Getting Your Security Deposit Back Starts With Move-In Day Photos

You moved out, handed back the keys, and now you’re waiting. How long can the landlord take, how much can come out of your deposit, and what can you do if the money never shows up?

State law answers most of that, and the answers change from one state to the next.

The rules below come from the statutes of four states. Your state, and sometimes your city, may set its own numbers, so use these to learn how deposit law works, then look up the rule where you rent.

How long does the landlord have to pay it back?

New York gives the landlord 14 days, California 21 and Texas 30, counted from the day you move out. Illinois’s Security Deposit Return Act splits the clock in two. A landlord who wants to keep money for damage has 30 days to send you an itemized statement of that damage.

A landlord who sends no statement owes you the full deposit within 45 days.

Texas adds a condition that catches people out. Under section 92.107 of the Texas Property Code, the landlord doesn’t have to refund anything or send a list of charges until you give a forwarding address in writing. You don’t forfeit the deposit by skipping that step, but you do stall your own refund.

Send the address by email or letter on the day you leave.

Days after move-out. Texas starts counting its 30 days only once you’ve given the landlord a written forwarding address.

In New York, a landlord who misses the 14 days without sending the statement and the money forfeits any right to keep part of the deposit.

How much can a landlord ask for?

In New York and California, the usual limit is one month’s rent. New York set its cap in the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, signed on June 14, 2019. California has held most deposits to one month’s rent since July 1, 2024, though a small landlord, one who owns no more than two rental properties with four or fewer units between them, can still ask for two months.

Texas sets no limit at all outside public or subsidized housing, according to Texas Law Help, a legal aid site.

In Texas, the lease and the landlord set the amount.

State	Most a landlord can ask	If the landlord keeps it in bad faith
California	1 month’s rent, or 2 months for some small landlords	Up to 2 times the deposit, plus actual damages
New York	1 month’s rent	Up to 2 times the deposit, for a willful violation
Texas	No limit outside public or subsidized housing	$100, plus 3 times the amount wrongly kept, plus attorney’s fees

Some deposits also earn interest while the landlord holds them. The New York attorney general’s tenant guide says a landlord with six or more apartments in a building must keep deposits in a New York bank account that pays interest. That landlord may keep 1% a year as an administrative fee. Illinois has a separate Security Deposit Interest Act for landlords with 25 or more units in a building or complex, once they’ve held your deposit for more than 6 months. Its rate follows what the largest commercial bank pays on passbook savings.

What can come out of the deposit?

Unpaid rent, damage that you or your guests caused, and cleaning.

California Civil Code 1950.5 pins the cleaning down well. The landlord can charge only what it takes to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness it had when you moved in.

What a landlord can’t charge for is normal wear and tear. Texas law defines it as the deterioration that comes from using a home the way it’s meant to be used. The definition leaves out anything caused by negligence, carelessness, accident or abuse by you, your household or your guests.

Texas Law Help gives examples on both sides of the line. A worn carpet, peeling paint and dusty fixtures count as wear, while a broken window, a hole in the wall and a large carpet stain count as damage.

Examples from Texas Law Help. California’s statute also protects wear that was already there before your tenancy began.

Must the landlord itemize deductions?

Yes, in all four states.

New York requires an itemized statement within its 14 days. In California the statement has to come with copies of receipts, invoices or bills, unless repairs and cleaning together come to $125 or less. Illinois also wants receipts with its 30-day statement, and the landlord may email it to a verified address you gave.

Texas requires a written description and itemized list of every deduction, with one exception. If you owed rent when you left and nobody disputes the amount, the landlord can skip the list.

A list with no prices on it deserves a written question.

Why do move-in photos matter so much?

Most deposit fights come down to what the unit looked like on the day you moved in, and a dated photo settles that better than anyone’s memory. California now asks landlords to keep their own record. Since April 1, 2025, a California landlord has to photograph the unit within a reasonable time after you hand it back, before any repairs or cleaning. For tenancies that begin on or after July 1, 2025, the landlord has to take photos at the start as well.

Those are the landlord’s pictures, though. You’ll want your own.

In an empty apartment kitchen, a young Black man with short twists, in a sage hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans, bends to photograph a water stain inside an open cabinet under the sink with his phone. Cream cabinets, a honey-wood floor, a moving box and a sunny window surround him. — *Your phone stores the date each photo was taken, and emailing the set to yourself on move-in day adds a second dated copy.*

The other tool is an inspection before you leave. In New York you can ask for one no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the tenancy ends, with at least 48 hours’ written notice, and the landlord has to list what they’d deduct. California lets you request one no earlier than two weeks before the lease ends. Either way, you get time to patch, clean or argue before any money is kept.

What if the money never arrives?

Start with a letter.

Name the day you moved out, your state’s deadline and the amount you’re owed, then keep a copy. California’s court self-help guide suggests writing to the landlord this way before you sue.

A still life just inside an apartment front door: a blank cream envelope and two brass keys lie on a woven doormat, the teal door stands open to a sunlit hallway, and a sage umbrella leans in a stand. — *Texas Law Help publishes a sample demand letter that renters can adapt for a deposit.*

If the letter gets no answer, small claims court handles these cases. A California tenant can sue for up to $12,500 there. Texas Law Help points Texas renters to the justice of the peace court in the precinct where the property sits.

The penalties are what make the letter work. A Texas landlord who acts in bad faith owes $100, 3 times the amount wrongly kept and your reasonable attorney’s fees. One who neither refunds nor itemizes within 30 days is presumed to have acted in bad faith.

California allows up to 2 times the deposit plus actual damages. Illinois sets the penalty at 2 times the deposit plus court costs and attorney’s fees, and New York allows punitive damages of up to 2 times the deposit for a willful violation.

This is general information about how deposit law works. For your own lease and your own landlord, a local tenant union or legal aid office can tell you where you stand.

A checklist for the day you get the keys

Walk every room before you unpack, with the landlord’s condition form or a blank page, and write down each scuff, stain and chip.
Photograph every wall, floor, window and fixture, plus the inside of the oven and fridge, close up and from across the room.
Email the photos and your notes to yourself and to the landlord that same day.
Sign the condition form, ask the landlord to sign it, and keep a copy.
Keep the lease, that email and your rent receipts in one folder you’ll still have when you move out.