Security deposit return deadlines by state
Every state puts a clock on your landlord. The number of days is the easy part — what the clock starts from is what tenants get wrong, and it is not always your move-out date.
Work out your deadline
Pick your state and we will work the date out from your move-out day, tell you whether it has passed, and show what the statute says happens if it has.
8 of 51 jurisdictions have had their return rules read against the statute and cited. The rest are in the table below, and are being worked through in batches — we publish a calculator for a state only once someone has actually read its statute for this purpose.
All 51 jurisdictions
Generated from the same dataset as the state pages. Where a state has been verified for return rules, the row says what the clock runs from.
| State | Deadline | Counted from |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 60 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Alaska | 14 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Arizona | 14 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Arkansas | 60 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| California | 21 days | the day you handed back the property |
| Colorado | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Connecticut | 21 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Delaware | 20 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| District of Columbia | 45 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Florida | 15 days | the day the tenancy ended |
| Georgia | 30 days | whichever comes first: the day the tenancy ended, or the day you handed back the property |
| Hawaii | 14 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Idaho | 21 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Illinois | 30 days | whichever is later: the day you handed back the property, or the day the tenancy ended |
| Indiana | 45 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Iowa | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Kansas | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Kentucky | Not specified | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Louisiana | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Maine | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Maryland | 45 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Massachusetts | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Michigan | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Minnesota | 21 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Mississippi | 45 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Missouri | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Montana | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Nebraska | 14 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Nevada | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| New Hampshire | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| New Jersey | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| New Mexico | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| New York | 14 days | the day you handed back the property |
| North Carolina | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| North Dakota | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Ohio | 30 days | whichever is later: the day the tenancy ended, or the day you handed back the property |
| Oklahoma | 45 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Oregon | 31 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Pennsylvania | 30 days | whichever comes first: the day the tenancy ended, or the day you handed back the property |
| Rhode Island | 20 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| South Carolina | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| South Dakota | 21 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Tennessee | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Texas | 30 days | whichever is later: the day you handed back the property, or the day you gave a written forwarding address |
| Utah | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Vermont | 14 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Virginia | 45 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Washington | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| West Virginia | 60 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Wisconsin | 21 days | Not yet verified for return rules |
| Wyoming | 30 days | Not yet verified for return rules |