Your landlord has a deadline, and it's written down
Every state puts a number of days on returning a security deposit. The shortest is 14. The longest is 60. Below is all 51 jurisdictions with the statute behind each one, what starts the clock, and what the law says happens when a landlord blows past it.
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What the deadline is
A security deposit return deadline is the number of days a landlord has, after a tenancy ends, to return the deposit or account for what was kept. Deadlines run from 14 days in Alaska and New York to 60 days in Alabama, Arkansas and West Virginia. Each one sits in a state statute.
That's the whole rule. It gets complicated because "the state" means one of 51 separate statutes, they don't all count from the same event, and a few of them split the job into two duties with two different dates.
Most people never look the number up. They wait, they get annoyed, then they send an email that says "please return my deposit as soon as possible". A landlord reads that and files it under later. A letter that says the deadline passed on 27 June and names the section it comes from is a different piece of paper.
Returning money is not the same as accounting for it
This is the part that trips people up. Most statutes impose two duties, not one, and the deadline you care about depends on whether the landlord is keeping anything.
Return the deposit
What it means: the money goes back to you, in full, by the statutory date. This is the deadline that applies when the landlord claims nothing.
If nothing was damaged and you owe no rent, there's no calculation to do. The deposit is yours and the clock is the only question.
Send an itemized statement
What it means: a written list of every deduction, usually with the amount and the reason, plus the balance of the deposit.
A landlord who keeps $400 of your $1,200 owes you the $800 and the paperwork explaining the $400. Silence is not a deduction.
Some states run both duties on one clock. Others give the landlord a different window for each, and Florida is the clearest example of that split.
A Florida landlord has 15 days to return the deposit if no deductions are claimed, and 30 days to send written notice of a claim against it. Miss the notice deadline and the landlord forfeits the right to deduct at all.
So a Florida tenant on day 35 with no letter has a stronger position than the raw 15-day number suggests. The failure to write is itself the violation.
Read your section for both numbers. If you only find one, that state runs a single clock and the itemization has to arrive inside it. The tone and structure of the letter you send next is covered in how to write a demand letter.
What starts the clock
A deadline is useless until you know which day is day zero. States pick different trigger events, and picking the wrong one is the most common way a tenant sends a demand three weeks early.
- Termination of the tenancy
- The lease ends on its own terms. Common trigger, and the simplest, because the date is on the lease.
- Delivery of possession
- You hand back the keys and stop having the right to enter. This can be later than the lease end date if you stayed on, or earlier if you left and told them so.
- Receipt of your forwarding address
- Several states don't start counting until the landlord has somewhere to send the cheque. In those states, no address means no running clock.
- A written demand from you
- A small number of statutes make the tenant's written request part of the trigger. Sending one costs you nothing and removes the argument.
The practical move covers all four at once. Give notice, hand back the keys, and put your forwarding address in writing on the same day — then keep proof of the date you did it. Certified mail with return receipt costs about $6 and turns "I told them" into a dated record.
Keep a copy of what you sent, too. A landlord's usual first answer is that they never got an address.
All 51 deadlines and citations
Sorted by deadline, shortest first, then alphabetically. These are the return deadlines from our curated dataset, which is what the letter generator reads when it computes your date.
Scroll the table sideways on a phone
| Jurisdiction | Days | Statute | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 14 | Alaska Stat. § 34.03.070 | — |
| Arizona | 14 | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1321 | — |
| Hawaii | 14 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44 | — |
| Nebraska | 14 | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1416 | — |
| New York | 14 | N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 | — |
| South Dakota | 14 | S.D. Codified Laws § 43-32-24 | — |
| Vermont | 14 | 9 V.S.A. § 4461 | — |
| Florida | 15 | Fla. Stat. § 83.49 | 30 days to send written notice of a claim |
| Delaware | 20 | 25 Del. C. § 5514 | — |
| Rhode Island | 20 | R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-19 | — |
| California | 21 | Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(g) | — |
| Idaho | 21 | Idaho Code § 6-321 | — |
| Minnesota | 21 | Minn. Stat. § 504B.178 | — |
| Wisconsin | 21 | Wis. Stat. § 704.28; ATCP 134.06 | — |
| Colorado | 30 | Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-12-103 | — |
| Connecticut | 30 | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-21 | — |
| Georgia | 30 | Ga. Code § 44-7-34 | — |
| Illinois | 30 | 765 ILCS 710/1 | — |
| Iowa | 30 | Iowa Code § 562A.12 | — |
| Kansas | 30 | Kan. Stat. § 58-2550 | — |
| Kentucky | 30 | Ky. Rev. Stat. § 383.580 | — |
| Louisiana | 30 | La. Rev. Stat. § 9:3251 | — |
| Maine | 30 | 14 M.R.S. § 6033 | — |
| Massachusetts | 30 | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186 § 15B | — |
| Michigan | 30 | Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.609 | — |
| Missouri | 30 | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 535.300 | — |
| Montana | 30 | Mont. Code § 70-25-202 | — |
| Nevada | 30 | Nev. Rev. Stat. § 118A.242 | — |
