Compare the states
Security deposit return laws, side by side.
The deadline runs from 14 days to 60, but the day count is the easy part. States disagree about what starts the clock, whether the money and the letter share a deadline, and what it costs to be late. Every figure below is read from the same statute-cited rules this tool runs on. Every rule verified against its source; oldest check June 25, 2026.
The deadline, and what starts it
| State | Deadline | The clock starts from | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 14 days | the day the tenant moves out | N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e) |
| Florida | 15 days to return it all, or 30 days to send a claim notice | the EARLIER of move-out or the agreement ending (our reading) | Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)(a) |
| California | 21 days | the day the tenant moves out | Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h)(1) |
| Texas | 30 days | the LATER of surrender of the premises or the written forwarding address | Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103(a) (with § 92.107) |
| Colorado | 30 days, up to 60 if the lease says so | the LATER of the lease ending or surrender and acceptance | C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1)(a) |
A shorter deadline is not automatically the harsher rule. Texas gives 30 days but does not start counting until the tenant has given a written forwarding address, while New York gives 14 and starts the moment the tenant is out. Read the two columns together.
Florida is the one to read twice. The statute counts from termination of the rental agreement, but a tenant does not always leave on the day the agreement ends. Where the move-out and termination dates differ, this tool counts from the earlier of the two, which is the conservative reading rather than a rule the statute states outright. If your tenant left early, do not assume you have until the termination date. If instead your tenant held over past the termination date, the clock still runs from termination, which is what the statute says rather than a conservative gloss, and the window can close before they physically leave.
Caps, interest and forwarding addresses
| State | Deposit cap | Forwarding address | Interest owed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | One month | Not required | Yes, if the property contains 6 or more family dwelling units, or the money sits in an interest-bearing account |
| Florida | No statutory cap | Not required | Yes, if you chose an interest-bearing account or a surety bond |
| California | One month (2 for some small landlords, but never from a service member) | Not required | None statewide, but some city ordinances require it |
| Texas | No statutory cap | Required in writing, and the clock waits for it | None |
| Colorado | 2 months | Not required | None statewide, but Boulder requires it |
Interest is the rule most often owed and least often paid, and it is almost never a simple yes or no. Florida’s turns on which holding method you chose, New York’s on the size of the building and the account, California’s on city ordinances, and Colorado’s on Boulder. A state-level “no” will not show you any of them.
What being late costs
| State | Standard | Losing the right to keep any of it | Money on top | Money-penalty statute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Strict on the deadline; willfulness only for punitive damages | Yes, and the trigger is the statement AND the money, both inside 14 days | up to 2x the whole deposit, but only if a court finds the violation willful | N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(g) |
| Florida | Strict liability | Yes, automatically, with no bad faith required | attorney fees to whoever wins | Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)(a), (3)(c) |
| California | Bad faith | Only if a court finds you acted in bad faith | up to 2x the whole deposit, at the court’s discretion | Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(m) |
| Texas | Bad faith | Only if a court finds you acted in bad faith | 3x the amount wrongly withheld, $100 on top, and the tenant’s attorney fees | Tex. Prop. Code § 92.109(a)–(d) |
| Colorado | Wrongful withholding, with a defined good-faith safe harbor | Yes, for any failure to comply with the section | 3x the amount wrongly withheld and the tenant’s attorney fees, but only if you fail to return it within 7 days of the tenant’s demand and notice of intent to sue. A landlord who followed every other requirement and merely kept a bit more than actual damages in good faith owes the excess plus court costs instead | C.R.S. § 38-12-103(3)(a), (3)(c), (3.5) |
Two things are easy to miss here. First, read the forfeiture column before the money column: in every state here the first thing at risk is the right to keep any of the deposit at all, but what it TAKES to lose it differs sharply. Florida, New York and Colorado forfeit on the failure itself, while Texas and California require a court to find you acted in bad faith. Second, the word in the standard column matters more than the multiplier. A strict liability rule can be broken by a landlord who did everything in good faith and simply missed a date. A bad faith rule asks a court what the landlord intended, which is a fight you can win but would rather not have. And Florida’s attorney fees go to whoever wins, so that column is not automatically a tenant’s weapon.
Open your state
Security deposit laws by state: common questions
Which state gives a landlord the least time to return a security deposit?
Of the states covered here, New York is the strictest at 14 days (N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)). Texas and Colorado both allow 30, and a Colorado lease may stretch that to 60. Comparing the raw number is misleading on its own, though, because the states do not start counting at the same moment, and Texas does not start counting at all until it has a written forwarding address. Check the "clock starts" column as well as the day count.
Does the deadline mean the letter, the money, or both?
It depends on the state, and this is the detail that catches landlords who move between states. New York’s deadline covers both: the statute forfeits the deposit for failing to provide the statement AND the deposit within fourteen days. Whether “provide” means sent or received has never been decided by a court, so send early enough that receipt is not the question. Treat the deadline as applying to both unless your state clearly says otherwise, because the safe reading costs nothing and the wrong one can forfeit the deposit.
Do I have to wait for a forwarding address before returning the deposit?
Texas is the only state here where the clock itself waits for a written forwarding address, and it is the single most commonly mis-applied rule in this whole area. Florida has a different conditional that runs the other way: a tenant who moves out early or ends a periodic tenancy must give seven days’ written notice including an address (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(5)), and failing to give it relieves the landlord of the 30-day claim-notice duty. In California, New York and Colorado nothing tolls the clock and waiting simply burns the deadline.
Is a security deposit capped?
In three of the five states here, yes, and in two there is no statutory cap at all. A cap limits what you may COLLECT at the start of the tenancy; it says nothing about how fast you must return it. The two are separate rules with separate citations.
Does a landlord owe interest on a security deposit?
None of these states imposes interest on every tenancy regardless of circumstances, which is not the same as owing nothing. Florida owes it if the landlord held the deposit in an interest-bearing account, at a minimum of 75 percent of that account’s annualized average rate or 5 percent simple, the landlord’s choice (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(1)(b)), or posted a surety bond, which is a flat 5 percent simple with no election (§ 83.49(1)(c)). None is owed to a tenant who wrongfully terminated early (§ 83.49(9)). New York owes it where the building has six or more family units, or where the money sits in an interest-bearing account. California’s duty comes from city ordinances and Colorado’s from Boulder. Interest is the rule most often owed and least often paid.
Why do the numbers here differ from other sites?
Every figure in the table is read directly from the rule data this tool runs on, which is checked against the statute itself rather than against a summary, and re-checked weekly by an automated watch. The oldest verification behind this page is June 25, 2026. Where a state rewrote its law recently, notably Colorado in 2026, a lot of published guidance is still describing the repealed version.
About this comparison
Every figure, citation, cap and deadline in the tables above is read from the rule data this tool runs on rather than retyped, so those cells cannot quietly disagree with the calculator, the letter, or the state page, and they move when a rule is re-verified. The plain-English columns are different and it is worth being straight about it: what starts the clock, what standard applies, and what forfeiture takes are written by hand and checked against each state’s engine behaviour and its quoted statute. They have to be. The machine fields behind them are switches for the engine, and a boolean cannot carry a bad-faith gate. How we verify the law explains the process and what a “last verified” date does and does not promise. This is general information that cites the statute, not legal advice, and Orygn LLC is not a law firm. For advice about your situation, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.
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