I live in Boston - I moved into this apartment midway through the year. I wrote a check for last month and security deposit to the previous tenant, and that month's rent to the designated housemember (he wrote all checks because the landlord will only accept one). I was expecting to sign the lease but the landlord only scratched out the old tenant's name and wrote in my name.
My housemates and I are concerned the landlord will use our security deposit to get rid of old stuff and trash in the basement/storage areas that is clearly there from previous tenants. My housemates did not send in a Statement of Condition at the end of the year (addendum to the lease says we have to send landlord one). Apparently the main check-writer was sent a security deposit receipt within the 30 day limit, and also notified of the location of the money, etc. in an email.
I asked to see landlord's records of the security deposit, per the Security Deposit Law and she refused, saying she does not have to furnish anything to us until 30 days after the end of the lease. She also said since she sent us a receipt by mail there is a complete record of the security deposit and she doesn't have to send anything. I asked for last year's record as well and she refused saying I am not entitled to see that.
Don't I have a right to just *see* the receipt, even though my lease is over? Am I reading the law wrong? My reading tells me that her refusal entitles us to have the security deposit back immediately. It says:
(d) Every lessor who accepts a security deposit shall maintain a record of all such security deposits received which contains the following information:—
(i) a detailed description of any damage done to each of the dwelling units or premises for which a security deposit has been accepted, returned to any tenant thereof or for which the lessor has brought suit against any tenant;
(ii) the date upon which the occupancy of the tenant or tenants charged with such damage was terminated; and
(iii) whether repairs were performed to remedy such damage, the dates of said repairs, the cost thereof, and receipts therefor.
Said record shall also include copies of any receipt or statement of condition given to a tenant or prospective tenant as required by this section.
Said record shall be available for inspection upon request of a tenant or prospective tenant during normal business hours in the office of the lessor or his agent. Upon a wrongful failure by the lessor or his agent to make such record available for inspection by a tenant or prospective tenant, said tenant or prospective tenant shall be entitled to the immediate return of any amount paid in the form of a security deposit together with any interest which has accrued thereon.
The lessor or his agent shall maintain said record for each dwelling unit or premises for which a security deposit was accepted for a period of two years from the date of termination of the tenancy or occupancy upon which the security deposit was conditioned.
Thanks!
Security Deposit
There are no explicit limitations on the number of times a tenant can request a receipt and account statment for a security deposit. The only relevant restriction is that the request for such information be made during regular business hours at the office of the landlord or their real estate agent. Whatever the landlord said about not having to provide this receipt until 30 days after the termination of the lease, then, is just wrong.
Since the landlord did provide a receipt initially to the "checkwriter", it's not entirely clear that a court would void the security deposit for a subsequent request to see the account records, however the statutory language simply says that any "wrongful failure" to provide the information results in the landlord's forfeiture of the deposit, so the fact that she made it available previously shouldn't matter.
This provision applies to any tenancy within the 2 year period designated in the statute you appropriately identify. Furthermore it does not appear to specifically tie the right to request the receipt to the tenant(s) actually making the deposit, especially since it provides for "prospective tenants" to view the security deposit records. Presumably this is to allow would-be tenants an opportunity to see whether and under what circumstances a landlord has been w/holding security deposits from other tenants in the past. As a result, the fact that you didn't live in the apt. during the previous year shouldn't excuse the landlord from her obligations under M.G.L. 186, s. 15B (2d) (the above statute) to provide you w/ the security deposit account information.
Your landlord's refusal may be based on a confusion of her obligations following a demand to see the records with her obligations to furnish you an itemized account of damages that are the basis for the witholding of return of the security deposit as also contemplated by M.G.L. 185, s. 15B. The later documentation isn't required until w/in 30 days of the termination of the tenancy, whihch may be where she's getting that time period from.
You may also want to consult the regulations that have been implemented pursuant to this statute. That information is available here:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Government&L2=AG's+Regulations&sid=Cago&b=terminalcontent&f=government_Regulations_940CMR3&csid=Cago#3.17: Landlord-Tenant
and might provide slighly more detailed guidance on how the law in question is supposed to applied.