The lease package: forms, condo paperwork and the deposit account

The lease and the addendum

A standard form residential lease is a sound starting point and saves drafting one from scratch. The standard form covers rent, term, use of the premises and the usual obligations; an addendum carries what is particular to your home.

Read the standard form yourself before the first lease, especially the sections on rent, the security deposit and termination, and keep the addendum consistent with them. The law limits what either document can say:

• Typical addendum topics: pets, parking, snow and trash, which utilities the tenant pays, appliances, smoking, subletting, how to report repairs, and the cleaning standard at move-out
• No interest or penalty for late rent until 30 days after the rent was due
• At or before move-in, the landlord or the landlord’s agent may require only first month’s rent, last month’s rent, a security deposit of no more than one month’s rent and the cost of a new lock and keys
• A lease clause that conflicts with the security deposit law has no effect. Trying to enforce one, or asking the tenant to waive the law, forfeits the landlord’s right to keep any part of the deposit

Renting out a condo

Renting the unit does not shift your obligations to the association. Massachusetts condominium law puts the duty to follow the master deed, bylaws and rules on the unit owner, and requires the owner to give the association written notice of the names of tenants and other occupants, apart from visitors staying less than 30 days. If a tenant breaks a rule, expect the association to come to you.

Two steps reduce the risk. Attach the current rules or resident handbook to the lease and have the tenant sign that they have read it. Then contact the management company before you sign and ask:

• Whether the association has its own lease rider or tenant forms that must be attached
• Whether the lease must be submitted for review or approval, and how far in advance
• Any minimum lease term or limit on the number of rented units
• How move-ins and move-outs are booked, which hours are allowed, and any move-in fee or elevator deposit
• How tenants get parking, fobs, mail and amenity access

Opening the security deposit account

If you collect a security deposit, it must be held in a separate, interest-bearing account at a bank in Massachusetts, apart from your own money and protected from your creditors. Banks usually open it as a landlord–tenant account.

Ask your bank what it needs before move-in. The landlord association MassLandlords notes in its practical checklist that a typical bank asks for the tenant’s Form W-9 and a copy of an ID, and Form W-8BEN if the tenant is not a US person for tax purposes. This is bank practice, not a list set by the deposit law. Collecting the forms with the lease saves a second round of paperwork.

The deadlines that follow:

• When you receive the deposit: a signed receipt
• Within 30 days of receiving the deposit: your receipt naming the bank and its location, the amount and the account number. Failing to deposit the money properly or to give this receipt entitles the tenant to the immediate return of the deposit
• At the end of each year of the tenancy: interest at 5%, or the lower rate the bank actually pays, with a statement of the bank’s name and address, the amount, the account number and the interest; instead of paying, you may tell the tenant to deduct the interest from the next rent
• Within 30 days after the tenancy ends: the deposit and interest back, less only what the law allows, with an itemized, sworn list and written evidence for any damage deduction

The statement of condition

When you take a security deposit, give the tenant a written statement of the unit’s condition, at the time you receive the deposit or within ten days after the tenancy begins, whichever is later. You or your agent sign it, and the notice set out in the statute goes at the top of the first page in 12-point bold type.

The tenant has 15 days from receiving it or moving in, whichever is later, to sign it or attach their own signed list of damage. If the tenant submits a separate list, you return a copy within 15 days of receiving it, signed in agreement or with a clear statement of what you disagree with. If the tenant does not return the statement, a court may later treat that as agreement that the list was complete.

This form matters at move-out. Damage listed on your statement, or on a tenant’s list that you or your agent signed, cannot be deducted from the deposit. The exception: you repaired it afterward and can show that the renewed damage was unrelated to the earlier damage and was caused by the tenant, a person under the tenant’s control, or a person on the premises with the tenant’s consent. Fix what you can before move-in, record the rest honestly, and keep dated photos with the form.

Lead paint paperwork for older homes

For housing built before 1978, Massachusetts requires the owner to give a prospective tenant the items below before the lease is signed, whether or not a child under six will live there. Federal rules separately require you to disclose any lead paint or lead hazards you know of, provide all available records and reports on lead paint and lead hazards (in a multi-unit building, including those for common areas and other units from building-wide evaluations), and give the EPA pamphlet. Check that the version of the state form you use covers the federal disclosure; anything missing can be added through lease language or an attachment, and EPA’s sample form is optional. If the tenant declines to sign after receiving the documents, the owner can record that on the form.

• Two copies of the Tenant Lead Law Notification and Tenant Certification form; the tenant and the owner or agent both sign, and each keeps one
• Any Letter of Full Compliance or Letter of Interim Control for the unit
• The most recent lead inspection or risk assessment report, if there is one

What to have signed at lease signing

A simple way to keep the package complete is to check it against this table on the day the lease is signed.

Official reading

The Attorney General’s Guide to Landlord and Tenant Rights is the official plain-language guide, and a Chinese translation is available from mass.gov. The security deposit statute itself, M.G.L. c.186 §15B, is short enough to read in full before your first lease.