Massachusetts security deposit itemization
A Massachusetts landlord must send the itemized statement within 30 days after move-out. Miss it and the right to deduct anything is gone. The generator checks the deadline, the delivery method and the documentation as you fill it in.
Create a Massachusetts itemizationFree watermarked preview · Clean PDF $2.99 · No account needed to preview
What Massachusetts requires
- Deadline
- 30 days after the tenancy ends.
- Delivery
- Deliver the sworn itemized list to the tenant.
- If it is late
- Missing the 30-day sworn list forfeits the right to keep any of the deposit. Not returning the balance within 30 days, or not holding the deposit in a compliant account, costs three times the deposit or balance due plus 5% interest, court costs and attorney's fees.
- Documentation
- Written evidence of the cost of each repair (estimates, bills, invoices or receipts).
- Condition record
- A signed statement of condition, given when the deposit is paid or within 10 days after the tenancy starts, whichever is later; the deposit may not be taken without it, and damage it lists cannot be deducted.
- Deposit account
- The deposit sits in a separate interest-bearing account at a Massachusetts bank, and within 30 days the tenant gets a receipt naming the bank, its location, the account number and amount. Otherwise the tenant can have the deposit back at once and you forfeit it.
- Interest
- 5% a year, or the lesser rate the bank paid; due each anniversary of the tenancy, with all accrued interest within 30 days of termination.
- Attestation
- The list is signed under the pains and penalties of perjury; the PDF prints the statement.
- Statute
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B
What goes on the statement
The deposit and the date it was received, each deduction with a specific description and amount, the total withheld, and the refund or balance owed. Massachusetts landlords also record how and when the statement was sent, because the deadline is measured to that date. Damage lines should say what was damaged and how, not just a room name: a tenant, and a judge, can tell a burn mark from carpet wear.
Interest, a separate deposit account, receipts, photographs and a sworn attestation are only required in some states. The generator shows the fields Massachusetts needs and leaves out the ones it does not.
Massachusetts deposit FAQ
Other states
Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming
Send it inside the deadline
Preview the statement free, fix anything the checklist flags, then download the clean PDF for $2.99.
Create a Massachusetts itemization