Is last month up front for the whole last month?

[alex468]

I'm in Massachusetts and I recently moved out of an apartment. When I moved in several years ago, I paid a deposit labeled "last month's rent" on the memo section of the check and a deposit labeled "security deposit" on the memo section of the check. There was no lease or other agreement. I was a tenant-at-will. During my tenancy, there were several rent increases but no discussion about the last month's rent.

Now that I've left, my landlord has deducted the difference between the old rent and the new rent from my security. My view is that I paid the entire last month's rent when I moved in, so paying last-month up front protects me from rent increases for that month just as it protects the landlord from me skipping town. If I had known that my security would be used to pay more for my last month, it would have impacted my decisions about whether to move out during rent increases.

The landlord's view is that this difference is unpaid rent and he has a right to deduct unpaid rent from my security.

Who is right?

 

[FarmerJ]

All along every time the rent increased your LL should have requested a increase to be paid and added to the last month he/she held , since they didnt do so it would be interesting to see if a court would agree with them. When you search your state govt web page links did you learn if anywhere it is written wether damage deposit moneys can only be used for actual physical damage to the unit or not ? If your state statutes bar LLs from using deposit money for any thing other than physical damage to the unit then you would have to decide if you want to file a claim in small claim court to have the amount held returned to you.