NYC Security Deposit Rules 2026–27: The One-Month Cap, Interest, the 14-Day Return Deadline and How to Get Your Money Back
Moving in New York City is expensive enough without losing a month's rent you were supposed to get back. The good news is that New York's security deposit rules are some of the strongest in the country, and they got stronger again in late 2025. Now nearly every renter in the city, rent-stabilized tenants included, is covered by the same 14-day return deadline.
This guide covers how much a landlord can legally collect, where your money has to be kept, when you're owed interest, how a move-out inspection protects you, and what to do step by step if the deposit doesn't come back.
Last checked October 2026. Sources: the NYC Rent Guidelines Board's Security Deposits FAQ, the New York Attorney General's Tenants page and Residential Tenants' Rights Guide, and LawHelpNY's security deposit guide (Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, last reviewed December 17, 2025). This is general information, not legal advice.
The Short Version
Cap: A security deposit can't be more than one month's rent. A landlord can't ask for a deposit and last month's rent.
Where it's kept: Your deposit is held in trust and can't be mixed with the landlord's own money. In buildings with six or more apartments, it has to sit in an interest-bearing New York bank account, and the interest is yours, minus a 1% yearly fee.
Move-out inspection: You have the right to ask for one before you leave. You'll get a written list of anything the landlord plans to deduct for, and a chance to fix it first.
14 days: After you move out, the landlord has 14 days to return your deposit or give you an itemized statement explaining what was kept. If they miss the deadline, they lose the right to keep any of it.
Only four reasons to keep money: unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, unpaid utility charges owed to the landlord under the lease, and moving or storing belongings you left behind.
Rent-stabilized tenants got these same protections starting November 15, 2025.
If you're stuck: Send a demand letter. Then file a complaint with the Attorney General or bring a case in Small Claims Court.
How Much Can a Landlord Charge?
New York law caps a security deposit at one month's rent, according to the Attorney General, the Rent Guidelines Board and LawHelpNY. The Attorney General's office spells out what the cap means in practice: a landlord can't collect a security deposit plus last month's rent. Together they would add up to more than one month.
Two related points:
Your deposit can go up when your rent does. According to the Attorney General and the Rent Guidelines Board, if your lease renews at a higher rent, or the rent goes up during the lease, the landlord can collect enough extra to bring the deposit up to the new monthly rent. The Rent Guidelines Board notes that this applies even to tenants whose rent increases are frozen through SCRIE or DRIE.
Other move-in fees are limited too. The Attorney General's Residential Tenants' Rights Guide says the most a landlord can charge for a credit and background check before you sign a lease is $20. You're entitled to a copy of the report and the invoice. If you bring your own check from the past 30 days, you don't have to pay the fee at all. The guide also says charging "key money," meaning extra fees above the lawful rent and deposit in exchange for preference on a vacant apartment, is illegal.
Where Your Money Has to Be Kept
The Attorney General's office says that every landlord, regardless of building size, has to treat deposits as trust funds that belong to the tenant. Deposits can't be commingled with the landlord's own money.
In buildings with six or more apartments, the rules are stricter:
The deposit has to be in a New York bank account earning interest at the prevailing rate.
You must be told in writing the bank's name and address and the amount of the deposit.
The landlord can keep 1% of the deposit each year as an administrative fee. All other interest belongs to you.
You get to choose whether that interest is paid to you every year, applied to your rent, or paid at the end of the lease.
A landlord with fewer than six units who chooses to use an interest-bearing account has to follow the same rules.
What the interest is actually worth: The Attorney General's guide gives this example. A $1,000 deposit earns 1.5%, which is $15 for the year. The landlord keeps $10, the 1% fee, and the tenant gets $5. The Rent Guidelines Board warns that if the money sits in an account paying 1% or less, you may not get any interest at all. So for most renters this is a small amount. Still, the written bank notice is required, and it gives you a paper trail.
Protect Yourself on Move-In Day
LawHelpNY says your landlord must offer to walk through the apartment with you before you move in. Use that walk-through:
Look closely for existing damage: scuffed floors, cracked tiles, stains, broken blinds, appliances that don't work.
Take dated photos and video of every room.
Write down everything you find, and have both you and the landlord sign the list.
That signed list is your best evidence later. A landlord can't charge you for damage that was already there or for damage a previous tenant caused. The Rent Guidelines Board adds that under the 2025 changes, rent-stabilized tenants can also ask for an inspection before signing a lease to identify problems that might later be blamed on them.
