Security Deposit Alternative in Massachusetts
Massachusetts limits what you may collect at or before the start of a tenancy to four things: the first month's rent, the last month's rent at the same rate, a security deposit no larger than the first month's rent, and the cost of a key and lock. Nothing else. The deposit has to be held under the statute's escrow rules and paired with a written statement of the unit's condition, and failing to pay a resident interest they are owed carries damages of three times that interest plus costs and attorney fees.
What Massachusetts law says about security deposits
Read from the Massachusetts statute on 2026-09-09. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Massachusetts resident?
Massachusetts has gone further than describing this arrangement. Section 15B, as amended effective August 1, 2025, lets the executive office of housing and livable communities authorize a fee in lieu of a security deposit by regulation, and then dictates what those regulations have to contain. The fee must be spent on unpaid rent or damage under that resident's lease. It must be disclosed as nonrefundable in the lease and acknowledged by the resident in writing. The total, across the whole lease and any extension, cannot exceed one month's rent. It has to be optional for the landlord and the resident both, with the resident free to pay a full deposit instead, and free to opt out later by paying the deposit that would otherwise apply. A landlord who offers it must offer it to every approved applicant regardless of income, race, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, immigration status, household size or credit score, and may not price it off those factors. The executive office has to consult the attorney general first. All of it waits on regulations that have not been issued, so the framework is written and the door is still shut.
Fee-in-lieu provision: M.G.L. c.186 s.15B(1)(b), read on 2026-09-09.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Massachusetts
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Massachusetts property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Massachusetts security deposit alternative FAQs
Not until the state housing office issues regulations. Section 15B was amended to let the executive office of housing and livable communities authorize a fee in lieu of a security deposit, and it spells out in detail what those regulations have to require, but that authority has to be exercised before anyone can rely on it. We found no issued regulations when this page was last checked. Confirm the current position before building a Massachusetts program.
Security deposit rules in other states
See it on your Massachusetts units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.