I Sued my landlord and maybe you should too

In July of 2024, my roommate and I let our landlord know that we intended to renew our lease for another year. Obligingly, they sent over a lease renewal for us to sign. Included in the renewal, though, was a provision that we were required to keep the apartment clean to their satisfaction or hire someone to do it if we weren’t able to. “They can’t do that, right?” my roommate asked me. To which I, of course, responded “no.”

I said it with confidence because Massachusetts law does not allow a landlord to withhold the security deposit for cleaning. I also knew that it said if our landlord tried to keep any part of our security deposit for cleaning, they were on the hook for treble damages (a fancy way of saying “three times the security deposit”). As I learned a bit over a year later, though, Massachusetts law actually says quite a lot more than that. So I’m going to share with you what I wish I’d known then in the hopes it saves you some grief in the future. Or at least compensates you for any grief you’ve already suffered.

Let me start by saying, I am not an attorney. I do have a legal education, which makes me at least slightly better at finding and understanding relevant law than your average bear, but I’m not licensed to practice law. None of what I’m sharing should be considered legal advice. I don’t know your specific circumstances or if my experience is relevant to them, and none of the laws I’m going to reference are relevant outside of Massachusetts, period. If you want legal help, I strongly recommend seeing what free resources are available to you through your local bar association.

All I’m doing is sharing what I went through and learned, citing my sources, and telling you how it worked out for me. My hope is that by doing so I can get more people to think about whether what their landlord is doing is legal, and maybe take action if they determine it isn’t. I am exhausted by the culture of ignorance about landlords’ responsibilities and tenants’ rights, and I’m hoping I can shift it just a little bit by saying “hey look! I understood my rights, sued my landlord, and walked away with a good chunk of change!”

Oops, spoiled the end. Yeah, I won, and it wasn’t even that hard. Some parts of this are going to be a little dry but I’ll do my best to keep it interesting. No matter how boring reading the rulebook is, you’ll never win if you don’t know what kind of game you’re playing.

So let’s jump to July, 2025. My roommate decided he was going to move on from the apartment, so I let our landlord know I was going to find a new roommate. They responded to let me know that the last time they had stopped by (something they did frequently, which is a story for another time) my roommate’s space was not as clean as they would like it to be. As consequence, they made the bizarre request that I “make sure he left his deposit as he did not take care of his bathroom” and that it was “just fair for him to give [me] part of the deposit for [them] to use for repairs.” I very politely directed their attention to the relevant Massachusetts General Law (ch. 186 § 15B) and figured that would be the end of it. It was not.

Two days later, I received the following response: “We are aware of those government regulations which we adhere to and follow but there are also sets of simple standards or rules which we want to ask our tenants to follow. As per our lease agreement, it states that if you cannot do the right cleaning you have to hire a professional cleaner.” Frustrated, I talked things over with my roommate and determined that we would gather evidence to protect ourselves and if they withheld the security deposit illegally we would take action then.

Unfortunately for my landlord though, I realized that despite years of telling anyone who lingered too long in my presence that it was illegal for a landlord to withhold a portion of the security deposit for cleaning, I’d never actually closely read the entirety of section 15B. I’d only ever read that little excerpt that said a “reasonable amount” of the security deposit could be used to “repair any damage caused to the dwelling unit by the tenant” or anyone the tenant was responsible for. As I said above, it turns out there’s quite a bit more to it than just that.

In fact, there are quite a few responsibilities for landlords in section 15B, and on review my landlord had skipped out on several of them. Over the course of the next few weeks, I read and re-read the section, reviewed cases, and looked up resources for both tenants and landlords about handling security deposits. Confident that I’d be well positioned to counter anything my landlord threw my way, I kept looking for someone to replace my roommate. In the meantime, though, I asked my landlord for the interest that they owed us on the security deposit under 15B(3)(b), as well as the relevant bank statement, something they were supposed to provide to us annually. And that’s when things really went off the rails.

Up until this point, I had planned to stay on. Moving seemed like much more of a pain than dealing with what seemed to be run-of-the-mill landlord nonsense I’d likely face anywhere I went, and the apartment was positively cheap for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom within walking distance of the Orange Line. But in mid-August, I got the following email.

