Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Utilities without lease; not separately controlled or metered

Your landlord may be violating three to four laws. A) The only one I'm not sure of is the question of in-law apartment. I'll guess that you mean that the house is not zoned for a second unit, so he's violating a zoning regulation. What city or town do you live in? For that matter, what's the address? For Mass. residents I can check the zoning classification from the address on my computer, using Lexis Nexis legal services.)

However, that law could be used against YOU so think twice before you press that issue at all.

B) As you may have guessed, he's not allowed to charge you for 1/2 the utilities or in fact any of the utilities when you have no separate control; that's not exactly the law, though. The law addresses separate metering instead of separate controls. He can't charge you for utilities when there's only one METER for both of you. Is the heat by oil, gas, propane or electricity? If you contact a lawyer, you will have explained to you the options for penalizing the landlord for this violation. The penalty (call it a fine) accrues to YOU (and your attorney). Call me if you like at (617)527-0050.

C) Another law you may not be aware of is that he can't charge you for utilities at all without having a written agreement such as a lease. The penalties for this are different and depend somewhat on what court you would be in, frankly. Again, you need a lawyer to help you with this issue.

Loose lips sink ships and you should consult an attorney BEFORE you yield to the temptation to spout off new knowledge of the law to the landlord. There are certain steps a lawyer will take to preserve your rights on your behalf.

D) If he took last and security, there are a bunch of very specific and technical requirements which fewer than half of all landlords know well enough to handle correctly. The penalties for even technical minor violations are rather stiff and are mandated by the law, that is, they are not discretionary with the Judge (not up to him, so to speak). However, and I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, you'll be better off if you consult an attorney on this issue as well. While security deposit violations are the easiest of these things for one to deal with on his own (no lawyer), I still recommend an attoney.

Besides, the landlord pays reasonable attorney's fees (no joke) if he loses on any of the 3 issues I've listed above.