Security deposit rules are state law, and they differ on the three questions that decide real disputes: how much you can charge, how fast it has to come back, and what it costs you to get either one wrong. The table below compares all twenty states BuildMyLease covers; below it, each state gets a short plain-English summary with links to the state's lease page and — where we've published one — a statute-by-statute deep dive.
Every figure is drawn from the same per-state rules that drive our lease generator, with the controlling statute cited in the last column. This is general information, not legal advice.
Returning a deposit right now? Use our free security deposit return letter generator — it writes the itemized statement with your state's deadline built in.
The comparison table
| State | Deposit cap | Return deadline | Penalty exposure | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 1.5 months' rent | 14 business days | Double the wrongfully withheld amount + attorney's fees | A.R.S. § 33-1321 |
| California | 1 month (2 for qualifying small landlords) | 21 days | Up to 2× the deposit for bad-faith retention | Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5 |
| Colorado | 2 months' rent (since Aug 7, 2023) | 1 month (lease may extend to 60 days) | Treble damages + attorney's fees for willful withholding | C.R.S. §§ 38-12-102.5, -103 |
| Florida | No statutory cap | 15 days (no deductions) / 30 days to mail a claim | Missing the 30-day claim window forfeits the right to withhold | Fla. Stat. § 83.49 |
| Georgia | 2 months' rent (since July 1, 2024) | 30 days | Treble the wrongfully withheld amount + attorney's fees | O.C.G.A. §§ 44-7-30.1, -34, -35 |
| Illinois | No state cap (Cook County RTLO: 1.5 months) | 30-day itemization / 45-day return (5+ unit buildings) | Chicago RLTO: two months’ rent in statutory damages | 765 ILCS 710/1; Chi. Mun. Code § 5-12-080 |
| Indiana | No statutory cap | 45 days | Full deposit + attorney's fees (no multiplier) | IC 32-31-3-12 |
| Maryland | 1 month's rent (since Oct 1, 2024) | 45 days | Up to 3× the withheld amount + attorney's fees | Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203 |
| Massachusetts | 1 month's rent | 30 days | Treble damages + 5% interest + costs + attorney's fees | M.G.L. c. 186, § 15B |
| Michigan | 1.5 months' rent | 30 days | Double damages; suit required within 45 days to keep contested deductions | M.C.L. §§ 554.602–.613 |
| Minnesota | No statutory cap | 21 days (5 if the building is condemned) | Bad-faith retention exposes the landlord to statutory penalties | Minn. Stat. § 504B.178 |
| New Jersey | 1.5 months' rent (+10% annual increase cap) | 30 days | Double the wrongfully withheld amount | N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.1, -21.2 |
| New York | 1 month's rent (HSTPA 2019) | 14 days | Missing the 14-day window forfeits the right to retain | N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 |
| North Carolina | Tiered: 2 weeks / 1.5 months / 2 months by tenancy term | 30-day interim / 60-day final accounting | Non-compliance forfeits the right to retain | N.C.G.S. §§ 42-50–42-52 |
| Ohio | No statutory cap | 30 days | Double the wrongfully withheld amount + attorney's fees | O.R.C. § 5321.16 |
| Pennsylvania | 2 months year one; 1 month after | 30 days | Double the difference for failure to itemize | 68 P.S. §§ 250.511a–.512 |
| Tennessee | No statutory cap | No fixed deadline; 30-day damage-discovery window (URLTA counties) | Damages found outside the discovery window aren’t chargeable | Tenn. Code § 66-28-301 |
| Texas | No statutory cap | 30 days (after a written forwarding address) | $100 + 3× the wrongfully withheld amount + attorney's fees | Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.103–.109 |
| Virginia | 2 months' rent | 45 days | No statutory multiplier; interest owed on terms over 13 months | Va. Code § 55.1-1226 |
| Washington | No statewide cap | 30 days (amended 2024) | No signed move-in checklist ⇒ no deposit may be withheld | RCW 59.18.260–.280 |
State-by-state details
Arizona
Arizona caps the deposit at one and a half months’ rent and counts the return deadline in business days — 14, excluding weekends and legal holidays. A move-in checklist is required before a deposit is taken, and wrongful withholding exposes the landlord to double damages.
California
Since AB 12 (July 2024), most California landlords may hold no more than one month’s rent — two months for an individual owning no more than two residential properties totaling four units. The deposit and an itemized statement are due 21 calendar days after the tenant surrenders possession, tenants may request a pre-move-out inspection with a chance to cure, and AB 2801 requires move-in, move-out, and post-repair photographs to support deductions.
California lease agreement · California security deposit law — AB 12’s one-month cap, explained
Colorado
Colorado’s default return window is one month, extendable to at most 60 days by lease. Willful wrongful withholding forfeits the deposit and triggers treble damages plus attorney’s fees.
Colorado lease agreement · Colorado security deposit law — the 2026 rules landlords must know
Florida
Florida runs two clocks: 15 days to return the deposit in full, or 30 days to send a certified-mail itemized claim if you intend to deduct — after which the tenant has 15 days to object. The account or bond holding the deposit must be disclosed to the tenant within 30 days of receipt.
