Security Deposit Calculator

Most jurisdictions cap it in months of rent — commonly one or two, occasionally more for furnished lettings. Because the cap is a multiple rather than a fixed sum it tracks the rent automatically, though topping up an existing deposit mid-tenancy is usually prohibited even when the rent rises.

Unpaid rent, lawful fees, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and cleaning beyond a reasonable standard. That is the whole list. Deductions must be itemised in writing with evidence within the statutory deadline, and an unevidenced deduction is usually lost on challenge whatever its merit.

Deterioration from ordinary use: faded paint, traffic lanes in carpet, minor scuffs, small nail holes, tired grout. It is never deductible, because it is the cost of operating a rental. Damage means something beyond ordinary use — a burn, a pet stain through the underlay, a broken fixture.

No. You may recover only the item's remaining useful value, so a five-year-old carpet with a seven-year life is worth roughly twenty-nine per cent of its cost. Charging the full amount would fund an upgrade at the tenant's expense, and adjudicators reduce such claims almost automatically.

In several jurisdictions it must be held in a separate interest-bearing account and returned with the interest. Elsewhere the requirement is only that the money be held apart from the landlord's own funds. Where interest is required the statute usually prescribes both the rate and whether it compounds.

Typically between fourteen and sixty days after the tenancy ends, depending on jurisdiction, and the deadline usually governs the itemised statement as well as the money. Missing it can forfeit the right to deduct at all, and several places impose multiple damages on a landlord who withholds without a proper statement.

The deposit is exhausted and the shortfall becomes an ordinary debt claim against the former tenant. The deposit cannot go negative, and this page says so explicitly rather than printing a negative return, because recovering the balance is a separate process with its own costs and low success rate.

Not unless the lease says so or the landlord agrees. A deposit secures performance of the whole agreement, including the condition of the property at the end, and a tenant who unilaterally withholds the final month leaves nothing to cover damage — which is precisely what most statutes and leases are designed to prevent.

It depends entirely on the jurisdiction. Some treat any refundable sum as part of the single statutory cap; others permit an additional pet deposit; others allow only a non-refundable pet fee, which is a different thing again. Combining them without checking is a common way to exceed the cap accidentally.

Always, with dated photographs and a written condition report signed by both parties. Almost every deposit dispute turns on what the property looked like at the start, and the party without evidence loses. It is the cheapest risk control available to a landlord and the strongest protection available to a tenant.