from all encumbrances shall, if it appears by a public record that an actual or apparent encumbrance, known or unknown to him, exists thereon, be liable in an action of contract to the grantee, his heirs, executors…
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