Security Deposit Return Calculator
Deposit & deductions
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- United States — state and local practice
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only. U.S. real estate costs are local: property tax rates, transfer and recording taxes, title practice, who customarily pays which closing cost, and landlord-tenant rules all change by state and often by county or city. Agent commission is negotiable and, since the 2024 NAR settlement, buyer-agent compensation is negotiated separately rather than assumed. Only a lender's Loan Estimate, a title company's fee sheet or a signed contract binds a number.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter the deposit you paid and any rent or utilities you genuinely still owe.
- 02
Enter cleaning and repairs that do not depreciate — a professional clean, a patched hole, a replaced key.
- 03
For a damaged item, enter what a new one costs and how old the old one was when you moved out.
- 04
Open Advanced options to set the item's useful life, and any deposit interest your state requires.
- 05
Read what should come back, and the over-deduction figure — that is the number to put in a letter.
Formula
The depreciated charge is the replacement cost times the remaining life over the useful life, where remaining life is the useful life minus the item's age and floors at zero — past its useful life, an item is worth nothing to charge against you. Lawful deductions are unpaid rent plus non-depreciable cleaning and repairs plus that depreciated charge. Interest is the deposit times the state rate times the months held over twelve. What should come back is the deposit plus interest minus lawful deductions, floored at zero. The over-deduction is what the landlord claimed — using full replacement cost rather than depreciated — minus what is lawful, which is the figure to quote in a letter.
Example
A $2,850 deposit, no unpaid rent, $250 of cleaning, and a damaged item that costs $1,200 to replace and was four years old on a seven-year useful life. Step 1 — Remaining life: 7 − 4 = 3 years, so 3/7 of the life was left. Step 2 — Depreciated charge: $1,200 x 3/7 = $514. That is what they can bill, not $1,200. Step 3 — Lawful deductions: $0 rent + $250 cleaning + $514 = $764. Step 4 — Back to you: $2,850 − $764 = $2,086. Step 5 — The dispute. If they charged the full $1,200 replacement cost, they claimed $1,450 against $764 lawful — an over-deduction of $686. That $686 is a letter, not a lawsuit. Name the item, name its age, name the useful life, show the arithmetic, and cite your state's deadline for an itemized statement. Landlords who tried the full replacement cost almost always adjust when the depreciation is spelled out, because it is the standard every state's guidance and every small claims judge already uses.
Definitions
- Security deposit
- Money held against unpaid rent and damage beyond normal wear. Refundable, and regulated by state law.
- Normal wear and tear
- Deterioration from ordinary use. Never chargeable against a deposit.
- Depreciated charge
- The replacement cost reduced for the life already used up. What a landlord can actually bill for a damaged item.
- Useful life
- How long a fixture is expected to last — carpet five to ten years, paint three to five. The basis of a depreciation argument.
- Remaining life
- Useful life minus the item's age. Zero once the item is past its expected life, whatever its condition.
- Itemized statement
- The written breakdown of deductions most states require a landlord to provide within a deadline.
- Deposit interest
- Interest some states and cities require on held deposits, paid annually or at move-out.
- Move-in inspection
- A documented record of the unit's condition at the start of the tenancy. The strongest evidence in a dispute.
- Deduction deadline
- The statutory period, commonly 14 to 45 days, in which a landlord must return the deposit or itemize deductions.
- Treble damages
- A penalty in several states of up to three times the withheld deposit when a landlord fails to comply.
- Mitigation
- A landlord's duty to limit losses by re-renting after a tenant leaves early.
- Demand letter
- A written request for the balance, citing the item, its age and the statute. Settles most disputes without a filing.
Good to know
Wear and tear is not damage, and the line is legal
Every state distinguishes ordinary wear and tear, which the landlord absorbs as a cost of doing business, from damage, which the tenant pays for. The line is drawn by what normal use produces over the time you lived there. Faded paint, minor scuffs, small nail holes, worn carpet in traffic paths, and appliances that aged are wear. Burns, pet stains through to the pad, holes in drywall, a cracked countertop and missing fixtures are damage. Cleaning sits awkwardly between the two: most states allow a charge to return the unit to the condition it was in at move-in, but not to make it cleaner than that, and a blanket cleaning fee deducted regardless of condition is unlawful in many jurisdictions. The practical consequence is that a deduction list is a claim, not a bill, and roughly half of the ones tenants receive contain at least one item on the wrong side of this line.
Depreciation is the argument most tenants never make
A landlord may charge you to make them whole, not to upgrade the property. When a tenant damages something that was already partly used up, the chargeable amount is the remaining life, not the replacement cost. A carpet with a seven-year useful life, four years old when it was ruined, has three years left — 43% of its value, or $514 of a $1,200 replacement. Charging the full $1,200 hands the landlord a brand-new carpet at the tenant's expense, and this is the single most common over-deduction in US rentals. Here it accounts for $686 of a $1,450 claim. Several states codify the calculation directly and the rest reach it through general principles of damages. Making the argument requires only two facts: what the item cost and how old it was. Both are usually obtainable, and a written request for the age of the item is a reasonable thing to send.
