Massachusetts Security Deposit Law in 2026: Receipts, Interest, Deductions and Triple Damages

Your landlord must hold your security deposit in a separate Massachusetts bank account, give you two receipts and a statement of the apartment’s condition, pay you interest every year, and return the deposit within 30 days after you move out with a sworn, itemized list of any deductions. If the landlord skips the bank account, fails to return the deposit on time, or does not transfer it when the building sells, you are entitled to three times the deposit plus interest, costs and attorney’s fees (G.L. c. 186, § 15B). Most landlords get at least one rule wrong.

Here is what the statute requires in 2026.

What a landlord can collect up front

At or before move-in, a landlord may require only four things: first month’s rent, last month’s rent at the same rate, a security deposit no larger than one month’s rent, and the cost of a new lock and key (G.L. c. 186, § 15B(1)(b)). Pet deposits, cleaning fees and “move-in fees” are not on the list.

Since August 1, 2025, that limit expressly covers the landlord’s agents too. The statute now says no landlord “or agent of the lessor” may require you to pay, “to the lessor or to an agent of the lessor,” anything beyond those four items (G.L. c. 186, § 15B(1)(b), as amended by St. 2025, c. 9, §§ 54, 55). Charging any of these extra fees is also an unfair or deceptive practice under the Attorney General’s regulations (940 CMR 3.17(4)(a)).

Broker fees after August 1, 2025

The same 2025 law changed who pays a rental broker. A licensed broker may now work solely for the prospective tenant or solely for the landlord. The statute says: “Any fee shall only be paid by the party, lessor or tenant who originally engaged and entered into a contract with the licensed broker or salesperson” (G.L. c. 112, § 87DDD½, as amended by St. 2025, c. 9, § 43, effective August 1, 2025).

In plain terms: if the landlord hired the broker to fill the apartment, the landlord pays that broker. You pay a broker fee only if you hired the broker yourself. If a landlord’s broker asks you for a fee, ask in writing who hired the broker, and keep the answer.

The 2025 amendment: a fee instead of a deposit

Effective August 1, 2025, § 15B was amended to let the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities write regulations permitting a landlord and tenant to agree to a fee in lieu of a security deposit. The amendment does not itself create a fee program. It sets conditions any regulations must meet: the fee must cover unpaid rent or damage under the lease, the lease must disclose whether it is non-refundable and the tenant must agree in writing, the total cannot exceed one month’s rent, the tenant must remain free to pay a traditional deposit instead, and it must be offered to every approved applicant on the same terms.

Ask a lawyer whether regulations exist before you agree to any “deposit alternative.” A landlord cannot invent a non-refundable fee on its own.

Receipt number one: when you pay

When you pay the deposit, the landlord must give you a signed receipt stating the amount, the date, who received it (and the landlord’s name if an agent took it), and the apartment (§ 15B(2)(b)).

The statement of condition

Within 10 days after your tenancy begins, or when the deposit is received if later, the landlord must give you a separate written statement of the apartment’s condition listing all existing damage, including certified code violations (§ 15B(2)(c)). Add anything the landlord left out, sign it, and return it within 15 days after you receive it or 15 days after you move in, whichever is later. Keep a copy. If you do not return it on time, a court may treat the landlord’s list as complete and correct. The landlord may not later deduct for damage on this list unless the landlord repaired it during the tenancy and can prove you caused new, unrelated damage.

Receipt number two: the bank account

The deposit must be held in a separate, interest-bearing account in a Massachusetts bank, beyond the reach of the landlord’s creditors and set up to transfer to any new owner (§ 15B(3)(a)). Within 30 days after receiving the deposit, the landlord must give you a second receipt stating the bank’s name and location, the amount and the account number. If the landlord does not comply with this paragraph, you are entitled to immediate return of the deposit.

