Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts

I moved out of my apartment almost 30 days ago (tomorrow will be 30 days), and I live in Mass. My landlord has yet to return my $900 security deposit. When I left I offered many many times to do a final walk through with her and she was always too busy and said she would just mail me the check, and I have the texts saved to prove it. I was going to send a demand letter, but I decided to just send her a reminder text yesterday first. She said she had to finish repairing, cleaning and painting, and will get the accounting and balance out to me. Now I left that apartment in excellent shape, there was not one broken thing, I even filled in the few holes made from hung photos and painted it as she had the paint in the storage room. I was afraid of this as she had been very difficult to get a long with. I took date/time stamped photos of absolutely everything in the apartment when I left from the walls to floors to even inside the drawers. I have photos of every inch of the place (it was a small apartment). I cleaned everything as well before I left, even though I kept the place spotless when I lived there anywhere. The dishwasher was not working when I moved in, even though she never told me that. I tried to run a load and it started smoking, so I let her know and her response was "oh that has been broken for a while, sorry" Repeated request for repair went ignored. I have the texts from that too, and a witness. I also have 2 witnesses to how the place was left. I guess I just have a few questions...1.) I know I will disagree with her findings, so what is the best way to dispute that 2.) I just found out she had someone else move in, and I have a feeling that the deposit they give her is going to be what she sends me, I know that money was not held in an interest bearing account, should I do anything about that 3.) If I do not receive the check tomorrow should I send out a demand letter certified mail as proof? Any help would be really really appreciated! Thanks in advance, Katie


Asked on 12/11/13, 5:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Christopher Vaughn-Martel Charles River Law Partners, LLC

There are two separate issues here.

First, your landlord must return the portion of your security deposit owing to you within 30 days of the termination of your tenancy. If your landlord fails to do this, you should probably consider filing a small claims suit to recover the deposit. The landlord will likely be responsible for paying you three times your security deposit, plus attorney's fees, in damages.

Secondly, you have an obligation not to cause damage to your unit. Should you cause damage to the unit, beyond normal wear and tear, you can be liable to your landlord for that amount. Separate and apart from the security deposit issue, the landlord may also file a small claims suit against you to recover for any such damage.

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Answered on 12/12/13, 4:47 am


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