# Massachusetts — Security deposit interest requirements by US state — which states make a landlord pay interest on a held deposit, and at what rate, quoted from the statute

For Massachusetts, interest required is Yes; rate or how it's set is interest at the rate of five per cent per year, or other such lesser amount of interest as has been received from the bank where the deposit has been held; condition that triggers the duty is Only once the landlord has held the deposit for a year or longer from the start of the tenancy; citation is Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(3)(b), recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **Jurisdiction:** Massachusetts _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Interest required:** Yes _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Rate or how it's set:** interest at the rate of five per cent per year, or other such lesser amount of interest as has been received from the bank where the deposit has been held _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Condition that triggers the duty:** Only once the landlord has held the deposit for a year or longer from the start of the tenancy _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Citation:** Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(3)(b) _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> A lessor of residential real property who holds a security deposit pursuant to this section for a period of one year or longer from the commencement of the term of the tenancy shall, beginning with the first day of the tenancy, pay interest at the rate of five per cent per year, or other such lesser amount of interest as has been received from the bank where the deposit has been held payable to the tenant at the end of each year of the tenancy.

## Source

- https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter186/Section15B

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2027-03-01.
Part of [Security deposit interest requirements by US state — which states make a landlord pay interest on a held deposit, and at what rate, quoted from the statute](https://referencesource.org/security-deposit-interest-requirements-by-state/).