Florida lease agreement · Florida security deposit return — the 15-day / 30-day rule
Georgia
Georgia’s 2024 Safe at Home Act capped the total of all refundable deposits at two months’ rent. Larger operators (10+ units, or any landlord using a management company) also owe escrow and move-in inspection duties, and bad-faith retention runs to treble damages.
Georgia lease agreement · Georgia landlord required disclosures — the lease checklist
Illinois
Illinois has no statewide cap, but the state-level return rules bind buildings of five or more units, interest attaches at 25+ units — and Chicago’s RLTO plus the Cook County RTLO layer far stricter handling, caps, and penalties on top.
Illinois lease agreement · Cook County & Chicago lease rules: the RLTO and RTLO
Indiana
Indiana gives landlords 45 days from termination (and the tenant’s forwarding address) to return the deposit with an itemized statement. Deductions are limited to accrued rent, damages, and unpaid utility or sewer charges; no interest is required.
Maryland
Maryland cut its cap to one month’s rent in 2024. Deposits live in an escrow account at a Maryland financial institution, earn interest at the greater of 1.5% per year or the one-year Treasury yield, and the deposit receipt must carry seven specific statutory advisements.
Maryland lease agreement · Maryland security deposit law — the new one-month cap, explained
Massachusetts
The strictest regime in the country: a separate interest-bearing Massachusetts bank account, a statement of condition within 10 days, 5% (or bank-rate) interest paid annually, and a sworn itemized statement at move-out. Several procedural failures forfeit the deposit outright and carry treble damages.
Massachusetts lease agreement · Massachusetts security deposit law — the strictest rules in America
Michigan
Michigan runs on deadlines: a 14-day bank/surety notice, inventory checklists at both ends, a 30-day itemized list — and if the tenant disputes deductions, the landlord must sue within 45 days of move-out or return the money. Bad-faith retention doubles the liability.
Michigan lease agreement · Michigan security deposit law — the 45-day sue-or-forfeit rule
Minnesota
Minnesota requires the deposit to earn interest for the tenant and to come back — with interest and any itemized statement — within three weeks of the tenancy ending and a forwarding address. Move-in and move-out inspections must be offered.
New Jersey
New Jersey caps the deposit at one and a half months’ rent and even caps how fast it can grow — 10% per year. The deposit sits in an interest-bearing account disclosed to the tenant within 30 days, with interest paid or credited annually.
New York
New York’s 2019 reforms capped deposits at one month and set the fastest return clock of any state we cover: 14 days, with an itemized statement. Buildings of six or more units must hold the deposit in an interest-bearing New York account.
New York lease agreement · New York security deposit law — the 14-day return-or-forfeit rule
North Carolina
North Carolina keys the cap to the tenancy: two weeks’ rent for week-to-week, 1.5 months for month-to-month, two months for longer terms. The deposit lives in a North Carolina trust account (or is bonded), and the accounting runs on a 30-day interim / 60-day final schedule.
North Carolina lease agreement · North Carolina security deposit law — the tiered cap, explained
Ohio
Ohio’s quirk is interest: any deposit above $50 or one month’s rent (whichever is greater), held six months or more, earns 5% per year on the excess. The 30-day itemized return runs from termination plus the tenant’s forwarding address, and wrongful withholding doubles.
Ohio lease agreement · Ohio security deposit law — 30-day return and double damages
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s cap steps down over time — two months’ rent in the first year of the lease, one month after — with an escrow-and-interest regime kicking in from the third year for deposits over $100. Miss the 30-day itemized return and the exposure doubles.
Pennsylvania lease agreement · Pennsylvania security deposit law — the 2-month, then 1-month cap
Tennessee
Tennessee’s URLTA — which applies only in its five largest counties — requires a separate deposit account with the tenant notified of its location, and damage claims must be identified before the earlier of 30 days after vacating or 7 days after a new tenant moves in.
Texas
Texas’ 30-day clock only starts when the tenant surrenders the unit and provides a written forwarding address. Bad faith is presumed once day 30 passes, and the penalty math — $100 plus treble the withheld amount plus fees — dwarfs most deposits.
Texas lease agreement · Texas security deposit return deadline — the 30-day rule
Virginia
Virginia allows up to two months’ rent and gives landlords 45 days from termination to return the balance with an itemized statement. Tenants may request a move-out inspection within 72 hours of delivery of possession, and long tenancies accrue deposit interest.
Washington
Washington conditions the deposit itself on paperwork: without a written rental agreement and a signed move-in condition checklist, no deposit may be collected or withheld. The deposit sits in a trust account named in the lease, and the return window is 30 days after 2024 amendments.
Washington lease agreement · Washington security deposit checklist — no checklist, no deposit
Patterns worth knowing
The coasts cap; the middle doesn't. One-month caps now rule California, New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland, while Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Indiana set no ceiling at all — there, the return mechanics and penalty multipliers do all the regulating.
Paperwork can be a precondition. Washington voids the deposit without a signed move-in checklist; Michigan requires checklists at both ends plus prescribed notice text; Massachusetts adds a statement of condition and a segregated bank account. In these states the deposit is only as good as the file behind it.
Multipliers are the real number. Treble damages (Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland) and double damages (Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) mean a mishandled $2,000 deposit is rarely a $2,000 problem. The cheapest insurance is a lease and a process that follow the statute from day one.