| Support Center

I manage a few apartments in Ma, so I'm fairly well versed in leases, etc. This specific case is my girlfriend trying to fight a management company to recover her security deposit. The story is... she had to move out of her place, found a two family home in Boston where one of the tenants was moving out and she was going to take his place on the lease from May-August. This was NOT a sublet, the management company drafted a new lease for that time period which she "docusigned." She had only briefly seen the apartment (her fault) before she signed. We show up on move in day to unload the uhaul and first, there is no key to get in. The previous roommate was supposed to leave it in the mailbox. He didn't. Finally, we get ahold of one of the other roommates who comes and opens the unit up. We walk up the stairs to find a dirty room with furniture still in it, broken closet and blinds,  and no smoke detectors anywhere. I manage rentals on the side, but I'm a firefighter full time. I tell her it's unsafe to stay in the apartment without smoke detectors, she agrees. She attempts to contact the management company unsuccessfully. She decides she doesnt want to move her stuff in with no key or detectors. She ended up having to unload her stuff at my house because the rental uhaul was due back. The management company calls and tries to get her to go find one of the roommates somewhere and make a key. She tells him that she can't because she now has to return the uhaul, and even with the key there are no detectors. The agent gets angry and is very disrespectful. She learns from he previous tenant that the person she spoke to is the one who removed the detectors IN OCTOBER and never put them back. She decides the company is shady at best and had her sign a lease knowingly in violation of it (smoke detectors are mentioned in the lease) and asks to go their separate ways and to return the security deposit.  They won't return calls or speak to her and I'm trying to figure out if we have a case. I think we do based on my knowledge, but help is appreciated!  TLDR: signed lease, showed up to uninhabitable apartment. decided landlord was in violation of lease at time of signing and asks to back out. Do we have a case?

Hello,          I am so sorry you both are experiencing that. That is a tough situation, but if the lease is broken I do believe the tenant has a right to back out. I would read over the lease agreement thoroughly and speak with a lawyer. Also look up your states tenant rights. I hope this helped. Good luck.