| New Hampshire | 30 | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 540-A:7 | — |
| New Jersey | 30 | N.J. Stat. § 46:8-21.1 | — |
| New Mexico | 30 | N.M. Stat. § 47-8-18 | — |
| North Carolina | 30 | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-52 | — |
| North Dakota | 30 | N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 | — |
| Ohio | 30 | Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.16 | — |
| Oklahoma | 30 | Okla. Stat. tit. 41 § 115 | — |
| Pennsylvania | 30 | 68 Pa. Stat. § 250.512 | — |
| South Carolina | 30 | S.C. Code § 27-40-410 | — |
| Tennessee | 30 | Tenn. Code § 66-28-301 | — |
| Texas | 30 | Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103 | — |
| Utah | 30 | Utah Code § 57-17-3 | — |
| Washington | 30 | Wash. Rev. Code § 59.18.280 | — |
| Wyoming | 30 | Wyo. Stat. § 1-21-1208 | — |
| Oregon | 31 | Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.300 | — |
| District of Columbia | 45 | 14 DCMR § 308–309 | — |
| Indiana | 45 | Ind. Code § 32-31-3-12 | — |
| Maryland | 45 | Md. Real Prop. § 8-203 | — |
| Mississippi | 45 | Miss. Code § 89-8-21 | — |
| Virginia | 45 | Va. Code § 55.1-1226 | — |
| Alabama | 60 | Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 | — |
| Arkansas | 60 | Ark. Code § 18-16-305 | — |
| West Virginia | 60 | W. Va. Code § 37-6A-2 | — |
Thirty days is the modal answer — 28 of the 51 jurisdictions use it. If you're guessing, guess 30. Then go and check, because guessing wrong in a demand letter hands the other side something to argue about.
What missing it costs a landlord
Deadlines with no consequence get ignored. Many states attach a multiplier, and that multiplier is the part of the letter a landlord reads twice. These are the penalty provisions in our dataset.
| State | Statutory exposure | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus $100 and attorney's fees, for bad faith | Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103, § 92.109 |
| Massachusetts | Three times the deposit, plus interest, costs and fees | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186 § 15B |
| Colorado | Treble the amount wrongfully withheld, plus fees, for bad faith | Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-12-103 |
| Maryland | Up to three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus fees | Md. Real Prop. § 8-203 |
| California | Up to twice the deposit for bad-faith retention | Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(l) |
| New York | Up to twice the deposit for a willful violation | N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 |
| Ohio | Double the amount wrongfully withheld, plus fees | Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.16 |
| New Jersey | Double the amount wrongfully withheld, plus costs and fees | N.J. Stat. § 46:8-21.1 |
| Michigan | Double the amount wrongfully withheld | Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.609 |
| Minnesota | Punitive damages equal to the amount withheld, plus the deposit itself | Minn. Stat. § 504B.178 |
| Florida | A landlord who fails to give notice forfeits the right to deduct | Fla. Stat. § 83.49 |
| North Carolina | Forfeiture of the right to retain any part of the deposit | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-52 |
Most of these need bad faith or a willful violation, not an honest mistake, and the multiplier is what a court may award rather than what you're owed on day one. Naming it in a letter is fair. Demanding it as a fixed sum is not, and a landlord's lawyer will say so.
If the letter doesn't move them, the penalty provision is usually what makes the claim worth filing. Small claims court handles most deposit disputes, with limits from roughly $3,500 in Arizona to $20,000 in a Texas justice court.
How much they could hold in the first place
A separate question from the deadline, and worth checking, because an over-collected deposit is its own claim. Some states cap what a landlord may take. Others don't cap it at all.
- One month's rent: California, for most landlords, since AB 12 took effect in 2024, with a narrow exception for small landlords. Massachusetts and New York also sit at one month.
- One and a half months: Michigan, New Jersey and Arizona. North Carolina runs 1.5 to 2 months depending on the lease term.
- Two months: Maryland and Virginia. Pennsylvania allows two months in the first year and one month after that.
- No statutory cap: Florida, Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, Minnesota, Oregon and Georgia. The lease sets the number, and market pressure is the only limit.
Caps move more often than deadlines do, because they're politically live in a way that a procedural clock isn't. California's went from two months to one in 2024. Check yours rather than trusting a figure you read two years ago, including this one.
Why 14 days here and 60 there
The spread isn't an accident or a drafting error. It's a legislature choosing where to sit between two real interests.
A short deadline is pro-tenant. Your money is your money, and 14 days is roughly how long it takes to walk a unit, get a quote and cut a cheque. A long deadline is pro-landlord. It leaves room for a contractor to show up, for a final utility bill to arrive, and for a carpet estimate to come back before the landlord has to commit to a number in writing.
Alaska picked 14. Alabama picked 60. Both statutes are doing the same job with a different answer about whose inconvenience matters more. Neither number tells you anything about how strong your claim is.
State law is a floor in many places, not a ceiling. A city or county ordinance can set a shorter deadline, require deposit interest, or add its own penalty on top of the state statute. Big-city tenancy codes are the usual place one turns up.
Check your municipal code as well as the state code. Where both apply, the stricter rule usually governs, and citing the local ordinance by number tells a landlord you looked.