Interest every year

If the landlord holds your deposit for a year or more, you are owed interest from the first day of the tenancy at 5 percent per year, or the lower rate the bank actually paid (§ 15B(3)(b)). At the end of each year the landlord must send a statement showing the bank, account number, deposit and interest due, and either pay the interest or tell you to deduct it from rent. If 30 days pass after your anniversary with nothing, you may deduct the interest from your next rent yourself. Late annual interest entitles you to that rent deduction, not to damages equal to the whole deposit; where a landlord paid all overdue interest during the tenancy, the Appeals Court found no Chapter 93A damages because the tenant proved no injury (AIF Dartmouth, LLC v. Hanson, Nos. 24-P-961 & 25-P-341 (Mass. App. Ct. Sept. 14, 2026)). If you move out before an anniversary, accrued interest is due within 30 days.

Last month’s rent earns interest too

If you prepaid last month’s rent, the landlord must give you a receipt at the time of payment stating the amount, the date, that it is for the last month, who received it, the premises, and that you are entitled to interest (§ 15B(2)(a)). Last month’s rent earns the same 5 percent or bank rate from the first day of the tenancy, paid each year, except that no interest accrues for the final month the prepayment covers. There is no bank account requirement, but the interest adds up.

If the building is sold, the old owner must credit your last month’s rent and accrued interest to the new owner, and the new owner becomes liable for it. The new owner must tell you in writing within 45 days that it has taken over that responsibility (§ 15B(7A)).

Getting the deposit back: 30 days

Within 30 days after you move out, the landlord must return the deposit or the balance after lawful deductions (§ 15B(4)). Only three deductions are allowed: unpaid rent or water charges you did not lawfully withhold, an unpaid real estate tax increase under a compliant tax escalation clause, and a reasonable amount to repair damage you or your guests caused beyond reasonable wear and tear. Reasonable wear and tear is the gradual deterioration that comes from ordinary use, so a landlord cannot deduct for painting, carpet cleaning or similar refurbishment made necessary by reasonable use; whether a condition qualifies depends on the facts, including the condition at move-in and how long you lived there (Peebles v. JRK Property Holdings, Inc., 496 Mass. 389 (2025)). A lease clause that imposes move-out deductions for painting, carpet cleaning or other cleaning without allowing for reasonable wear and tear is void (§ 15B(8)).

For damage, the landlord must give you within those 30 days an itemized list “sworn to by the lessor or his agent under pains and penalties of perjury” describing the damage and repairs in precise detail, with estimates, bills, invoices or receipts. Damage already listed on the statement of condition cannot be deducted unless the landlord repaired it during the tenancy and proves you caused new damage. No other deduction is permitted.

Step by step: moving out and getting paid

1. Before you leave. Clean, remove your belongings, and photograph or video every room, including inside appliances and closets. Date the files.
2. Return the keys and give a forwarding address in writing. Email or a letter you can prove you sent is best.
3. Count 30 days. The clock runs from the end of your occupancy under a tenancy at will, or from the end of the lease term.
4. Check what arrives. If there are damage deductions, look for the sworn statement and the written cost evidence. An unsworn list is not enough.
5. Send a demand letter. If the money does not come, or the deductions do not follow the statute, send a written demand. Under Chapter 93A, a demand letter must be sent at least 30 days before you file suit, describing the unfair practice and your injury (G.L. c. 93A, § 9(3)).
6. File, or counterclaim. If you are being evicted for nonpayment or without fault, you can raise deposit violations as a defense and counterclaim in the eviction case (G.L. c. 239, § 8A). No advance demand letter is required for a Chapter 93A counterclaim (G.L. c. 93A, § 9(3)).

When you get triple damages

The landlord forfeits the right to keep any part of the deposit by failing to use a proper account, failing to give the sworn itemized list within 30 days, trying to enforce a lease clause that conflicts with the statute, failing to transfer the deposit to a new owner, or failing to return the balance with interest within 30 days (§ 15B(6)).

Three of those failures carry triple damages: no proper bank account, no transfer to a successor owner, and no return within 30 days (§ 15B(7)). For those, the tenant “shall be awarded damages in an amount equal to three times the amount of such security deposit or balance thereof,” plus 5 percent interest, court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. A judge has no discretion to reduce it.

These claims are routinely raised as counterclaims in Housing Court eviction cases.

