Security Deposit Rules
in Your Lease
How this page is sourced
Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
Primary sourcesNot legal advice
Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
What it actually means, what Pennsylvania law says, what's specific to Philadelphia - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Cap: two months' rent in year one, one month later; a rent increase after five years cannot raise it.
- Over $100, it goes in escrow; after the second anniversary, the interest is yours, less a 1% fee.
- The refund and an itemized list of damages are due within 30 days of the lease ending or surrender.
- Give a written forwarding address; a late landlord loses the right to withhold and can owe double.
- Since December 2, 2025, Philadelphia landlords of 3+ units must offer installments on first-year deposits above one month's rent.
Your deposit, step by step
When the money has to come back
- Move-inYou pay the depositUp to two months' rent in year one and one month's rent from year two (68 P.S. § 250.511a). Philadelphia landlords with 3+ units must allow installments on a first-year deposit above one month's rent (Phila. Code § 9-804).
- Move-outLease ends, keys backThe clock starts on the termination of the lease or the surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever occurs first. Send your forwarding address in writing the same day.
- Day 30Refund deadlineLast day for returning the deposit with an itemized written list of damages (68 P.S. § 250.512).
- Day 31+If the deadline is missedDouble the amount by which the sum deposited, with any unpaid interest, exceeds the actual damages, with the burden of proving actual damages on the landlord; a landlord who fails to provide the written list within thirty days also forfeits all rights to withhold any part of the deposit or to sue for damages to the premises (68 P.S. § 250.512(b), (c), (e)), if you gave a written forwarding address.
Days are calendar days. Read the current text of the section before you rely on a date.
Try your numbers
What a wrongly kept deposit can cost the landlord
Arithmetic only, not legal advice; partial years and deductions change the figures.
Copy and send on move-out day
Your forwarding address, in writing
Fill in the brackets. Email works if you keep the sent copy.
How Pennsylvania compares
Deposit caps across the states we cover
3 months or more2 months1.5 months1 monthNo capGuide coming soonYou are here
See all 27 cities as a chart
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Understanding the Security Deposit Rules
This page is for Philadelphia renters asking how big a deposit can be and how to get it back. Pennsylvania sets the cap, and it shrinks: two months' rent in your first year, one month after that.
The state also controls where the money sits and puts a 30-day clock on the refund. Philadelphia adds an installment rule, and whether it reaches you depends on how many units your landlord has.
What renters assume
Once I pay a two-month deposit, my landlord can keep holding two months for as long as I stay.
What is actually true
The cap shrinks. From the second year and any renewal, 68 P.S. § 250.511a limits the deposit to one month's rent, so a landlord still holding two months is over the line.
The caps cluster at the two extremes. New York City and Los Angeles hold landlords to one month, while Austin, Miami, and Nashville set no ceiling at all.
Pennsylvania's two months lands mid-pack, and it's the only rule here that shrinks itself to one month once you renew.
Security Deposit Forfeiture Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Philadelphia, PA
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
If Tenant vacates prior to the Expiration Date (as extended, if applicable), the security deposit shall be forfeited and Tenant shall be obligated for rent payments for the remainder of the term, or until the Property has been re-rented whichever is less.
Quoted from the published opinion in Cromar v. TAG Realty, LLC, No. 87780-1-I (Wash. Ct. App. Div. I, 2026). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“Tenant vacates prior to the Expiration Date”
If you are past your first anniversary, do the arithmetic before anything else. From the second year the deposit may not exceed one month's rent - so a two-month deposit collected at signing is, by year two, holding more than the law allows.
“security deposit shall be forfeited”
Your deposit is not sitting in the landlord's current account. Anything over $100 must be held in a regulated escrow account, and after the second anniversary you are owed the interest it earns. Escrowed money is hard to square with a clause declaring it forfeited.
“obligated for rent payments for the remainder of the term, or until the Property has been re-rented”
Our Pennsylvania record finds no general right to leave a fixed term early, so treat this liability as real. But it is bounded by the re-letting limb, and by the landlord's duty to mitigate - a landlord who leaves the unit empty is not building an unlimited claim.
See the example
“whichever is less”
Two ceilings, and you get the lower one. Combine it with the escrow rules and the picture changes: the deposit is money the landlord holds for you in a regulated account, and the rent claim ends the day someone else moves in.
Held unlawful, and the tenants were awarded double damages. They broke the lease early to buy a home. The landlord issued a move-out statement headed “EARLY TERMINATION SECURITY DEPOSIT FORFEIT” and told them no refund was due. The court held the forfeiture clause could not override the statute governing what a landlord may actually keep.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Pennsylvania Law on Security Deposit Rules
- A landlord may not require more than two months' rent as a security deposit during the first year of the lease (68 P.S. § 250.511a(a)).
