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Whether the deposit earns interest, at what rate, and for how many months. Enter the deposit, the rate your lease or statute names and the months it was held: this page gives the interest, the total that comes back with the deposit, and what annual compounding adds on top. The rate rules in the Florida and Connecticut statutes are quoted below, each from the section itself.
Interest on $1,500.00 held 14 months at 5.00%
$1,500.00 × 5.00% × 14 months ÷ 12
The rate is the one your lease or your state's statute names. This page does not look up your state or your lease.
Both columns are computed on the same deposit, rate and months; the switch only decides which one is shown large. Each figure is rounded once, at the end, to the nearest cent: a third decimal of 5 to 9 rounds up, 0 to 4 rounds down.
One deposit of $1,500.00, one holding period of 14 months, three ways of counting it.
Whether a deposit earns interest is not one national rule. Two state sections are set out below, each quoted from the statute itself. One makes the answer depend on how the landlord holds the money; the other requires interest and puts the payment on the tenancy calendar. Those two were read for this page; the other states were not, and nothing here stands in for them.
Fla. Stat. §83.49(1) gives a landlord three lawful routes. Under (a) the money may sit in "a separate non-interest-bearing account" — and then the tenant collects no interest at all. Under (b) it may sit in "a separate interest-bearing account", in which case "the tenant shall receive and collect interest in an amount of at least 75 percent of the annualized average interest rate payable on such account or interest at the rate of 5 percent per year, simple interest, whichever the landlord elects." Under (c) the landlord may post a surety bond instead, and "In addition to posting the surety bond, the landlord shall pay to the tenant interest at the rate of 5 percent per year, simple interest."
The choice is disclosed rather than hidden: §83.49(2)(c) requires the written notice to "State whether the tenant is entitled to interest on the deposit", and the same subsection "does not apply to any landlord who rents fewer than five individual dwelling units." So in Florida the first question is not "what rate" but "which of the three routes was taken", and the notice is where the answer is written down. When a claim is made the money goes back with the interest: §83.49(3)(a) requires the deposit to be returned "together with interest if otherwise required, within 15 days after the termination of the rental agreement."
Conn. Gen. Stat. §47a-21(i) starts from an obligation, not a choice: each landlord "shall pay interest on each security deposit received by such landlord at a rate of not less than the average rate paid, as of December 30, 1992, on savings deposits by insured commercial banks as published in the Federal Reserve Board Bulletin rounded to the nearest one-tenth of one percentage point, except in no event shall the rate be less than one and one-half per cent." The current rate is not frozen at that baseline: "On and after January 1, 2012, the rate for each calendar year shall be not less than the deposit index, as defined in section 36a-26, for that year."
The holding period is written into the payment date: "On the anniversary date of the tenancy and annually thereafter, such interest shall be paid to the tenant or resident or credited toward the next rental payment due from the tenant or resident, as the landlord or owner shall determine." Leave before the anniversary and the money is still owed, just on a shorter clock — "the landlord or owner shall pay the accrued interest to the tenant or resident not later than twenty-one days after such termination or return." Two limits sit on the tenant's side: "Interest shall not be paid to a tenant for any month in which the tenant has been delinquent for more than ten days in the payment of any monthly rent, unless the landlord imposes a late charge for such delinquency," and "No landlord shall increase the rent due from a tenant because of the requirement that the landlord pay on interest the security deposit." That last sentence reads that way in the statute.
This page computes interest for a deposit, a rate and a number of months you supply. It does not report an average rate for the country, does not pick a state for you, and does not tell you what your lease says. If what you need is the whole refund after deductions, the security deposit calculator lets you calculate interest on security deposit and the deductions in one figure, because it treats interest as one line of the refund.
Simple interest grows in a straight line, so twice the months is twice the interest. Annual compounding does not, but on a deposit it barely bends: the second year is the first one where the two columns separate, and the gap stays small because the principal is small.
| Months held | Simple interest | Compounded yearly |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | $37.5075.00 × 6 ÷ 12 | $37.50no full year yet |
| 12 | $75.0075.00 × 12 ÷ 12 | $75.00one year, no remainder |
| 18 | $112.5075.00 × 18 ÷ 12 | $114.381,575.00 + 39.375 — a gap of $1.88 |
| 24 | $150.0075.00 × 24 ÷ 12 | $153.751,500.00 × 1.05 × 1.05 — a gap of $3.75 |
Two years of annual compounding on $1,500.00 is worth $3.75 — less than one month of simple interest at the same rate, which is $6.25. Where the months matter more is the payment date rather than the amount: under the Connecticut section above, interest is paid on each tenancy anniversary, so a deposit held 14 months is paid once at the anniversary and the remaining two months are settled within 21 days of the tenancy ending.