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I saw red. Anyone who knows me knows my feelings about landlording. It’s exploitative, extractive, parasitic behavior. I’m not shy about saying that. But this, this was an Aesopian level of greed that shocked even me. And much like the boy with his filberts, my landlord had grabbed just a bit too much and gotten their hand stuck.

I won’t tell you exactly how much my landlord got out of my roommate and I over the course of the two years we lived there, but based on the apartment description above I’m sure you can make an educated guess. For them to attempt to extract an additional measly $23.04, to the cent, for “taxes” on our interest, was beyond the pale. In my blind rage I missed an important detail that, luckily, my landlord happily pointed out for me a few days later, when I received printouts, in the mail, of partially redacted account details. Details that revealed that not only was the account in their name, but also that it was a regular savings account attached to two other accounts in their name.

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This feels like a good time to start actually talking about the provisions of M.G.L. ch. 186 § 15B. Section 15B is relatively long and dense, and provides a list of responsibilities that a landlord bears toward their tenant. I’m going to run through them and parse them in plain language as much as I can. I’m going to skip the things that aren’t relevant to the security deposit, but you should go and read the entire section when you have a chance. You’ll learn something.

The security deposit information starts in (1)(e), where it says, in extremely clear language, a fact that no landlord I have ever dealt with has understood: the security deposit is yours, not theirs. They take possession of it, not ownership, which is a fine distinction but an important one. They are holding it. It does not belong to them. It has to be kept separate from their money.

Next up is (2)(b), which says that a landlord who collects a security deposit has to provide a receipt that indicates:

1. the amount of the security deposit;
2. the name of the person receiving it;
3. when it was received; and,
4. a description of the rented premises.

(2)(c) describes the requirement that the landlord provide a statement of the condition of the premises, the thing you sign knowing full well that they probably just painted over whatever mold or water damage there is, or that you’ll inevitably find something that was obviously broken before you moved in but they’ll claim it wasn’t. (2)(d) describes the security deposit record landlords are required to maintain, including a list and description of damage done, ends of tenancy, and repairs made.

(3)(a) though! This is where it starts to really get good. This is what you came for. As stated above in (1)(e), the security deposit funds may not be commingled with your landlord’s money. The money has to be held in a “separate, interest-bearing account in a bank, located within the commonwealth under such terms as will place [it] beyond the claim of creditors of the [landlord]”. In simple terms, if your landlord defaults on their mortgage, the security deposit, which is still your money, needs to be somewhere their bank can’t seize it from. Because it’s not their money, it’s yours.

(3)(a) also requires another receipt, one that includes the name and location of the bank where the security deposit is being held. This is one of the things I didn’t actually know, and I wish I had. My landlord didn’t provide me with that required receipt, and as a result, per that last sentence of (3)(a), I could have immediately demanded the return of my security deposit. Also important to note here that the Massachusetts Appeals Court has held that “located within the commonwealth” means “the deposit was made at a location physically located in Massachusetts.” See Taylor v. Burke, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 77 (2007), a case where a landlord placed the security deposit in a bank in New Hampshire that had branches in Massachusetts. Turns out my landlord did the exact same thing. Oops.

(3)(b) requires that the landlord provide a tenant with the interest accrued on their security deposit at the end of each year of the lease. The interest can be deducted from the first month of rent in each new year of tenancy, but the landlord has to present that as an option and have the tenant consent. They also have to provide an annual statement for the account. As noted above, my landlord didn’t do either of those things, and unfortunately for their ill-fated attempt to squeeze an extra $23.04 out of me, the law is pretty clear about them not getting a single cent of the interest accrued. “Such interest shall be beyond the claims of such lessor, except as provided for in this section.” I looked real hard, and “I deposited your money wrong so it counted as my income and I don’t want to pay taxes on it” wasn’t provided for anywhere in 15B.

(4) is where we start talking about the return of the security deposit and what a landlord can withhold funds for. Pay close attention to this part, because in my experience this is where you’re most likely to get screwed over. First up, the timeline. The landlord has 30 days to return the security deposit. There’s…not actually any flex here. Even if they have a legal reason to withhold a portion, they’ve got 30 days after the lease ends to figure out how much they’re keeping and return the rest of it to you.