- From the second year and any renewal onward the deposit may not exceed one month's rent, and after five years in possession a rent increase cannot trigger a deposit increase.
- Deposits over $100 must be held in a regulated escrow account, and after the second anniversary the tenant is owed the interest earned less a 1% landlord fee (68 P.S. § 250.511b).
- The landlord must return the deposit with an itemized written list of damages within 30 days of lease termination or surrender; missing that deadline forfeits all withholding rights and exposes the landlord to double damages, provided the tenant gave a written forwarding address (68 P.S.
Read the law's words
§ 250.512).
Sources include 68 P.S. § 250.511a; 68 P.S. § 250.512 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Pennsylvania's deposit rules sit in 68 P.S. §§ 250.511a to 250.512:
- Cap (§ 250.511a). No more than two months' rent during the first year of the lease, and no more than one month's rent from the second year and any renewal. After five years in possession, a rent increase cannot be used to raise the deposit.
- Holding it (§ 250.511b). A deposit over $100 goes in a regulated escrow account. After the second anniversary, the interest it earns is yours, less a 1% landlord fee.
- Return (§ 250.512). Within 30 days of the lease ending or your surrender of the unit, whichever comes first, the landlord sends a written list of damages with the balance.
- Penalty (§ 250.512). No list within 30 days, and the landlord loses the right to keep any part of the deposit or to sue for damage to the unit. Fail to pay the balance within 30 days, and the landlord owes double the amount by which the deposit exceeds the actual damages, and must prove those damages. A tenant who gives no new address in writing relieves the landlord of liability under this section.
Read the current text of each section before you rely on these figures.
What's Specific to Philadelphia
The Philadelphia rule we found changes how you pay, not how much. Since December 2, 2025, Phila.
Code § 9-804 (Bill 250044-A) requires landlords of three or more units to let you pay any first-year deposit above one month's rent in installments. The two-month cap still applies.
A landlord with fewer units is not covered by this rule, so count the units, ask for the installment option before you sign, and get the schedule in writing.
A deposit over $100 belongs in a regulated escrow account (§ 250.511b). A lease that names the account tells you where to look.
That matches § 250.512: a written list of damages with the balance, within 30 days of the lease ending or surrender.
From the second year and any renewal, the cap is one month's rent (§ 250.511a). Two months held past then is over it.
After the second anniversary, the interest is yours, less a 1% landlord fee (§ 250.511b).
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- 68 P.S. § 250.511a; 68 P.S. § 250.512, read on codes.findlaw.com. Pennsylvania publishes the official text at www.palegis.us. FindLaw marks its copy of this section current as of January 1, 2026.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Three months demanded at signing
§ 250.511a caps a first-year deposit at two months' rent. Ask in writing which dollars are a refundable deposit before you pay.
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Nobody will name the escrow account
A deposit over $100 must sit in a regulated escrow account (§ 250.511b). Ask where yours is before you sign, not after.
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Installments refused in a big building
With three or more units, Phila. Code § 9-804 requires an installment option on any first-year deposit above one month's rent.
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Move-out clause skips the itemized list
Deductions "as needed" with no written list collide with § 250.512. No list within 30 days means no right to keep any of it.
-
No place for a forwarding address
Without a new address in writing, the landlord is relieved of liability under § 250.512. Send it yourself and keep proof.
Your Rights as a Philadelphia Tenant
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Two months, then one
Two months' rent at most in year one, and one month's rent from year two and every renewal (§ 250.511a).
-
An itemized refund within 30 days
A written list of damages with the balance, within 30 days of the lease ending or surrender (§ 250.512).
-
Double if it is late
Double the amount the deposit exceeds actual damages, with the landlord proving those damages, if you gave a written forwarding address (§ 250.512).
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Installments in a 3+ unit building
The part of a first-year deposit above one month's rent, in installments, from landlords with three or more units (Phila. Code § 9-804).
What To Do - Step by Step
Count the units first
With three or more units, ask for the installment option on anything above one month's rent before you sign.
Keep proof of every payment
Have the lease state the deposit figure, and keep dated proof of each payment you make toward it.
Photograph the unit at move-in and move-out
Dated photos, room by room, are what a list of damages gets compared against.
Send your forwarding address in writing
Without it, the landlord is relieved of liability under § 250.512. Keep proof it was delivered.
Count 30 days from move-out
Start from the lease ending or your surrender of the unit, whichever came first. No list and no money by day 30 means the deadline has passed.
Demand in writing, then file
Send a demand letter citing 68 P.S. § 250.512, then file in Philadelphia Municipal Court's small claims division if it goes unpaid.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Security Deposit rules near Pennsylvania
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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