Chances are you have paid a security deposit for your home at some point. But do you know how to protect your deposit? Professor Peter Malaguti outlines the basics of the laws of security deposits on this episode of The Massachusetts School of Law’s A Point of Law.

Educational Video from The Massachusetts School of Law.

The following is a rough transcript of the above video, “Landlord Tenant Law-Security Deposits”. It was downloaded via YouTube captions.

it’s quite common for landlords to require
their tenants to pay a security deposit at
the beginning of the lease
and this makes economic sense
landlords often don’t discover that a tenant
has damaged a rental unit until the end of
the lease when the tenant is gone and often
hard to find
the security deposit can offset some
or all of any damage caused by a tenant
but in most states the law involving security
deposits is very complicated
and many landlords unknowingly violate the
law
depending on the state
even an unintentional violation of the security
deposit law
can have serious consequences
for example in my state massachusetts
even an unknowing violation of the security
deposit law
can sometimes result in triple damages
and the requirement that the landlord pay the
tenants attorney’s fees
although the requirements of security deposit
law vary widely from state to state
a couple of common principles apply
for instance
although tenants are required to pay the
security deposit to the landlord
the law of most states deems the security
deposit to remain the property of the tenant
not the landlord
this means that the landlord can’t comingle
security deposits
in with his or her own funds
security deposit money must be held separately
obviously therefore more laws follow concerning
the type of bank account
into which a landlord must place his or her
security deposits
most states also require that landlords accepting
security deposits
engage in particularized record-keeping
while the degree of record keeping varies from
state to state
most states require that landlords give receipts
for their security deposits
and maintain paperwork involving banking information
financial information supporting the use of
security deposits to make repairs
in the nature of the damage to the
which the security deposit is being applied
my best advice to landlords who intend to
accept security deposits
is to consult an attorney experienced in the
landlord tenant law of your state
once you know and understand how the security
deposit laws work in your state
you’ll be able to avoid the pitfalls that
uninformed landlords encounter
my advice to tenants is that you to should
learn the law of security deposits in your state
again most states consider the security deposit
to be your money
and you should take reasonable steps to protect
your deposit
and once again an experienced landlord tenant
attorney in your state
is the person best qualified to render competent
advice on security deposits