AIR Communities Illegally Withholds Security Deposits from Massachusetts Tenants, Class Action Claims

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Apartment Income REIT Corp., which does business as AIR Communities, faces a proposed class action lawsuit over alleged violations of the Massachusetts Security Deposit Law.

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The 18-page lawsuit was filed by a former tenant at Royal Crest Estates North Andover, one of nine apartment communities the defendant owns in Massachusetts. According to the case, the plaintiff represents “hundreds, if not thousands,” of individuals who rented from the defendant in the state and have had funds illegally deducted from their security deposits by AIR.

Massachusetts law requires that when deductions from a former tenant’s security deposit are made to cover the cost of damages beyond normal wear and tear, a lessor must provide the former tenant with a signed, itemized list of these damages within 30 days after their lease is terminated, the filing explains. In addition, landlords are legally required to provide former tenants with written evidence of any damage repair costs deducted or withheld from their security deposits, such as estimates, bills, invoices or receipts, the suit says.

The plaintiff claims that the final move-out statement he received from AIR Communities in July 2023—which stated that he was charged $2,635.97 in addition to his $500 security deposit for physical damage to the unit—was not signed by an agent or anyone on behalf of AIR. What’s more, a move-out inspection report the man received from the defendant did not contain any documentation of the work that needed to be performed on his former residence, and it also bore no signature at all, the case contends.

“Plaintiff received no other documents or papers concerning his security deposit or any deductions taken therefrom within 30 days after the termination of his occupancy of the unit, nor did he receive a return of his security deposit (or any portion thereof) within that 30-day period,” the lawsuit says.

The complaint goes on to allege that AIR illegally deducts cleaning charges from former tenants’ security deposits, even though the Security Deposit Law does not permit this type of deduction. Under Massachusetts law, a lessor is allowed to make security deposit deductions only for unpaid rent or water charges, unpaid real estate taxes owed by the tenant under a valid tax escalation clause, or reasonable costs to repair damage caused by the tenant, not including normal wear and tear, the filing explains.

The case contends that AIR’s alleged misconduct means it has “forfeited the right to retain any portion of the security deposit of any tenant affected by such violations.”

The lawsuit looks to represent any former tenants who, since April 26, 2020, have vacated a residential apartment unit in Massachusetts owned and/or managed by AIR and have had any portion of their security deposit retained by AIR and not returned to them based on amounts claimed for physical damage to the unit and who were not provided with an itemized list of damages, sworn to under pains and penalties of perjury within 30 days after the termination of their occupancy or the end of their tenancy.

The lawsuit also seeks to cover any former tenants who, since April 26, 2020, have vacated a residential apartment unit in Massachusetts owned and/or managed by AIR and have had any portion of their security deposit retained by AIR for cleaning fees or cleaning charges for the cleaning of their apartment unit and not returned to them within 30 days after the termination of their occupancy or the end of their tenancy.

Finally, the case looks to represent any former tenants who, since April 26, 2020, have vacated a residential apartment unit in Massachusetts owned and/or managed by AIR and have had any portion of their security deposit retained by AIR based on amounts claimed for physical damage to the unit and who were not provided with written evidence of the claimed damages, such as estimates, bills, invoices, or receipts, within 30 days after the termination of their occupancy or the end of their tenancy.

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