Security Deposit Laws by State: 2026 Limits and Deadlines

A landlord in New York can ask for one month’s rent as a security deposit and has 14 days to return it after you move out. In Nevada, a landlord can ask for three months’ rent and has 30 days. In Texas, there’s no limit on the amount. Security deposit laws are set state by state, and no federal law limits what a private landlord can charge.

What you can get if your landlord wrongly keeps your deposit depends on your state too. In Massachusetts, it’s three times the deposit, plus interest and your attorney’s fees. In Florida, it’s the deposit and, if you win in court, your court costs and attorney’s fees.

How much can a landlord charge for a security deposit?

That depends on your state. Thirteen states and Washington, DC, cap the deposit at one month’s rent, including California, New York and Massachusetts. Three states allow one and a half months, 11 allow two, and Nevada allows three. The other 22 states set no limit on a year-long lease, so the amount is whatever your lease says.

Some landlords use other names for the same money, and in some states that doesn’t get around the limit. California’s attorney general (opens in a new tab) says a “pet deposit,” “move-in fee” or “cleaning fee” is a security deposit. Nevada’s limit (opens in a new tab) includes the last month’s rent. Massachusetts is different. A landlord there can charge the first and last month’s rent (opens in a new tab) on top of a one-month deposit.

In Canada? Our Canadian guide to rental deposits covers each province.

Security deposit laws in every state

This table gives each state’s limit on the deposit, its deadline to return it, and its penalty for wrongly keeping it. Each state’s name links to its main deposit law, and some states keep the limit or the penalty in a nearby section. A star means there’s an exception, listed under the table.

Limits are in months of rent, on a year-long lease. “Double” and “triple” mean a court can award two or three times the money wrongly kept, counting the money itself. “Amount owed plus double” means you get the money back and twice that amount on top. Many states also add your court costs or attorney’s fees.

The exceptions marked with a star

• Alabama: A landlord can charge more than one month for a pet, for changes to the home, or for added liability risk.
• Alaska: The deposit law, including its deadline and penalty, doesn’t cover a rental over $2,000 a month. A pet deposit can add one month’s rent.
• Arkansas: The law doesn’t cover an individual landlord with five or fewer units, unless a property manager runs them.
• California: A landlord can charge two months if they’re a person, or an LLC owned by people, with no more than two properties and four units in total. Service members still pay no more than one month.
• Connecticut: The limit is one month if you’re 62 or older.
• Delaware: The limit covers leases of a year or more, and month-to-month rentals after the first year. Furnished rentals and shorter leases have no limit, and a pet deposit can add one month.
• Georgia: The triple penalty doesn’t apply to a person who owns 10 or fewer units and manages them personally. A landlord who proves an honest mistake owes only the money wrongly kept.
• Hawaii: A pet deposit can add one month’s rent.
• Kansas: The limit is one and a half months for a furnished unit, and a pet deposit can add half a month.
• Kentucky: The law applies only in cities and counties that have adopted the state’s landlord-tenant act. Instead of a deadline, it has a notice rule. Your landlord tells you what you’re owed, and if you don’t reply within 60 days, they can keep it.
• Maine: The law doesn’t cover a building of five or fewer units where the landlord lives.
• Maryland: The limit is two months if you qualified for utility assistance, pay your utilities through the landlord, and agree in writing.
• Nebraska: A pet deposit can add a quarter of a month’s rent.
• New Hampshire: The limit is one month’s rent or $100, whichever is greater. The law doesn’t cover a single-family home whose owner has no other rental, or an owner-occupied building of five or fewer units, unless you’re 60 or older.
• New Jersey: An owner-occupied building with two or fewer rental units is exempt, unless you give the landlord 30 days’ notice that you want the law to apply.
• New Mexico: The limit is one month on a lease shorter than a year.
• North Carolina: The limit is two weeks’ rent on a weekly rental, one and a half months on a month-to-month rental, and two months on anything longer.
• North Dakota: The limit is two months for someone with a felony conviction or a court judgment for breaking a past lease. A pet deposit can reach $2,500 or two months’ rent, whichever is greater.
• Pennsylvania: The limit is two months in your first year and one month after that.
• Rhode Island: A landlord can charge a further deposit on a furnished apartment if the furniture is worth $5,000 or more.
• South Dakota: You and your landlord can agree to a larger deposit if special conditions put the upkeep of the home at risk.
• Tennessee: The law applies only in counties with more than 75,000 people at the 2010 census. Like Kentucky’s, it has a 60-day notice rule instead of a deadline.
• Texas: A landlord who misses the 30-day deadline is presumed to have acted in bad faith.

How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit?

Thirty days is the most common deadline, in about 20 states. New York, Hawaii, Nebraska and Vermont allow just 14 days, and Alabama, Arkansas and West Virginia allow 60. By the deadline, your landlord has to return the deposit, or send you a written list of what they’re keeping and why, along with anything left over.

What starts the clock

The deadline usually runs from the end of your lease or the day you hand back the keys, whichever is later. Your new address can matter just as much, so give it to your landlord in writing when you move out.

• In Texas, a landlord doesn’t have to return anything (opens in a new tab) until you’ve given a forwarding address in writing.
• In Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, the deadline runs from when the landlord has your address.
• In Pennsylvania, if you don’t give your new address in writing, the deadline and the penalty don’t apply (opens in a new tab) to your landlord.
• In Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina, the deadline also depends on your asking for the money. In Oklahoma, if you don’t make a written demand within six months (opens in a new tab), the deposit goes to the landlord.

