Can Your Landlord Increase Your Security Deposit?

Not during a fixed-term lease, unless your lease allows it or you agree to the change. A landlord can ask for a larger deposit when you renew, or on a month-to-month tenancy after giving written notice (at least 30 days in California), but the new total has to fit under your state's deposit cap, if it has one. Some states also limit the increase itself: New Jersey allows the deposit to grow by no more than 10% in any one year, and Pennsylvania bars raising the deposit along with the rent once you have lived in the unit for five years.

When can a landlord raise the deposit?

Read the deposit section of your lease before you answer a mid-lease request. California's rule that lets a landlord change terms by written notice, Civil Code section 827, covers only month-to-month and other periodic tenancies, and the state's Department of Real Estate says a deposit change on a fixed-term lease can typically happen only at renewal unless the agreement provides otherwise. If you ask for something new mid-lease, such as permission to add a dog or a roommate, the landlord can make an added deposit a condition of saying yes. That added money still counts toward the cap: California's cap covers all security, whatever the landlord calls it, and New Jersey counts a pet deposit toward its 1.5-month limit.

At renewal, the landlord can offer a new lease with a higher deposit, for example alongside a rent increase. You can negotiate the amount or a payment schedule before you sign, and our guide to renewing a lease with a rent increase covers the rent side of that conversation. Declining the renewal does not settle the question for good: if you stay on month to month instead, the landlord can still raise the deposit under the notice rule below. A lease clause cannot push the deposit past the state limit; Pennsylvania's law, for example, voids any attempt to waive its deposit caps.

On a month-to-month tenancy, the landlord can change terms with written notice. In California, a deposit increase can take effect no sooner than 30 days after the landlord serves written notice, and if you stay past that date, the new amount becomes part of your rental agreement. Outside California, check your state's notice rule before you pay, and see our comparison of month-to-month and fixed-term leases.

State limits on the total deposit and on increases

Caps apply to the total the landlord holds, not to each payment, so count every dollar of security you have already paid. In California and New Jersey, prepaid last month's rent counts toward the cap, and so does a pet deposit. Florida sets no statewide cap, so there the lease and the market set the amount. For more on caps, see how much a landlord can charge for a security deposit and our overview of state security deposit laws.

In a Los Angeles rent-stabilized unit, for example, the yearly deposit increase must come at the same time and by the same percentage as the allowed rent increase, which is 3% from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. Adding a tenant who is not a dependent allows a separate 10% rent increase for each such tenant, and the deposit may also rise by 10%. If your city has a rent board, check its rules before you pay.

New Jersey example: your rent is $2,000 and your deposit is $2,000. The 1.5-month cap would allow $3,000, but N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.2 limits the increase in any one year to 10% of the current deposit. This year the landlord can add at most $200 (10% of $2,000), for a total of $2,200. If you rent in an owner-occupied two- or three-family home, these limits apply only once you ask the landlord in writing to follow the state's deposit law, starting 30 days after that request. More detail is in our guide to New Jersey deposit rights.

Pennsylvania example: you paid $3,000, two months' rent at $1,500, when you moved in. From the start of the second year, or on any renewal, the deposit can be no more than one month's rent, so ask the landlord in writing to return the extra $1,500. After five years in the unit, a rent increase cannot come with a deposit increase (68 P.S. section 250.511a). See Pennsylvania deposit rights for the rest of that state's rules.

What happens to your deposit when the lease rolls over to month-to-month?

Your deposit stays with the landlord. It is not refunded when the fixed term ends, and you do not pay a new one; the same money keeps securing the tenancy that continues. If the landlord wants more at that point, the month-to-month notice rule above applies. In California, if you stay after the lease ends and the landlord accepts rent, the tenancy is presumed renewed on the same terms, month to month when rent is paid monthly (Civil Code section 1945), and those terms include the deposit amount. Florida treats a renewal as a new rental agreement and the deposit carried forward as a new deposit, so the state's deposit rules keep applying to it.

The return deadline starts when you move out, not when the original term ends. California landlords have 21 days after you vacate to return the deposit with an itemized statement, and that deadline, the cap, and the limits on deductions apply to month-to-month tenants the same way they apply to tenants with a lease. The difference is notice: you can end a California month-to-month tenancy with 30 days' written notice, and rent is due through the end of that period. If you leave with less notice, rent can still be owed through the end of the 30 days, and the landlord can take it from the deposit.

How to respond to a deposit increase

1. Get the request in writing. Ask for the new total, the date it is due, and the reason, such as a rent increase or a new pet.
2. Check the math. Add up everything the landlord already holds as security, then compare the new total with your state's cap and any yearly limit on increases.
3. Negotiate the timing. If the increase is legal but hard to pay at once, ask to spread it over two or three months, and get the schedule in writing.
4. Pay with a record. Use a check or electronic transfer and ask for a receipt that shows both the amount added and the new total deposit.
5. Push back on an illegal amount. If the request goes over your state's limit, reply in writing, name the statute, and keep paying rent on time. In a California court case over the deposit, the landlord has to prove it had the authority to demand the additional amount.