The rate is the lever. On the same $1,500.00 over the same 14 months, each percentage point of rate is worth $17.50; the compounding over that span is worth 63 cents.
| Rate a year | Interest, 14 months | Share of deposit |
|---|---|---|
| 1.50% | $26.251,500.00 × 0.015 × 14 ÷ 12 | 1.75% |
| 3.00% | $52.501,500.00 × 0.03 × 14 ÷ 12 | 3.50% |
| 5.00% | $87.501,500.00 × 0.05 × 14 ÷ 12 | 5.83% |
1.50% is the floor the Connecticut section carries from its 1992 baseline; 5.00% is the rate Florida names in §83.49(1)(b) and (c). Those two figures are the only rates this page can point at a statute for. Any other rate has to come from a lease or from a section that was not read here.
Not everywhere, and not automatically. In Florida the answer turns on how the landlord holds the money: a separate non-interest-bearing account pays the tenant nothing, while an interest-bearing account or a surety bond does. In Connecticut the statute requires interest on every security deposit and names the date it is paid.
Either a statute or the lease. Florida §83.49(1)(b) gives the landlord a choice between at least 75 percent of the account's annualized average rate and 5 percent a year simple interest, and §83.49(1)(c) fixes 5 percent a year simple interest where a surety bond is posted. Connecticut §47a-21(i) ties the rate to the deposit index defined in §36a-26 for that year, with a floor of one and one-half per cent carried over from the 1992 baseline. States other than these two were not read for this page.
Florida says simple twice — "5 percent per year, simple interest" in both (1)(b) and (1)(c). Connecticut defines accrued interest as "the interest due on a security deposit as provided in subsection (i) of this section, compounded annually to the extent applicable", so a tenancy that runs past its first year compounds. On $1,500.00 at 5 percent the two only part company after the first full year: at 24 months simple gives $150.00 and annual compounding $153.75.
Connecticut puts it on the tenancy calendar: "On the anniversary date of the tenancy and annually thereafter, such interest shall be paid to the tenant or resident or credited toward the next rental payment due". Leave before the anniversary and the accrued interest is due "not later than twenty-one days after such termination". In Florida the interest travels with the deposit, which is due within 15 days of the tenancy ending when no claim is made.
In Florida that is one of the three lawful routes — §83.49(1)(a) — and it pays the tenant no interest at all. The statute still makes the answer visible, because §83.49(2)(c) requires the notice to "State whether the tenant is entitled to interest on the deposit"; that notice subsection does not apply to a landlord who rents fewer than five individual dwelling units. Connecticut §47a-21(i) offers no such option.
Connecticut forbids it outright: "No landlord shall increase the rent due from a tenant because of the requirement that the landlord pay on interest the security deposit." The sentence reads that way in the statute. Nothing in the Florida section read for this page ties a rent increase to interest.
Deposit × rate a year × months held ÷ 12. The rate is the one the lease or the statute names: Florida puts 5 percent a year simple interest in §83.49(1)(b) and (1)(c), and Connecticut ties the rate to the deposit index under §47a-21(i), with a floor of one and one-half per cent. On $1,500.00 at 5.00% held 14 months the figure is $87.50, which is the sum the calculator at the top of this page does for any deposit, rate and number of months.
It follows the route the landlord took, not a national rate. In Florida §83.49(1)(a) pays nothing where the money sits in a separate non-interest-bearing account; under (1)(b) the tenant collects at least 75 percent of the account's annualized average rate or 5 percent a year simple interest, whichever the landlord elects; under (1)(c), where a surety bond is posted, 5 percent a year simple interest. In Connecticut §47a-21(i) requires interest on every security deposit at the deposit index for that year, no less than one and one-half per cent, paid on the tenancy anniversary. States other than these two were not read for this page.