New York Security Deposit Return: The 14-Day Deadline (2026)

How long a landlord has to return your deposit, and what you can claim if they miss it

At a glance

Return deadline: 14 days after vacating
Measured from: the day you vacated the premises
Penalty for late or wrongful withholding: 2x (only after a court finds bad faith)
Deposit cap: No more than one month’s rent (§ 7-108(1-a)(a), added by the 2019 HSTPA). Buildings with 6+ units must hold the deposit in an interest-bearing account; the landlord may retain a 1% administrative fee (§ 7-103).
Small claims cap: $10,000 (New York City)

Who this covers — and who it does not

This page covers residential security deposits in New York, where a landlord has kept some or all of a deposit after a tenancy ends.

It does not cover:

Commercial leases
Deposits held in an escrow account or with a third party
Disputes about damage charges in an ongoing (not ended) tenancy
Any state other than New York

Lease terms and local ordinances can change what applies. Where a city has its own deposit rules, those may differ from the state statute below.

What the statute actually says

14days

Measured from the day you vacated the premises.

“Return the balance” and “provide an itemized statement” are two separate obligations, and both must be completed within 14 days. Failing either one automatically forfeits every deduction right.

N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e) ↗

Penalties

A landlord who withholds in bad faith may be liable for 2x the full deposit.

Punitive damages of up to twice the deposit require a finding that the landlord “willfully” violated § 7-108 — meaning they knew the rule and broke it anyway. Mere late payment or a good-faith mistake is not enough. Willfulness is a factual determination, and credibility is one of the factors courts weigh. Common examples of facts supporting willfulness: deducting with no basis in the record, refusing to return the money without justification, ignoring repeated documented requests.
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(g) ↗
The tenant may recover the landlord's attorney fees.

Section 7-108 itself does not authorize attorney fees. Fees in New York security deposit cases may be available under N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-109 when a tenant recovers the deposit, or under the 2019 HSTPA amendments extending fee protection to tenants. Availability and amount are decided by the court and depend on the outcome, so treat this as possible rather than certain.
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-109 ↗

Working out your own deadline

The clock does not start on the day you decided to leave. In New York it starts the day you vacated the premises — for most leases that is the date you hand back the keys, not the date your notice period began.

Find the date you vacated and returned the keys. Write it down; everything else depends on it.
Add 14 calendar days. Count calendar days, not business days.
If the landlord has provided a forwarding address, check the statute for whether the deadline is shortened — in some states it is.
Note the date the deadline falls on. If the deposit has not arrived by then, the clock for the penalty starts running.

Common landlord defences and how to answer them

““You caused $2,000 in real damage, so I’m entitled to keep it.””

§ 7-108(1-a)(e) provides that a landlord who fails to complete both “return + itemization” within 14 days forfeits the right to withhold any part of the deposit — no court finding of bad faith required. Even if the damage claim is entirely valid, the moment the itemization arrived on day 15 the deduction right was already gone.

N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)

““I thought the lease end date was the vacating date, so I wasn’t late.””

The statute measures from “vacated the premises,” not the lease end date. Provide evidence of the date you actually returned the keys.

N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)

““I gave you the itemization, I just didn’t return the balance.””

“Return the balance” and “provide an itemized statement” are two independent obligations that must both be completed within 14 days. Doing only one still forfeits every deduction right.

N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)

Sources and how to verify them

Every figure on this page comes from the official text, not from a summary. The table below lists each provision used and the date it was last checked against the source.

Statute	Last verified	Source
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)	2026-10-04	official text ↗
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(g)	2026-10-04	official text ↗
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-109	2026-10-04	official text ↗
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(f)	2026-10-04	official text ↗
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(c)	2026-10-04	official text ↗
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(d)	2026-10-04	official text ↗
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(a)	2026-10-04	official text ↗
N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103	2026-10-04	official text ↗

Primary reference: N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 (rewritten by the 2019 HSTPA). Where the official text and a secondary summary disagree, this page follows the official text and says so. Amendments are recorded on the site changelog.

When you need a lawyer instead of a tool

A self-help letter is the right starting point for a single deposit you can document. Get legal help if:

You have received an eviction notice — the timeline is now court-driven
The dispute involves discrimination, unsafe conditions or retaliation
The amount in dispute exceeds $10,000 (New York City)
Your landlord has filed anything in court already

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

More New York guides

New York Security Deposit Rules

→ All New York tenant rights topics

Common questions

How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in New York?

14 days, counted from the day you vacated the premises. N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e).

Can I claim more than my deposit back in New York?

A landlord who withholds in bad faith may be liable for 2x the full deposit. N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(g)

Does the 14-day deadline in New York start when I give notice or when I move out?

It runs from the day you vacated the premises — the date you vacated and returned the keys, not the date your notice period began.

Do I need a lawyer to file a deposit claim in New York?

No — The New York City small claims cap is $10,000. The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and the Attorney General generally do not get involved in factual deduction disputes (such as “I really did not damage the wall”) — they handle procedural violations only.