If your landlord misses the deadline

In many states, a landlord who misses the deadline loses the right to keep any of the deposit. In New York (opens in a new tab), that happens after 14 days. Florida’s rule is similar (opens in a new tab) for a landlord who doesn’t send a notice of deductions within 30 days, though they can still sue you for damage after returning the money.

What can a landlord deduct from a security deposit?

Unpaid rent, and repairs for damage you caused beyond normal wear and tear. Many states also allow the cost of cleaning a place you left dirty. A landlord can’t charge you for damage that was there when you moved in, or for the wear that comes with everyday use.

California’s attorney general (opens in a new tab) lists the allowed costs: past-due rent, damage caused by you or your guests, cleaning the place so it’s as clean as when you moved in, and replacing the landlord’s furniture if the lease allows it.

Normal wear and tear means damage from everyday use, not from carelessness or an accident, which is how Idaho’s law (opens in a new tab) defines it. These examples come from a guide by Idaho Legal Aid (opens in a new tab). A judge in your state could see a particular case differently.

When your landlord sends a list of deductions

Answer it in writing, and soon. In Michigan (opens in a new tab), you have 7 days to respond by mail or you lose the amount claimed. In Florida (opens in a new tab), you have 15 days to object.

Ask for proof of each charge too. In California, a landlord has to show (opens in a new tab) the work done, the time spent and the hourly rate, or a copy of the bill if someone else did the work. If repairs and cleaning come to $125 or less, you have to ask for that within 14 days (opens in a new tab).

Paying your last month’s rent

You may be tempted to skip the last payment and tell your landlord to keep the deposit. In Texas (opens in a new tab), that can cost you three times the rent you held back, plus your landlord’s attorney’s fees. Check your lease and your state’s law before you try it.

What if your landlord doesn’t return your deposit?

Write to your landlord first, and name the deadline and the date you’ll go to court. If that doesn’t work, you can sue in small claims court, where people usually represent themselves. In some states, you can’t claim the table’s penalty without a written demand.

1. Check the dates. Compare your state’s row with the day you moved out and the day your landlord got your new address.
2. Send a demand letter. Say when you moved out, how much you’re owed, which law applies, and when you’ll file a claim. Keep a copy. In Colorado (opens in a new tab), the triple penalty applies only if the landlord doesn’t return the whole deposit within 7 days of your demand. Maine (opens in a new tab) also requires 7 days’ notice before you sue. In Louisiana (opens in a new tab), a landlord who doesn’t refund you within 30 days of a written demand is treated as acting willfully.
3. Gather your proof. That means the lease, proof you paid the deposit, move-in and move-out photos, any move-in checklist, your messages, and the landlord’s list of deductions. If you moved into a California rental on or after July 1, 2025, your landlord has to take photos (opens in a new tab) at the start of the tenancy, so ask for them.
4. File in small claims court. Your county court’s website lists the forms, the fee and the most you can claim. Ask for the deposit and the penalty in your state’s row, and bring a copy of the law.
5. Get free help if you need it. LawHelp.org (opens in a new tab) can point you to a legal aid office, and your state attorney general (opens in a new tab) may take complaints about landlords.

Which states changed their security deposit laws recently?

In 2026, the changes came in Washington, DC, Louisiana, South Dakota, Colorado and California. New York extended its rules to rent-stabilized apartments in late 2025. California and Maryland cut their limits to one month’s rent in 2024, and Georgia set its first limit.

You may have read that Colorado capped deposits at one month in 2026. That was in the bill as introduced (opens in a new tab), but the signed version (opens in a new tab) dropped it, so the limit is still the two months set in 2023 (opens in a new tab).

Other bills haven’t passed. Connecticut’s limit is still two months after attempts to cut it to one in 2025 (opens in a new tab) and 2026 (opens in a new tab), and a one-month limit in Texas (opens in a new tab) stalled in committee. A New York bill (opens in a new tab) that would give landlords 30 days instead of 14 is also still in committee.

Does your landlord owe you interest on your deposit?

In 13 states and Washington, DC, yes, under some conditions. Everywhere else, state law generally doesn’t require it, though some cities do. The rate is often small. Minnesota’s is 1%, and a landlord in Illinois pays about 0.01%.

On a $2,000 deposit, 5% comes to $100 a year and 1% comes to $20. Ohio’s rate looks better than it is, because it applies only to the part of the deposit above one month’s rent, so a one-month deposit earns nothing.

Which cities add their own deposit rules?

Several big cities go further than their state. Seattle and Portland cap deposits in states that don’t. Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco require interest, and Chicago adds its own penalty. If you rent in a big city, look up its rules as well as your state’s.

How much does a deposit add to your move-in costs?

The median asking rent (opens in a new tab) for a vacant rental was $1,541 in the third quarter of 2026. With a one-month deposit, that means $3,082 at move-in, counting the first month’s rent.

Some places let you pay the deposit in installments. Washington state (opens in a new tab) may allow up to three, and Seattle allows up to six. Anywhere else, you can still ask.

Before you pay anything, make sure the landlord and the listing are real. A deposit sent by Zelle to a fake landlord usually won’t be refunded.

Have the next deposit ready before the last one comes back

If a rent increase has you looking for a new place, you’ll usually pay the next deposit first. In a state with a 30-day deadline, you could wait a month for your old deposit after paying $3,082 for the new place. Setting aside a little each week before you move makes the gap easier to cover.

Lodavo is a free app that makes saving for a deposit more fun. The more you save, the more free tickets you get for weekly cash prize draws, and your money stays in your own account. It’s live in Canada, and you can join the US waitlist below.

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This is general information, not legal advice. Deposit laws change, so check your state’s law, linked in the table, before you rely on anything here.