Submitted by SnoopyScone t3_zwojz3 in massachusetts
Hello all! I’m an international student attending a university in the Boston area. During the period of August 2021 - August 2022, I lived off campus in one of the apartments near to the university. While my previous roommates moved out of the apartment since they graduated, I leased out another unit in the same apartment with a new set of roommates from September 2022. I am facing the following problems:
- Our security deposit for the first unit (to the tune of almost $5000) hasn’t been returned yet even though it has been 4 months since we moved out.
- A new management team came into force sometime during September, and the new management is blatantly racist against international students staying in the apartment. They treat us like literal filth, hold packages we receive in their custody for more than 2-3 days, ask us for IDs every time we enter the building (even if we have the FoBs on us), slap unnecessary charges every now and then, and threaten us with eviction notices for no reason.
- This apartment is a 21 floor one, with 3 elevators, out of which only 2 are functioning. Once in a while, all the elevators will be down. It so happened last month that one of our neighbors got terribly sick all of a sudden, and we had to take him to the hospital. We are on the 17th floor and none of the elevators were working. It was a big hassle for us.
I’m not familiar with Mass leasing laws, but is there any way to proceed legally against the apartment management? Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you!
Moist_Doughnut_311 t1_j1wa64n wrote
Landlords have 30 days to assess and get quotes for any damages they plan to pay for with the security deposit and provide you with notice. After the 30 days they forfeit that right and must reimburse you the full amount plus interest.
When it's happened to me before I just email the landlord with excerpts from the law and they always send the check out ASAP.