Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Last Month's rent

I moved into an apartment on Feb 27th. The tenant there was subletting it to me, and she had moved in on Feb 15th. She has no signed lease agreement with the landlord, and is on a verbal tenancy at will. We had decided to split the utilities and the rent($1000). She asked me to pay her $250 for the month of Feb + $500(last month's rent), and I agreed at that time. Everything was based on word of mouth, and I have not signed anything. She gave me only a small room in the house, and used all the closets and storage space herself. I paid my share of the rent and utilities to her promptly. I had mentioned to her that I might be moving out by end of the month in the first week of May, but as I wasn't sure, I paid the rent for May. I moved out on May 31st. At that time I owed her $500 on utility and phone bills. Now, she is insisting that I pay her $500, and I feel that she owes me $700, for the extra I paid in Feb, and the last month's rent. I suggested settling the last month's rent for the utilities, but she claims that I did not provide her sufficient notice. The landlord is not involved in the issue at all. Can she sue? As there are absolutely no written agreements nor witnesses, can anything be proved at all in court?


Asked on 8/09/00, 2:29 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stuart Williams

Re: Last Month's rent

You are supposed to give 30 days notice ending on a rent-payment-due day (usually the first of the month; possibly the 15th in your case?).

You "maybe I'm moving" notice is debatably proper notice.

However, as your landlord, she violated the "last month's rent" laws by not providing certain things in writing to you!!! That can work for you.

As for proof: Proof can be made in court by testimony. A lot of judges think they can tell who's telling the truth where there's a difference in story. It actually sound to me like, push comes to shove, you would admit the truth, so the fact that nothing's written doesn't help you. That's only "helpful" for a skilled liar or theif (and not often then, either).

There's one important thing, though: can you prove that you made the payments you claim to have made or were some made in cash instead of by check?

My e-mail address is [email protected] -- feel free to respond to me.

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Answered on 9/13/00, 10:44 pm


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