The governor has signed into law a new bill revising the requirements for landlords when disposing of the belongings of evicted tenants.

Formerly, when completing an eviction, landlords were required to pay for any personal property belonging to their former tenant to be removed to a storage facility. Landlords were legally entitled to seek reimbursement from the tenant for this, but this often proves difficult. If, prior to vacating the property, the former tenant provided an address of a particular storage facility, landlords were required to use this facility.

Landlords felt the provision was subject to abuse, pointing to cases where tenants provided the address of their new abode as the "storage facility" to which their belongings were to be shipped, in essence forcing the landlord to pay their moving costs.

The new bill clarifies this aspect of the law, specifying that the "storage facility" must be a bonded warehouse no more than 20 miles from the landlord’s property.

The law had been championed by the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB).

"I think it really preserves the intent of the law," sad Greg Vasil, CEO of GBREB. "There had been a few times where the law was interpreted to mean that the landlord was responsible for moving their belongings to their new apartment by the court system."

The new law makes clear that’s not the landlord’s responsibility while still making sure former tenant’s possessions are kept safe, he said.