Yearly Interest Statement for Security Deposit (MA)
Massachusetts requires a landlord to not only keep security deposits in a separate interest-bearing account, but to also pay their tenants the interest accumulated each year once the tenants have lived in the rental property for a year. Landlords must also pay yearly interest on the last month's rent, if they have collected this in advance. This document creates the written statement that you must send to the tenant at the time that you pay them the interest and contains all the necessary information you must supply to the tenant in the statement. The statement does the following:
- informs the tenants of the amount of interest the deposit/last month's rent has earned;
- allows you to either enclose a check for the interest, or inform the tenants that they can deduct it from the next rental payment; and
- informs the tenants of the account details where the security deposit is held.
This statement must be provided to the tenants within 30 days of each anniversary that the tenant has lived in the property. It can be used whether or not there is a written agreement in place, such as a lease, and for tenancies of up to 6 tenants.
Note: Laws that apply to landlords also apply to sublandlords who are subletting a rental property. This document can also be used in a sublease situation. Wherever "landlord" is used above, it also applies to "sublandlord" and "tenant" also applies to "subtenant."