Connecticut Security Deposit Return: Deadlines, Interest, Penalties

Under Connecticut security deposit return law, your landlord must return your deposit within 21 days after your tenancy ends or within 15 days after receiving your written forwarding address, whichever date falls later.¹ If the landlord keeps any portion, they must send you an itemized written statement explaining each deduction. Miss either requirement, and the landlord can be ordered to pay you double the entire deposit amount.

How the Return Deadlines Work

The statute runs two clocks at once, and the one that expires later is the one that controls.¹ How that plays out depends on when you hand over your new address:

If you give your forwarding address at or before move-out, the landlord has 21 days from the termination date to send back the deposit or an itemized deduction statement.
If you give it more than six days after you move out, the 15-day window from receipt pushes past the 21-day window, so the later date wins.
If you never give an address, the 21-day obligation still exists, but the landlord has nowhere to send the funds, which weakens any later enforcement.

Deliver your forwarding address in writing, and use a method that creates proof of delivery, such as certified mail. Without that proof, a landlord can claim the address never arrived and the 15-day clock becomes nearly impossible to enforce.

What Your Landlord Can Deduct

Deductions have to be tied to what the statute calls “tenant’s obligations.” That covers unpaid rent, unpaid utilities owed to the landlord, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and the cost of changing locks when the lease requires it and you didn’t pay.¹ Your maintenance duties under the landlord-tenant code include keeping the unit clean, disposing of waste properly, using appliances and plumbing reasonably, and not willfully or negligently damaging the property.²

Normal wear is not damage. Faded paint, thinned carpet in walking paths, and appliances that failed from age are the landlord’s cost of doing business. Holes punched in walls, burns on countertops, broken windows, and stains needing professional cleaning are not. Cleaning charges only hold up if you left the unit noticeably dirtier than ordinary move-out condition; routine turnover cleaning is on the landlord. A full-apartment repaint billed to your deposit because of damage to one wall is an overreach worth challenging.

If any amount is withheld, the landlord has to send a written itemized statement listing each deduction with its dollar amount and the remaining balance.¹ A one-line “damages — $500” doesn’t satisfy the statute. A missing or vague itemization is itself a violation that can trigger penalty liability.

Interest You’re Also Owed

Your deposit earns interest the whole time the landlord holds it. The Connecticut Banking Commissioner sets the rate annually based on average savings yields; for 2026 the rate is 0.49%.³ The landlord either pays it to you each year on your lease anniversary or credits it against rent. Any unpaid interest gets added to what’s returned to you when you move out.¹

Your deposit also has to be held in an escrow account at a Connecticut financial institution, separate from the landlord’s personal funds.⁴ The money is legally yours throughout the tenancy; the landlord only has a security interest in it.

Penalties When a Landlord Breaks the Rules

A landlord who violates the return requirements is liable for double the entire security deposit.¹ On a $2,400 deposit, that’s $4,800. The penalty is calculated on the full deposit, not the disputed portion, and it applies whether the violation is missing the deadline, failing to itemize deductions, or overcharging the deposit in the first place.

One narrow exception: if the only violation is failing to pay accrued interest, the penalty is $10 or double the interest owed, whichever is greater.¹ Because of the $10 floor, that penalty often ends up larger than the interest itself in a low-rate year.

If the Building Was Sold During Your Tenancy

A sale doesn’t erase your deposit. Connecticut treats the sale of a rental property as an automatic assignment of every tenant’s deposit to the new owner. The selling landlord has to pull your deposit balance plus accrued interest out of escrow and turn it over to the buyer at or before closing. From that point on, the new owner holds your money under the same escrow and return rules.⁵

If the new owner says the previous owner never handed over your deposit, that’s a dispute between them. The new owner still owes you the full amount when your tenancy ends.

Don’t Skip Last Month’s Rent

Some tenants stop paying rent in the final month and expect the landlord to apply the deposit. Connecticut law doesn’t treat your deposit as a rent payment, so skipping rent gives the landlord a legitimate deduction against the deposit. If damage charges come on top of the missed rent, you can end up owing the landlord money instead of getting any back. Pay the last month and let the return process run on its own schedule.

How to Recover a Deposit the Landlord Won’t Return

Once the deadlines have passed with no deposit and no itemized statement, you have two paths. They’re not mutually exclusive.

File a Complaint With the Department of Banking

The Connecticut Department of Banking investigates security deposit complaints, can issue cease-and-desist orders, and refers cases to the Attorney General for enforcement.⁶ You can submit the Consumer Assistance Form online or mail a paper version to the Department at 280 Trumbull Street in Hartford. Attach your lease, proof of your deposit payment, proof you sent the forwarding address, and any correspondence with the landlord. Filing is free. It puts regulatory pressure on the landlord, but it doesn’t directly award you money.

Sue in Small Claims Court

Small claims is the route to a money judgment. Connecticut small claims cases are generally capped at $5,000, but security deposit cases are specifically exempt from that cap, so a double-damages claim above $5,000 can still be heard there.⁷ The filing fee is $95. Bring your lease, proof of deposit payment, written proof you sent your forwarding address, and any move-in and move-out photos or video. If the landlord can’t show a timely return with proper documentation, the court can award double the deposit plus accrued interest.¹

Connecticut’s six-year statute of limitations on contract actions gives you a reasonable window to file.⁸ File sooner anyway. Evidence gets lost, landlords sell buildings and move, and a quick filing signals to the landlord that you know what the statute requires.

1
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 831 – Security Deposits
2
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 830 – Rights and Responsibilities of Landlord and Tenant
3
State of Connecticut Department of Banking. CT Deposit Index and Interest Rates
4
State of Connecticut Department of Banking. Rental Security Deposits
5
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 831 – Security Deposits
6
State of Connecticut Department of Banking. Rental Security Deposit Complaints
7
Connecticut Judicial Branch. Where to File a Small Claims Matter
8
Justia. Connecticut Code 52-576 – Actions on Contracts, Obligations or Liabilities