MA Landlord wants to keep security deposit for leaks legaladvice

Hi! I broke my lease by getting new tenants. Landlord whites out my name on the lease and puts in the new tenants name on Feb 25th. This is how he normally does this -- he whites things out to save on making new copies and crosses things out post peoples signatures and changes dates too. He is 90 and inherited a lot of property and doesn't want to spend any money on anything. I was not able to attend the inspection due to my broken leg and he claims that some storm windows were open and may have caused leaks in the house. I do not have a pre-inspection list sadly other then the landlords memory of the condition of the house. I could have called the inspectors to the house and gotten the house condemned until he made some repairs. The only reason I didnt was because I was stupid and I replaced the broken refrigerator and washer and dryer and I would lose all that as I couldnt move it. It was too hard to get by in the house with the leg the way it was. We had seriously terrible winter and the house is old and not repaired. My neighbors, on the other half of the house, had leaks because of the roof and ice buildup. Last year (I was not there for the winter) the storm windows werent put down at all. Landlord never mentioned that because the tenants moved out during the summer. It says in the lease

Im getting conflicting advice. 1. A lawyer tells me Im allowed to ask for triple damages simply because landlord did not give me an account/receipt of my security deposit. He says not to do anything but just take him to small claims court and I will win and i would also get lawyer fees. Lawyer fees are $250/hour at the min. 2. Another lawyer tells me I should send a demand letter first.

Another question: I wanted to live in the 3+ bedroom place alone and have family and friends come visit. After living with housemates for years, I wanted a break. So after a few months, when my housemates all left at the same time, I told the landlord my plan. When it was time for the new lease in Sept 2014, he changed the lease terms from 4 people to 3 people. He also demanded a guest fee of $50 every month. He called this fee 'business activity.' His wife and him would peer out their windows to see who was coming and going into the house and wanted to come by to do 'repairs' whenever they wanted. When I asked for times to expect them, they thought I doing something strange in the house and needed a warning time to 'clean-up' before they came by.

1. Some say that because i paid that fee, i accepted the new rent increase. 2. Others say that fee is illegal and I could get it back.

Submitted March 17, 2015 at 05:04AM by jenni5 http://ift.tt/1GVWM7I legaladvice