Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Re: Apartment Condition Statement

The short answer is they might be able to use it against you in withholding rent. It depends on how much notice they gave you, what the items are and if they rise to a level of materially disrutping their use of the apartment or breach the implied warranty of inhabitability. If they do you have a potentially serious problem.

A justifiable reason would be bad plumbing or no stove, et cetera. Assuming they were not the cause of the problem, then the Landlord has an obligation to repair the premises and failure could entitle them to withhold rent or use the undone repairs as a justification with the court in an eviction proceeding for withhholding of rent as a defense.

It is unclear what you mean by 10 items and 5 are flexible. If the items are significant leaking plumbing, faulty electricity, non-working appliances then you need to make repairs and they should be done reasonably quickly. If you have a sanitary or building code violation depending upon the severity, you could be held liable for damages if the Tenant suffers injury.

On the other hand, if the items are not material or significant for the use of the apartment, then the Tenant would not be able to get damages from you. If the Tenant corrects the problem and deducts it from the rent after giving you a reasonable period in which to make the repairs, then you have to convince a court that the Tenant was not entitled to withhold or deduct the repair cost from the rent and that you are not liable for the repair.

Some of this will depend on your lease, some of this will depend on the nature of item. If the items are not significant to the use of the property and you begin to address the problems in a reasonable way, you should avoid the Tenant withholding or deducting rent. If the tenant is unreasonable in his or her demands, then you can proceed to evict them.

You can look at the relevant statues regarding Landlord Tenant at the www.mass.gov. The most relevant to your question is Chapter 239, section 8A of the Massachusetts General laws. Simply stated if you try to evict and the court orders them to pay the amount withheld and they do so with any court costs within the alloted time by the court, they are allowed to stay. If the rent is $500 a month and the repair is $50. The would be wrong to withhold more than the $50.00. If it is something more substantial, then they may have greater justification for withholding a months rent.

Without more facts, it is hard to give a more precise answer.