What it costs to move into an apartment in Lynn

Massachusetts closes the list of what a landlord can collect when you sign a lease — first month, last month, a security deposit of at most one month, and the actual cost of a new lock. And since August 1, 2025, the broker fee that used to land on Lynn tenants by default belongs to whoever actually hired the broker. This page adds those rules up in real dollars at today's Lynn rents.

What this page is: the rules on what a landlord can collect before you get keys in Lynn, each linked to its official source, priced at today's actual Lynn rents. It is not legal advice — when it matters, read the linked source or use the free legal help on our tenant rights page.

The move-in charge list is closed: first, last, security, lock — nothing else

At move-in a Massachusetts landlord may collect only four things: first month's rent, last month's rent, a security deposit no larger than one month's rent, and the actual purchase-and-installation cost of a new lock and key. General Laws c.186 §15B(1)(b) makes that list exhaustive — an application fee, "move-in fee," pet deposit, or cleaning fee is simply not among the charges the statute allows a landlord to take. The deposit itself comes with escrow, interest, and return rules with real teeth — those are on our security-deposit page. Source: M.G.L. c.186 §15B(1)(b) · MassLegalHelp — Security deposits

Since August 1, 2025, the broker fee follows whoever hired the broker

For decades the Greater Boston default was that the tenant paid the rental broker's fee — commonly a full month's rent — even when the landlord had hired the broker. The FY2026 state budget (St. 2025, c.9, §43) changed that: c.112 §87DDD½ now reads that any fee "shall only be paid by the party, lessor or tenant, who originally engaged and entered into a contract with the licensed broker or salesperson." If the apartment was listed through an agent the landlord chose, that fee is the landlord's bill. You owe a broker fee only if you engaged a broker to search for you — which also means the paperwork at a first showing matters: signing a broker's own "engagement" or fee agreement can make the fee yours, so read before you sign. Source: M.G.L. c.112 §87DDD½ (current text, Trial Court Law Libraries) · City of Cambridge — tenants' rights on broker fees

Last month's rent must equal the first — and it earns you interest too

Prepaid last month's rent has to be charged at the same rate as the first month — the statute doesn't let a landlord pad the prepaid month. It also earns interest the same way the deposit does (5% a year, or the bank's actual rate), paid or credited annually, and you're owed a receipt stating the amount, the date, and that interest is due. If you never see the interest, §15B lets you deduct it from a rent payment. Source: M.G.L. c.186 §15B(1)(b)(ii), (2)(a)

The math at today's Lynn rent, by ZIP

The average Lynn rent is $2,300/month as of June 2026 (how we compute this). Applying the caps above to each ZIP's current average:

Every figure in the last column excludes only the actual cost of a new lock and key — the one open-ended item on the legal list, and it's a lock, not a fee. And since August 1, 2025, a broker fee sits on top of this only if you hired the broker; before the change, a tenant-paid fee of one more month was the default, which at today's average made the effective stack about $9,200. The law moved roughly $2,300 of that off the typical Lynn tenant.

Honest caveat: these are smoothed market averages (Zillow's ZORI index — methodology), not your lease. The legal caps apply to your actual rent, whatever it is — the table shows the scale at typical Lynn rents.

Budgeting the move

Worth checking alongside the legal stack: the full deposit rules (how it must be held and when it must come back); what your target ZIP actually rents for (01905, 01902, 01904, 01901); whether you're signing in the market's soft season, when there's more room to negotiate the whole package; and what income the rent itself takes — landlords often screen at 40× monthly rent, a separate bar from the cash above. If the up-front cash is the thing standing between you and a lease, our rental assistance page lists the local programs and who they can help — coverage of move-in costs varies by program.