Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts
Extortionate?
Hi.
In the house I live in, then landlady has many issues with the state of the apartment. After a few weeks of asking for things to be done, and not being completed, I got the health inspector involved. She then received 5 citations for health and safety offenses.
One of them was she didn't have the front door lockable.
Now, to get in line with the code she has to get the front door fixed. I recieved the key for my new lock, and she added a note saying if the key was ''lost or stolen, there is a charge of $150''
I feel this is a little extortionate. Am I right?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Extortionate?
It is not extortion, but it is an unreasonably high penalty for the loss of a key. You are not obligated to pay anything except the reasonable cost of making a new key, probably less than $3.00.