Anything past its useful life is worth nothing
The corollary is stronger than the rule. An item that has already exceeded its useful life has no remaining value to charge against, so damaging it costs the tenant nothing — the landlord was going to replace it anyway. A ten-year-old carpet with a seven-year life, a fifteen-year-old water heater, interior paint eight years past its typical three-to-five-year cycle: all of these are fully depreciated, and a deduction for replacing them is not a recovery of loss. Landlords often charge for them regardless, because most tenants do not know to ask. State schedules for useful life exist in several jurisdictions and HUD publishes reference tables that courts have accepted as evidence elsewhere. If a deduction covers an item older than its schedule, say so specifically and cite the age — that single sentence resolves a large share of these disputes without going further.
The deadline is a real remedy, not a formality
Nearly every state sets a deadline for returning the deposit with an itemised statement of deductions — commonly 14 to 30 days after possession ends, though it ranges from 10 to 60. Missing it has teeth. In many states a landlord who fails to provide the itemisation on time forfeits the right to deduct anything at all and must return the full deposit, and a number of states add statutory damages of two or three times the amount withheld for a bad-faith retention. This makes the timeline the tenant's strongest single piece of leverage, and it is why the move-out sequence matters: give written notice, provide a forwarding address in writing, and note the date possession ended. Without a forwarding address the clock may not start, which is the one procedural step tenants most often skip.
Photographs at both ends, and interest in some states
The evidence that decides these disputes is nearly always photographic, and nearly always missing. A dated walkthrough at move-in covering every room, every appliance, the floors and any existing damage, repeated at move-out, converts an argument about memory into a comparison of two records. Many states also require a written move-in inspection checklist signed by both parties, and where it exists it is close to decisive. The other overlooked item is interest: about fifteen states and a number of cities — Chicago and several New Jersey and Massachusetts municipalities among them — require deposits to be held in interest-bearing accounts and the interest paid to the tenant, annually or at move-out. The amounts are small at current rates but they are owed, and a landlord who has not paid them has usually not tracked them either.
Frequently asked questions
Can a landlord charge me the full price of a new carpet?
No. The standard approach across the US is to charge only the remaining useful life. A carpet on a seven-year life that was four years old when you moved out has three years left, so at most three sevenths of the replacement cost is chargeable — you do not pay for the four years you did not use.
What counts as normal wear and tear?
Deterioration from ordinary living: faded paint, worn carpet traffic lanes, small nail holes, loose grout, minor scuffs. It is never chargeable. Damage is different — a hole in a door, a burn in a countertop, a pet-stained carpet — and that is what a deposit exists for.
How long does a landlord have to return my deposit?
It varies by state, commonly 14 to 45 days after you move out, and most states require an itemized statement of any deductions. Missing the deadline carries real penalties in many states — some allow double or treble damages, which is why the deadline is worth knowing precisely.
Do I earn interest on my deposit?
In some states and cities, yes. Several require deposits to be held in an interest-bearing account and the interest paid to the tenant annually or at move-out. Enter the rate under Advanced options if yours does; leave it at zero if not.
Can they charge me for cleaning?
For cleaning beyond ordinary — yes. For a routine turnover clean of a place you left in reasonable condition — generally no, and several states say so explicitly. A lease clause requiring professional carpet cleaning regardless of condition is unenforceable in some states and routine in others.
What if the item was already old when I moved in?
Then most of its life was gone before you arrived, and the depreciated charge should reflect that. Enter its age at the time you moved out, not the length of your tenancy. A fifteen-year-old carpet on a seven-year life is worth nothing to charge you for, however it looks.
What is a useful life table?
A schedule of how long fixtures are expected to last — carpet five to ten years, interior paint three to five, appliances ten to fifteen. Some states publish one, and HUD's schedule is widely cited. It is what makes a depreciation argument concrete rather than a matter of opinion.
How do I dispute a deduction?
In writing, quickly, with arithmetic. State the item, its age, its useful life, and the depreciated figure. Attach your move-in photographs. Ask for the balance within the statutory period and reference your state's penalty provision. Most disputes settle at that letter.
What if I have no move-in photos?
You are relying on the landlord's own move-in inspection report, if one exists, and on the age of the fixtures. Depreciation still applies regardless of photographs — an old carpet is old whether or not you documented it.
Can they keep the deposit for breaking the lease?
They can apply it to unpaid rent and to their actual losses, which is not the same as keeping it automatically. Most states require a landlord to mitigate by re-renting, so the loss is the vacancy period, not the remaining lease term.
Is small claims court worth it?
For a few hundred dollars, often yes — filing costs are low, lawyers are not required, and many states allow multiple damages when a landlord withholds without an itemized statement. Send the demand letter first; most landlords settle rather than appear.
Does this replace legal advice?
No. Deposit rules are state law and vary considerably in deadlines, caps, interest and penalties. This gives you the arithmetic; your state's tenant handbook or a local legal aid office gives you the rules.