Chapter 93A claims

The Attorney General’s regulations make most security deposit violations unfair or deceptive practices: failing to give receipts, failing to pay annual interest, failing to use a separate account, failing to give the statement of condition, failing to give the itemized damage list, and failing to return the deposit with interest within 30 days (940 CMR 3.17(4)). That opens Chapter 93A remedies. A court awards actual damages or $25, whichever is greater, and two to three times that amount for a willful or knowing violation or a bad faith refusal to settle after a demand. A tenant who wins must be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and costs (G.L. c. 93A, § 9).

Documents to keep

• Your lease and any addendum about cleaning, painting or move-out charges.
• Proof of every payment you made at move-in: checks, bank records, or receipts.
• Both receipts and the statement of condition, with your signed additions.
• Every annual interest statement.
• Move-in and move-out photos.
• Your written forwarding address and proof you sent it.
• Whatever the landlord sent after you left, with the envelope or email showing the date.

What to do now

Find both receipts and the statement of condition. Photograph the apartment when you move out. Give a forwarding address in writing. Mark the calendar for 30 days after you leave.

Recent Massachusetts appeals decisions

These Massachusetts appellate decisions apply the security deposit and last month’s rent rules discussed above.

• Peebles v. JRK Property Holdings, Inc. (Supreme Judicial Court, August 1, 2025): The SJC held landlords cannot deduct paint, carpet cleaning or refurbishment for reasonable wear and tear from deposits.
• AIF Dartmouth, LLC v. Hanson (Appeals Court, September 14, 2026): Once a judge found a landlord failed, within a reasonable time after the tenant’s notice, to make repairs it had represented it would make (940 CMR 3.17(1)(e)), Chapter 93A liability and attorney’s fees followed.
• Goncalves v. Caustrita (Appeals Court, February 5, 2025; unpublished): A new owner owed interest on last month’s rent it received, and a leaking sink and loose toilet left for months breached habitability.
• Ortins v. Lincoln Property Company (Supreme Judicial Court, April 14, 2026): The SJC upheld a tenant class settlement over rental application and lock change fees despite late IOLTA notice.
• Tatulli v. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (Appeals Court, March 7, 2025; unpublished): Class certification for security deposit claims was denied because the tenant gave no hearing transcript.
• Kiambuthi v. Mumo (Appeals Court, December 9, 2025; unpublished): An unsigned lease the tenant promised to sign bound him; modest security deposit and bedbug awards stood.
• Can a Landlord Charge a Fee to Hold an Apartment? (Appeals Court, March 12, 2024; unpublished): A fee to hold an apartment before any lease was signed violated G.L. c. 186, § 15B, and refusing to return it supported treble damages under Chapter 93A.

For more, see Massachusetts appeals decisions, 2026 and Massachusetts appeals decisions, 2025.

Frequently asked questions

I never got a bank receipt. What can I do while I still live there?

Ask for the account information in writing. If there is no proper account, the statute entitles you to immediate return of the deposit.

My landlord says I damaged the carpet but sent no sworn list. Can they keep my deposit?

No. Without a sworn, itemized list and cost documentation within 30 days, the landlord forfeits the right to keep any of it (§ 15B(6)(b)). Even with a proper list, the landlord cannot deduct for carpet wear that is only reasonable wear and tear (Peebles, 496 Mass. 389). Whether triple damages apply depends on the facts. Ask a lawyer.

The building sold. Who owes me the deposit?

The old owner must transfer it to the new owner. Failing to transfer carries triple damages (§ 15B(7)).

My landlord offered a “deposit waiver fee” instead. Should I take it?

Not before a lawyer reviews it. A fee outside the 2025 amendment’s conditions, or charged on top of the move-in maximums, may be unlawful.

The landlord’s broker wants a fee from me. Do I have to pay?

Not if the landlord hired the broker. Since August 1, 2025, only the party who hired the broker pays the fee (G.L. c. 112, § 87DDD½).

Can the landlord charge a pet deposit?

No. A pet deposit is not one of the four permitted up-front payments (§ 15B(1)(b)). If you need an assistance animal because of a disability, see our guide to asking for a reasonable accommodation.

If your landlord has your deposit and will not follow the rules, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or contact us online.