Security deposit return deadline in Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, a landlord has 30 days to return your security deposit.

Work out your Pennsylvania deadline

Your move-out day — when the keys went back.

When the lease or agreement ended. Often the same day you moved out. Pennsylvania counts from whichever of the two comes first.

$

The part you have not had back. Pennsylvania measures its penalty on this, not on the whole deposit.

Not legal advice. This is general information, not legal advice, and it is calculated only from the dates you entered. Whether a penalty applies is for a court to decide, not this site — and your landlord may dispute the dates or the reason for any deduction. Deadlines and penalties change and vary by jurisdiction. Verify with the cited statute or consult a licensed attorney in your state before you rely on any of this.

What Pennsylvania law requires

  • 30 days to return the deposit, counted from whichever comes first: the day the tenancy ended, or the day you handed back the property.

    The clock runs 30 days from “termination of a lease or upon surrender and acceptance of the leasehold premises, whichever first occurs.” The damage list must be delivered together with payment of the difference between the escrow plus interest and the actual damages - one duty, not two. The landlord keeps the right to refuse return for unpaid rent or other breaches of the lease.

    512(a)

Do you have to give a forwarding address?

512(e) provides that “failure of the tenant to provide the landlord with his new address in writing... shall relieve the landlord from any liability under this section.” That gives the landlord a defence if you do not give a written address. It does not start or stop the deadline clock.

What to do next

  1. Write it down. Put the date you handed back the property and the date your tenancy ended in one place. Every deadline on this page is counted from one of those.
  2. Ask in writing. Email is fine and it timestamps itself. Say what you are asking for, cite the subsection above, and give a date by which you expect a reply.
  3. Keep the receipt. If you post a letter, pay for tracking. It costs a few dollars and it is the difference between "I sent it" and proof that you did. You do not need to buy a service to do this — the post office will.

There is a longer walkthrough, including what an itemised statement should contain and when small claims is worth it, in what to do if your landlord won't return your deposit.