Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Massachusetts
If two people sign a rental agreement, are they considered "one person" for the sake of monthly rental fee and security deposits? For example, if one person pays last months rent and the other does not, instead using their security depost as rent, does the person who has paid the rent now obligated to use their half of the security deposit to pay all damage claims?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Unless the lease provides for treatment of the renters as seperate individuals, you are considered as one renter for purposes of treatment of the security deposit.
Your landlord has the right to claim against the security deposit any claims between you and the other person are between the two of you.
Without actually reading the lease to make sure you are each jointly liable, I think this analysis should be accurate.
Retain an attorney to review your lease to determine your respective liability as usually each joint tenant is jointly and severally liable meaning the landlord can normally treat each as fully liable. Good Luck!
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