Local rules also change more quietly than state ones. There's no news cycle for a municipal amendment, so the version you find on a blog is often two revisions behind.
Find the rule that binds yours
Four steps, about twenty minutes, and you'll have the two things a demand letter needs: a date and a section number.
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Start from the property, not from you
The law that applies is the law where the unit sits. If you moved from Ohio to Arizona, Ohio's 30 days and Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.16 still govern the deposit on the Ohio unit.
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Open the statute in the table above
Read it on your state legislature's own site, not a summary. You're looking for three things: the number of days, the event the days run from, and whether an itemized statement has its own deadline.
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Count the days and write the date down
Start from the trigger event your statute names, not from the day you moved your last box. If the section doesn't say whether days are calendar or business days, count both ways and use the later date in your letter.
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Check your city and county code
Search your municipal code for "security deposit". If a local ordinance is stricter, cite both it and the state section. If there isn't one, you've lost five minutes and gained certainty.
If that sounds like an evening you'd rather not spend, that's the job our letter generator does. It reads 306 hand-curated state rule sets — six letter types across 51 jurisdictions — and puts your deadline and your citation into the draft. What it won't do is check your municipal code, so step four stays yours.
What the letter costs
$19, once, per letter. PDF and Word, plus a next-steps sheet covering how to send it and what date to diary. No account, and nothing recurring behind the purchase — we wrote out the whole policy in the no-subscription promise.
Here's the part of the draft that does the work:
Re: Return of security deposit — 418 Hayes St, Apt 3
I vacated the above unit on 12 June 2026 and provided a forwarding address in writing on the same date. My security deposit of $2,400 has not been returned, and I have received no itemized statement of deductions.
Under Fla. Stat. § 83.49, you had 15 days from the end of the tenancy to return the deposit, or 30 days to send written notice of a claim against it. That deadline passed on 27 June 2026.
I ask that you return $2,400 within 14 days of the date of this letter.
About 60% of your own draft is readable before you pay, including the statute line and the computed date, so you can check we got your state right. Rewrites before payment are free and there's no limit on them.
This is wrong for you if the landlord has already sued you, the dispute has grown past the deposit into a contract fight, or you want somebody to read your case and advise you. We don't review your facts and we don't represent you. Get a lawyer. If you'd rather see how this compares with a document library on a monthly plan, the LawDepot comparison lays out both.
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Common questions
How long does a landlord have to return my security deposit?
Between 14 and 60 days, depending on the state. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota and Vermont are the fastest at 14 days. Alabama, Arkansas and West Virginia are the slowest at 60.
Twenty-eight of the 51 jurisdictions use 30 days. Your exact number and its statute are in the table on this page.
What happens if my landlord misses the deadline?
In many states the landlord becomes liable for more than the deposit. Texas exposes a bad-faith landlord to three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus $100 and fees under Tex. Prop. Code § 92.109; Massachusetts to three times the deposit under ch. 186 § 15B; Ohio to double plus fees under § 5321.16.
Most of those multipliers require bad faith or a willful violation, and they're what a court may award rather than an automatic sum. Naming the provision in your letter is fair game.
Do I have to give a forwarding address before the clock starts?
In several states, yes — the statute doesn't start counting until the landlord has an address to send the money to. In others the clock runs from the end of the tenancy regardless.
Send one either way, in writing, and keep proof of the date. It costs about $6 by certified mail and removes the most common excuse a landlord gives.
My landlord kept money but sent no itemized statement. What now?
That's usually a separate violation from keeping the money, and in some states it's the more serious one. Florida landlords who miss the 30-day notice under § 83.49 forfeit the right to deduct anything; North Carolina landlords face forfeiture of the right to retain any part of the deposit under § 42-52.
Write and demand the full deposit, not the balance. The absence of a statement is your strongest fact.
Do weekends and holidays count toward the deadline?
It depends on the wording of your section. Some statutes say calendar days, some say business days, and some say neither, in which case the state's general rules for computing time fill the gap.
Count it both ways. If the two dates differ, use the later one in your demand — a letter that's a day early gives the other side something to argue about instead of paying.
Can my city set a stricter rule than my state?
Often, yes. Many state deposit statutes are a floor rather than a ceiling, and a city or county can layer its own deposit rules on top, sometimes with interest requirements or extra penalties.
Search your municipal code for "security deposit" before you send anything, and cite both the local ordinance and the state section where both apply.
Does a demand letter get the deposit back?
Often, because the arithmetic changes for the landlord. A letter naming the date the deadline passed, the section number and the statutory multiplier makes ignoring you more expensive than paying you.
It isn't a guarantee, and no letter can be. If they don't respond, the letter becomes the first exhibit in a small claims filing, which is the point of sending it by certified mail.
Put the date and the section in the letter
Answer a few questions about your tenancy. We compute your deadline from your state's statute, cite it by section number, and hand you a PDF and a Word file. Read most of it before you decide.
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Self-help document service. Not a law firm, and not legal advice. We do not review your letter or represent you. Statutes and deadlines change, and city ordinances can override the state rule — confirm the current text of any section cited on this page before relying on it.