Security Deposits Revisited

I have written about security deposits previously, but a recent case I handled causes me to revisit the issue. The Massachusetts statute is quite clear – at the commencement of a lease, the landlord can take the following: first month's rent, last month's rent, a security deposit equal to not more than one month's rent and the purchase and installation cost for a key and lock. That's it. If you take anything more, you, as the landlord are in violation of the statute. In addition, it does not matter what you call the security deposit. I recently had a landlord's attorney try and tell me that the money given to her for a “cleaning deposit” was not a security deposit and therefore did not need to be deposited pursuant to statutory regulations. That cleaning deposit was a security deposit; so is a pet deposit. In this case the landlord took only a $150.00 security deposit; however she had mishandled it and had the matter not been resolved, then my client would have been entitled to $450.00 plus his attorneys fees if it had not been returned on demand.