The rule
- Deposit limit
- 1 month’s rent
- Return deadline
- 45 days
- Interest owed
- Required
- Itemized deductions
- Required
- The limit
- May be charged only once.
- The deadline
- Within 45 days after the tenancy ends, the landlord must return the deposit with interest or give written notice of amounts claimed (with photos or other documentation); any balance is due within 30 days of that notice.
- Interest
- Deposits must be kept in an interest-bearing escrow account at a D.C. financial institution, and interest is owed to the tenant.
- Deductions
- The landlord must give you an itemized list of anything kept from the deposit.
- If it isn’t returned
- A landlord found to have withheld the deposit in bad faith can owe treble damages; failing to give the required notices shifts the burden to the landlord to justify any withholding.
Law: D.C. Code § 42-3502.17; 14 DCMR §§ 308–311
Last reviewed September 30, 2026
Not legal advice. Statutes change; check the linked section.