Security Deposit Return Deadlines in All 50 States (2026)

A 50-state comparison of return deadlines and penalty multipliers

The data, at a glance

State	Return deadline	Penalty	When it applies	Statute	Last verified
California	21	2x	Needs a court finding	Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h)(1) ↗	2026-10-04
Texas	30	3x	Automatic	Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103(a), Tex. Prop. Code § 92.107(a) ↗	2026-10-04
Florida	15 or 30	none	No statutory penalty	Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)(a) ↗	2026-10-04
New York	14	2x	Needs a court finding	N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e) ↗	2026-10-04
Pennsylvania	30	2x	Needs a court finding	68 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 250.512(a) ↗	2026-10-04

This table currently covers 5 states with verified official sources. 45 states are not yet listed — we publish a state only after checking its statute text directly, and we would rather omit a row than publish a number we cannot trace.

Why these numbers differ so much

There is no federal rule for security deposits. Every deadline here comes from a separate state statute, and the differences are not small: some states allow a three-month deposit with no cap, others limit it to one month's rent. Return deadlines range from two weeks to two months. Penalty multipliers range from none to three times the deposit.

That variation is why a generic answer rarely helps. The number that matters is the one for your state, on your lease, measured from your actual move-out date.

How to use this table

1. Find your state and read the deadline column.
2. Check whether the penalty applies automatically or only after a court finds bad faith — this changes what you can realistically claim without filing.
3. Open the statute link to read the actual provision before relying on it.

Sources and how to verify them

Every row links to the official statute text and carries the date it was last checked. No row is derived from a blog post or an AI summary. If a row cannot be traced to primary law, it is not here.

When this table is not enough

It covers state-level deposit rules only. Local ordinances can be more generous than the state statute, lease terms can be more protective, and a city with its own rent board may add another layer. If you are in a jurisdiction with local tenant protections, look those up too.

When you need a lawyer instead of a table

A comparison table tells you what the deadline is. It cannot tell you whether your landlord's conduct was unlawful in a way a court will recognise. Get legal help if:

• You have received an eviction notice — the timeline is now court-driven
• The dispute involves discrimination, unsafe conditions or retaliation
• Your landlord has already filed anything in court
• The amount in dispute exceeds your local small claims limit

Local legal aid organisations and tenant unions offer free help for qualifying cases. They are independent of this site — we mention them because they are the right place to go, not because they link here.