Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts

I rent out a single family home in Middleton,MA. It is in the lease that my tenant pays ALL utilities. However, since the water bill has to be in my name, I pay the bill and send a copy to my tenant to reimburse me. The problem is that my tenant insists that it is not Lawful to charge him for water and that it is always included regardless if it's an apartment, condo or single family home, so he has never reimbursed me. He owes me well over $1000 in past water bills. I have been deducting the amounts from his initial deposit (which is almost gone now) but don't know if this is legal also.

Thank you for your time.

Jennifer


Asked on 10/09/09, 6:38 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gregory Lee Gregory P. Lee, Attorney at Law

deducting the water bill from a rent deposit is not legal. I have never seen a statute that declares it illegal to charge for separately metered water, but I have not researched that issue.

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Answered on 10/14/09, 6:47 pm


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