Before You Move Out: Ask for an Inspection
Once you or your landlord has given notice that the tenancy is ending, you have the right to ask for a move-out inspection. LawHelpNY recommends scheduling it one to two weeks before you leave. The Attorney General's guide says the landlord has to let you be there.
After the inspection, the landlord has to give you an itemized written statement of the repairs or cleaning they plan to deduct for. Then you get the chance to fix those items yourself before you move. If you take care of some or all of them, the landlord can't keep that money.
Practical tips:
Request the inspection in writing (email or text works) so there's a record.
Patch nail holes, clean the oven and fridge, and remove all trash and belongings. The Attorney General suggests leaving the apartment clean, empty and with any minor repairs done.
Take a new set of photos and video after you've cleaned out the apartment, ideally the same angles as on move-in day.
Don't use the deposit as your last month's rent. The Rent Guidelines Board says the deposit shouldn't be used that way. Withholding rent can leave you open to a nonpayment case.
Give the landlord your forwarding address in writing so the check and statement have somewhere to go.
The 14-Day Rule
Under the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, as quoted by the Rent Guidelines Board, within 14 days after you move out, the landlord must do one of two things:
Return your full deposit, plus any interest owed in a building with six or more units, or
Give you an itemized statement explaining what they kept and why, and return the rest.
If the landlord does neither within 14 days, they forfeit the right to keep any part of the deposit. That holds whether or not there was damage.
What they can deduct
According to LawHelpNY and the Rent Guidelines Board, a landlord can keep money for only four reasons:
Unpaid rent
Damage you caused beyond normal wear and tear
Unpaid utility charges you owe directly to the landlord under the lease
Moving and storage of belongings you left behind
Anything else is off-limits. A landlord can't charge you for normal wear and tear, such as faded paint, minor scuffs or carpet worn from normal use, or for damage that was there before you moved in.
Rent-stabilized apartments
Until recently, the 14-day rule covered only unregulated apartments. Rent-stabilized tenants got the vaguer promise of a return "within a reasonable time." According to the Rent Guidelines Board, as of November 15, 2025, changes to General Obligations Law section 7-107 extended the protections to rent-stabilized tenants. That covers the 14-day return, the same four allowable deductions, an itemized list for anything withheld, and the move-out inspection.
Note: the Attorney General's Tenants' Rights Guide we reviewed still says the 14-day rule applies only to non-regulated units. It appears to predate the 2025 change. We relied on the Rent Guidelines Board's more recent summary.
If the landlord breaks the rules on purpose
The Attorney General's guide says that if a landlord willfully violates these rules, the tenant may be entitled to up to twice the amount of the deposit. The Rent Guidelines Board adds that you may be entitled to punitive damages if a landlord collected more than one month's rent as a deposit or advance. The Attorney General can't collect punitive damages for you, though. You have to ask for them in court.
If Your Building Is Sold
A sale doesn't wipe out your deposit. The Rent Guidelines Board says that when a building is sold or goes through foreclosure, the landlord has to transfer deposits to the new owner within five days or return them to tenants. The landlord also has to notify tenants by registered or certified mail with the new owner's name and address. Buyers of rent-stabilized buildings are directly responsible for returning deposits and interest, even if the old owner never handed the money over.
How to Get Your Deposit Back: Step by Step
Count the days. Mark day 14 after you returned the keys on your calendar.
Send a demand letter. If the money or an itemized statement doesn't arrive, or the deductions look wrong, ask for the deposit back in writing. LawHelpNY offers free sample demand letters, one blank and one with instructions. Mention the 14-day rule and the date you moved out. Keep a copy.
File a complaint with the Attorney General. The Attorney General investigates complaints about deposits that weren't returned, weren't held in trust, didn't earn required interest, or were more than one month's rent. You have to try to settle things with your landlord first. Then use the AG's online Rent Security Complaint Form. LawHelpNY says the office can help through mediation.
Go to Small Claims Court. If the landlord says you owe rent or caused damage and won't budge, the Rent Guidelines Board says you'll generally need to settle the dispute in Small Claims Court. Bring your lease, move-in and move-out photos, the signed walk-through list, your written inspection request, and your demand letter.
Rent-stabilized? You may also be able to file a complaint with NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), which administers the rent laws.
Quick Checklist
Paid more than one month's rent as a deposit? That's over the legal limit.
Got the bank name and address in writing (buildings with 6+ units)?
Did a signed, photographed move-in walk-through?
Asked in writing for a move-out inspection 1–2 weeks before leaving?
Left a forwarding address?
Day 15 with no money and no itemized list? The landlord has forfeited the right to keep any of it.
Comments