Zuker v. City of Cambridge

This appeal concerns the right of a Cambridge landlord to make optional repairs to a vacant controlled rental unit without first obtaining a removal permit from the Cambridge rent control board (board).

*385To further the purposes of the Cambridge Rent Control Act, St. 1976, c. 36, the city adopted § 1 of c. 23 of the Cambridge City Code, Ordinance 966, to regulate the removal of controlled rental units from the housing market. The ordinance requires a landlord to obtain a permit from the board, after a hearing, before removing a rent controlled unit from the housing market. In addition to such…