It is often said that being a residential landlord in Massachusetts is difficult. There is a perception that statutory rules favor tenants, particularly with respect to the handling of security deposit funds. Mass. Gen. L. c. 186, §15B outlines the landlord’s responsibility with respect to security deposits. For example, a landlord may only retain a […]
Blog
By Annabelle Hentz, Law Clerk The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently upheld a Superior Court’s ruling that rent acceleration clauses are enforceable by commercial landlords against defaulting commercial tenants. Rent acceleration clauses allow for unpaid rent to constitute liquidated damages when a tenant defaults—regardless of the amount of unpaid lapsed time. Case Background Recently, […]
The landlord in this recent Massachusetts Appeals Court case owns a commercial condominium unit in a mixed-use condominium complex with mostly residential units. The condominium’s parking areas contain a total of 91 parking spaces, some exclusive (i.e., assigned to a particular unit), but most (66 spaces) are non-exclusive common areas (i.e., available to visitors, owners, […]
Some seasoned landlord/tenant practitioners and even judges advise residential landlords to forego requesting security deposits from their tenants. Massachusetts law allows a landlord to require a tenant to pay at or prior to the commencement of a tenancy the first month’s rent, last month’s rent, a security deposit (equal to the first month’s rent), and […]
