4 ms·
> first and last months rent. Just to be sure. Is this a smart name for what others call a 'deposit'?
by zx8080 4y ago
> first and last months rent.
Just to be sure. Is this a smart name for what others call a 'deposit'?
- astura 4y agoSeems that way to me. I looked this up and Massachusetts is actually extremely strange that they count "last months rent" separate from "security deposit." In my state any money required to be collected past the first month's rent is legally considered a security deposit and required to be treated as one and subject to legal limits on security deposits. Which makes sense. It's logical not to bother with the requirements of an extra security deposit if you can go ahead and collect two months rent up front without calling the extra a deposit. In my state the standard is also to collect two months rent up front - because the standard security deposit is a month's rent.
- robryk 4y agoIt seems to me that the semantics are different: you return the security deposit ~at handover time, while last month's rent is counted as rent for the last month of the stay, so the tenant "gets it back" (in the form of not having to pay rent they'd otherwise have to pay) a month before they move out. Do I misunderstand something?
- rtpg 4y agoI thought the depsosit is for building damage, not for rent?
- astura 4y agoThe deposit is to cover any costs the tenant cause the landlord. Damage and unpaid rent are both costs. A tenant who has $1,000 in upaid rent and $0 is damage is no different than a tenant who has $1,000 in damage and no unpaid rent. The security deposit can be used to cover either.
- detourdog 4y agoI think of it as 2 months rent I now hold. Whatever happens next I have that going for me.