Q:My landlord has been promising for months to make some necessary repairs in my apartment, but he never seems to get around to them. I know tenants have the right to withhold rent under some circumstances, but I'm not sure of the requirements or the procedures I must follow. Is withholding allowed only for violations of the state Sanitary Code? And if I do withhold my rent, am I required to put it in an escrow account of some kind?

A:You can withhold rent because of virtually any problem with your apartment; it doesn't have to be a violation of the Sanitary Code, nor does the problem have to constitute a health or safety threat, as was the case years ago, before the state statute was amended. The only requirements today are: 1) Your landlord or agents of the landlord must have been aware of the problem before you began withholding your rent: 2) You must not be responsible for creating the problem or defect about which you are complaining; and 3) It must be possible for the landlord to make the necessary repairs while you remain in the apartment. If all of those conditions are satisfied, your landlord can't evict you for nonpayment of rent as long as the damages you claim equal or exceed the rent you have withheld. Even if a court ultimately finds that you withheld too much, you'll have a week from that decision to repay any amount you owe your landlord before he can initiate eviction proceedings against you.

As for your second question, there is no escrow requirement for withheld rent. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board has tried for several years to persuade the Legislature to adopt legislation requiring tenants to pay withheld rent into an escrow account managed by the court, and it will sponsor that measure again this year, but state lawmakers, to date, have not approved it.

Q: I own a three family house and will have a vacancy. Is there a maximum amount that a landlord can require that a tenant pay when signing a lease? How much of that money must be placed in escrow? What is the rule regarding having the tenant pay for gas, electricity and fuel for heat?

A: The maximum that a residential landlord can require the tenant to pay is the first month's rent, last month's rent (up to the same amount as the first month's rent) and a security deposit (equal to the first month's rent). In addi tion, a landlord can require that a tenant pay the cost of purchasing and installing a key and lock. If you collect a security deposit, it must be held in escrow in a Massachusetts bank. A receipt must be given to the tenant im mediately and within 30 days' notice must be given, identifying the bank and account numbers. If the deposit is not held in a Massachusetts bank, the landlord is subject to a claim for treble the deposit. You must also provide the tenant with a statement of condition within 10 days after the tenant takes occupancy, giving the tenant 15 days to make changes, sign and return. Specific language must be inclu~ed in the statement of condition. Where the security deposit is held longer than 12 months, interest is due at the rate of 5 percent or the actual amount earned, whichever is less. The last month's rent need not be held in escrow. If not held in escrow, interest is owed at the. rate of 5 percent on the last month's rent. If it is held in escrow and earns; less than 5 percent, the lesser interest may be paid.

The state sanitary code states that a tenant may be charged for gas, electricity and fuel for heat only if the utilities are separately metered to the tenant's unit and that there is a written agreement in which the tenant agrees to pay the utility bills. Regulations of the Department of Public Health state that the landlord must pay for water, but this regulation is being challenged.

Q:I know I have seen discussions of different aspects of the Security Deposit Law but I still have several questions about these somewhat confusing rules:
1) Does the law allowing landlords to pay the tenant interest of less than five percent on the security deposit apply to the last month's rent payment as well?
2) What happens to the calculation of the interest due if the tenant leaves before the lease expires?
3) How long does a landlord have to return the security deposit and/or to pay any interest due on the deposit and last month's rent, after the tenant leaves?
4) What are considered to be legitimate security deposit deductions?
5) What is the ''statement of condition,'' and how does that procedure work?
6) Finally, is there anyplace I can find these (and other landlord-tenant rules) explained in language that is more or less comprehensible to non-lawyers?

A:I've never actually done the calculation, but I'm reasonably certain that if I gave a prize for this column's ''most frequently asked question,'' the Security Deposit Law would win without a close second. Your letter - one of about seven I've received on the subject in the past month - suggests that it's time to cover this well-trodden, but always fertile ground again.

Landlords are required to pay interest on both the last month's rent and the security deposit at a rate of five percent annually or ''other such lesser amount of interest as has been received from the bank where the deposit has been held.'' That provision applies equally to the last month's rent and to the security deposit. But unlike the security deposit, the last month's rent payment does not have to be held in an escrow account, segregated from the landlord's general funds.

