Citizens grappling over rent control face a key decision as soon as this week, when a Supreme Judicial Court ruling will determine whether voters will get the chance to ban the price ceilings from Massachusetts.

The ruling will determine whether a statewide vote on rent control would violate the state constitution's guarantee of "home rule," which is essentially the right of individual communities to make decisions for themselves.

If the court rules that a vote is constitutional, the decision would be a big victory for rent control opponents, who say that a referendum would most likely go in their favor.

But if the court deems the referendum illegal, rent control supporters would be sitting pretty--there would be few avenues remaining for opponents of the price ceilings.

In the meantime, the petitions that would send the rent control question to the voters may be called into question as well.

Anti-rent control activists, represented by the Homeowners Coalition, needed 11,715 signatures to send the issue to referendum.

But the pro-rent control Campaign for Affordable Housing and Tenant Protection is presently in the process of investigating the validity of the signatures.

If the pro-rent control Campaign for Affordable Housing and Tenant Protection successfully challenges the validity of the signatures, any referendum would be delayed at least a year, as the anti-rent control Homeowners Coalition would be forced to re-collect signatures.

Yet a third hurdle for the anti-rent control Homeowners Coalition could come in court this fall.

Rent control advocates have appealed a judge's ruling that a preliminary petition requiring more than 70,000 signatures is valid.

If the rent control supporters successfully erect any of these roadblocks, a vote on rent control would be delayed a year, two years or forever.

The First Petition

In August, anti-rent control activists filed language with the attorney general's office for a petition to have a referendum that would dramatically alter the way rent control is applied throughout the state.

The anti-rent control Homeowners Coalition needed 70,286 valid signatures--three and a half percent of the ballots cast in the most recent gubernatorial election--with no more than 25 percent coming from any single county, in order to achieve a relatively equitable distribution.

The anti-rent control Homeowners Coalition obtained more than 93,000 signatures in the fall.