Pennsylvania Security Deposit Law: Limits, Deadlines, and Penalties

During the first year of tenancy the deposit may not exceed two months' rent. During the second and later years it may not exceed one month's rent, and any excess held from year one must be returned. After five years of tenancy, the deposit cannot be increased at all, even if the rent goes up.

Pennsylvania has no separate pet deposit statute; any pet deposit counts toward the two-month (year one) and one-month (later years) caps on total escrow funds.

The landlord must provide a written list of damages and return the deposit balance within 30 days of termination of the lease or surrender and acceptance of the premises. The tenant must provide a new address in writing at termination; failing to do so relieves the landlord of the statute's penalties, though the tenant can still sue for the deposit itself.

A written list of damages claimed, with the deposit balance, must be delivered within 30 days. A landlord who fails to provide the list forfeits all rights to withhold any portion of the deposit or to sue the tenant for damages to the premises.

Missing the 30-day itemization deadline forfeits the right to withhold anything and to counterclaim for damages. If the landlord fails to repay the amount due within 30 days, the tenant may recover double the difference between the deposit and the landlord's actual damages. The statute does not provide attorney fees.

Once a deposit over $100 has been held for more than two years, it must sit in an interest-bearing escrow account, and beginning with the third year the tenant is entitled to the actual interest earned each year, minus a fee of 1% per year of the deposit that the landlord may keep for administrative expenses.

Deposits over $100 must be deposited in an escrow account at a federally or state-regulated institution, with written notice to the tenant of the bank's name and address and the deposit amount. Alternatively, the landlord may post a guarantee bond covering the deposits (68 P.S. §§ 250.511b–250.511c).

Pennsylvania's escalating structure trips up long-term landlords: a two-month deposit is legal only in year one — when the lease renews into year two you must refund the excess over one month's rent, and after year two the remaining deposit (if over $100) must move into interest-bearing escrow with bank details disclosed in writing. After five years the deposit is frozen regardless of rent increases. The double-damages remedy is one-way: tenants who fail to give a written forwarding address at termination lose it, so document whether and when the address was provided.

• 68 P.S. § 250.511a
• 68 P.S. § 250.511b
• 68 P.S. § 250.512