Landlords accepting the last month's rent in advance must pay interest on that amount, calculated from the first day of the tenancy. The interest earned must be paid annually, within 30 days after the anniversary date of the tenancy or (at the end of the rental term) within 30 days after the end of the tenancy. If the tenant leaves before the anniversary date of the tenancy, the interest accrued must be pro-rated and paid within 30 days after the tenancy ends. If the landlord fails to pay the interest due within the specified time periods, the tenant is entitled to receive damages equal to triple the amount of interest, plus court costs and attorneys' fees.

The security deposit interest calculation is a little different. Interest must be paid only on a deposit held for a year or more; if a tenant leaves before the end of the first year of the tenancy, no interest will be owed. However, if the tenant completes a one-year rental term and leaves three months into a new term, the landlord would be required to pro-rate the interest for that three-month period. As with the last month's rent, interest on the security deposit must be paid annually, within 30 days after the anniversary date of the tenancy. In both cases, landlords must either send tenants a check for the interest owed or notify them that they may deduct the amount from their next rental payment.

The security deposit (minus any legitimate deductions), with all accrued interest, must be paid to the tenant within 30 days following the end of the tenancy. Failure to meet that deadline entitles the tenant, again, to treble damages plus court costs and attorneys' fees. Landlords who receive a last month's rent payment must give tenants a receipt indicating the date, the intent to use the funds as the last month's rent, the landlord's name and (if different), the name of the individual receiving the deposit the landlord's name.

Landlords who receive a security deposit must give tenants, in addition to a similar written receipt for the funds, a detailed ''statement of condition,'' describing the apartment's general condition and specifying any existing damage. The purpose of this document is to prevent landlords from charging tenants for pre-existing conditions, and prevent tenants from easily denying responsibility for damages they have caused.

The process works like this: Landlords must give tenants the statement of condition after receiving a security deposit, or within 10 days after the tenancy begins. In addition to detailing any existing damage, the statement must disclose any certified violations of the state sanitary and building codes and any damages the courts may have awarded based on those violations. Tenants have 15 days after receiving the statement to sign it (indicating that they accept it), or to submit their own signed condition statement. If the tenant submits a separate statement, the landlord then has 15 days to respond in writing, either agreeing or disagreeing with the tenants' description of the conditions. Landlords will use the statement of condition to justify any security deposit deductions they claim at the end of the tenancy, and tenants, similarly, will use the document to refute those claims. If landlords and tenants disagree over any security deposit deductions the landlord claims at the end of the tenancy, each party will use the statement of condition to document their own position and refute the others'.

The Security Deposit statute lays out a laundry list of documents landlords are required to maintain, including:

Copies of statements of condition that have been provided to tenants or prospective tenants; and

Records describing any damage done to any apartments for which the landlord has accepted or returned a security deposit or has sued a tenant. These records must indicate whether the damages were repaired and note the cost of the repairs and the date on which they were made.

The statute lists three purposes for which security deposit deductions are allowed:

(1) any unpaid rent (excluding amounts withheld legitimately under the rent withhold statute); (2) any unpaid real estate tax increases due under a valid tax escalation clause; and (3) any amount necessary to repair any damages for which the tenant is responsible.

Finally, I can suggest two sources that do an excellent job of explaining the Security Deposit Law and other landlord-tenant mysteries:

''The Massachusetts Landlord Survival Guide,'' produced by the Greater Boston Real Estate Board's Rental Housing Association, and available for $29.95 by calling the RHA at 617-423-8700.

''The Successful Landlord,'' published by the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance Inc., and available for $29 by mail or $25 if you pick up a copy in person at the Alliance, 7-11 Bellevue St., Worcester. To order by mail write ''The Successful Landlord,'' P.O. Box 1263, Framingham, MA 01701-1263.

Nena Groskind is former editor of Banker & Tradesman, a Massachusetts real estate and banking journal. Send inquiries to Realty Q&A, Boston Sunday Globe, Boston, MA 02107.