Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

I rented out my condo last year and it has been 2 months since the tenant has left. I am still holding his security deposit. I have tried repeatedly to locate him via email and phone, however I have not been successful. Is there a time period to which I need to hold his deposit? At what point can I declare it as unclaimed?


Asked on 1/31/11, 2:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Technically you can hold a deposit up to 3 years before treating it as unclaimed property.

Once a year you are to check your records and if deemed abandonned, then you send it to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as abandonned property. You are required to send a 60 day notice to the last known address of the person whose property is to be transferred to the State.

MGL c 200A Abandonned property

Section 7A. If the person in possession of property in an amount of one hundred dollars or more presumed abandoned under this chapter has the last known address of the apparent owner which the person�s records do not disclose to be inaccurate, the holder shall at least sixty days before filing the annual report send a notice by first class mail to inform the owner of the process necessary to rebut the presumption of abandonment.

I hope this was helpful

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Answered on 2/08/11, 2:49 pm


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