Tenant At Will in Massachusetts

[humanpuck]

Hi there. I've lived in an apt for over 1 year and 6 months. Recently my roommate and I decided we were going to move out. We wanted to tell our landlord at the beginning of february, but he was on vacation in florida. We didn't know he was on vacation until the 5th and we weren't able to get in touch with him until the 10th. Now he's withholding half of our security deposit, because we didn't give him enough notice. Can he do that? He never gave us a cell phone or alternate contact. We just had the number to his shop. I'm really quite angry about this considering we painted and shampooed the carpets for the landlord when we moved in.

Thanks in advance

 

[muggsyj]

This is not legal Advice!

Hi,

In most states it requires you to give thirty days notice in writing. If you can produce evidance that the letter was recieved thirty days before you left, you may have cause to complain. Beware though if you left the premisses without an inspection by the landlord as this may come back to bite you.

Good luck

Mark.

 

[humanpuck]

thx

Thanks Mark...We didn't give written notice since there was nobody to give it to. You're right we should've mailed it in. I guess we're lucky we got half.

Thanks,
Parag

 

[seniorjudge]

Right, if you do not give notice, you can't complain.