My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Massachusetts
When I first moved into my 3 bedroom apartment, my brother, myself, and my sons father were on the lease. My sons father had not moved in for months, and when he did, he was only here for a couple of weeks, got kicked out because he put his hands on me, and never paid rent. Before my sons father moved in, my brother had his pregnant girlfriend living here so she could help pay for rent since my sons father hadn't shown up yet. My landlord found out that my brothers girlfriend was living with us and said she was going to charge us back-rent for her, and we had to pay $50 extra a month for her, even though we took my sons fathers name off the lease, and there are no extra people in the house. I'm struggling to pay rent and I can't afford the back-rent charges and the extra $50 a month. My brother has hit hard times and hasn't been able to pay his whole share of rent, so I can't expect him to pay it if he doesn't have the money, and if I don't pay the rent, we will all be homeless. I already have two jobs and I'm using every resource I can find to keep my apartment...I'm even trying to sell my car so I can just walk to work, but I don't want to lose everything I have. How should I approach my landlord to handle the situation?
Also, the landlord had told me previously that she didn't care who lived there, as long as I paid rent. Another thing, is that she made me pay first month's rent, security, AND last months rent to move in. In MA you're only supposed to do two.

