How Deposit settlement works

The pipeline

1. Find the ruleThe state row (all 50 states and DC), and a covered city's overlay on top of it (the city's deadline, interest, deposit cap or documentation duties replace the state's; a city penalty is added beside the state's; the state rule stays for the rest).
2. Run the clockThe start event the statute names (move-out, end of tenancy, the forwarding address, the tenant's demand, a new tenant, or the later or earlier of several), the period for the case (some states shorten it when nothing is deducted, let the lease set it, or take the later or earlier of two dates), and calendar days, calendar months or business days. Where a statute sets no deadline, the result says so and gives no date.
3. Assess each deductionAllowed only if the statute lists its kind; normal wear never; cleaning only back to move-in condition; wearing items prorated by remaining useful life where the state requires or recommends it.
4. Add interest where the state or city requires it (simple interest on actual days over 365 at the published rate for the move-out date, or per rate year, per tenancy year or per month where the source says so), check documentation duties (itemized statement, receipts above a threshold, photos) and the deposit cap.
5. AnswerThe refund due, penalty exposure if the return is late or wrongful (stated as exposure, never as a verdict), and a draft itemized statement in plain text, with a citation for every rule and every assumption listed.

Ruleset

• Ruleset: deposit-settlement version sd-2026.10.1
• Hash: sha256:3777ac89e2a1b9400e9abf225feca8733c14c19cdecf5740e24a00faf4631cd8. Every result carries this hash, and the same request against the same hash returns the same result.
• Determinism: strict. No model is involved in any number.

What is in it

How sure each number is

Every rule row is tagged with a confidence level. Lines in your estimate show the level of the rule that produced them.

• Sourced: A cited source states the number.
• Industry typical: Derived from cited production rates, prices or vendor figures.
• Assumed: A stated modelling assumption.

Regional prices

"N days" is the start date plus N calendar days (the start day is day 0); "one month" keeps the day number, clamped to the month's end. Business days skip Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays on their observed dates, using the state's own legal-holiday list where we carry one (Arizona, California, New York, Texas) and the federal list elsewhere, with a warning. The deadline is never moved off a weekend; where a state's code rolls a weekend or holiday last day forward (California, New York, Texas) the later date is reported beside it. Money is rounded to cents, half up, line by line; the age of an item to 2 decimals and the remaining fraction to 4.

What it will not do

Landlord and manager side: it computes and cites the published rule for a move-out the user is closing. It is not legal advice, does not judge a dispute or write tenant demand letters, does not hold or account for deposits, and does not price repairs.

Limitations

• Computes and cites the published rule; it is not legal advice. Check the statute, your lease and local ordinances before you sign the statement.
• Covers the 50 states and DC and eight city overlays; other local ordinances are not applied (the result warns).
• Several state rows were read on a mirror (FindLaw, public.law) rather than the official code site, and some quotes are summaries; each citation says which.
• Useful lives come from HUD's chart and industry tables (carpet 8 years, 10 in California and Colorado; paint 3, 2 in California with the DRE guide's step table; blinds 3; appliances 10). Send your own with useful_life_years.
• Penalty amounts are statutory exposure, not a prediction of what a court would award.
• Some rule text is summarised rather than quoted; each citation says which.

Sources

185 sources from 88 publishers.