And when they return the portion you’re owed, or tell you why you’re not getting any of it back, they have to provide an itemized list of the damages, the necessary repairs, and estimates, bills, invoices, or receipts proving the costs. All of this needs to be in “precise detail” and “sworn to under the pains and penalties of perjury”. Just to put a fine point on that, it is a crime for a landlord to lie about damage, repairs, or their costs.

As for why they can actually withhold, there are only three reasons:

1. to cover unpaid rent, as long as there wasn’t a valid reason to withhold that rent;
2. if you, as the tenant, are obligated to pay an increase in real estate taxes, which seems like an extremely special circumstance; or,
3. the “reasonable amount” to repair damages I mentioned above, “reasonable wear and tear excluded”.

That last part there is where they typically get you. What, exactly, is reasonable wear and tear? It feels a little “I’ll know it when I see it”, but helpfully the courts have now weighed in on this pretty clearly. Peebles v. JRK Property Holdings, Inc., SJC-13702 (August 1, 2025), serendipitously decided just two weeks before this whole fiasco kicked off, is a bit wordy and dense, but establishes that “reasonable wear and tear” is the level of deterioration that could be expected with regular use of the premises for the purpose that they are leased. Or, in Judge Dewar’s words:

“A dwelling’s condition is expected to deteriorate over time as a tenant moves furniture in and out; cooks in the kitchen; bathes in the bathroom; relies on appliances with limited lifespans; and otherwise makes reasonable use of the property during the tenant’s occupancy under the terms of the lease, including simply by walking on the floors, beside the walls, and through the doorways, day after day.”

Basically, as long as you don’t intentionally or recklessly damage your apartment beyond what regular use could be expected to, it is probably “reasonable wear and tear”. That means no withholding the security deposit for cleaning, painting, re-carpeting, changing lightbulbs, etc. unless you did something truly egregious. It’s easy to see why some landlords are choosing not to bother collecting a security deposit, it has the potential to be significantly more trouble than it’s worth.

Speaking of, let’s talk about those consequences. We find those in subsections (6) and (7). First, (6) says that if a landlord:

1. fails to hold the security deposit separate from their own funds in a bank in MA;
2. does not provide the required itemized list of damages within 30 days after the end of the lease;
3. includes provisions in the lease that conflict, in any way, with 15B;
4. doesn’t properly transfer the security deposit to the new property owner in the event of a sale; or,
5. doesn’t return the portion of the security deposit the tenant is entitled to within 30 days after the end of the lease; then,

they don’t get to keep any of the security deposit, even if they actually had a legitimate reason to withhold some portion of it.

And then we get to (7), which includes a very simple but brutal penalty. If a landlord breaks 1, 4, or 5, they are on the hook for the return of the security deposit plus three times the amount of the security deposit. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about this one. No good faith exceptions, no “oopsie” clauses. Do it wrong, get a strong incentive to do it right next time.

Which brings us to the end of my story. My landlord had tried to grab just a bit too much, and I could no longer see what I may, at first, have been inclined to treat as a good faith mistake as anything other than a pattern of mismanagement and greed. I had to assume, under the circumstances, that they had no intent to return my security deposit in full. So I filed suit.

It cost me about 20 minutes and $150 to e-file my claim. I uploaded a copy of the lease, then set about scanning every paper document they sent me and taking screenshots of every email. I filed the case on August 25th, and a week later I had a hearing scheduled for October 8th. Interestingly, though I checked the box saying I wasn’t interested in arbitration, I was forced into a small, frigid, room with my roommate and our landlord, where an obviously overworked court employee listened to my story with growing incredulity. At the end, after repeatedly saying she wasn’t there to “discuss law, that’s for the clerk to evaluate”, she very candidly said “buddy, I’d just drop this. You’re not getting your treble damages.”

The hearing itself was pretty simple and happened about 10 minutes later. My roommate and I told our side of the story, my landlord got an opportunity to ask questions about our testimony. Then it was their turn to tell their side of the story, and our turn to ask questions of them. I showed up at the courthouse at 9:30 and was home by noon. Relatively quick by court standards. Then it was waiting five weeks for a judgment, but you already know how that turned out.

I won. You might too.