Does the deposit have to be in an interest-bearing account in Oklahoma?

No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest. Every deposit "must be kept in an escrow account for the tenant, which account shall be maintained in the State of Oklahoma with a federally insured financial institution" (41 O.S. § 115(A)). That is a real escrow duty with three parts: the money is held for the tenant, the account is in Oklahoma, and the institution is federally insured.

What happens if a landlord does not pay deposit interest in Oklahoma?

No penalty attaches to interest, because no interest is owed. The section's remedies run to the money itself: if a landlord or manager fails to comply with the section, or fails to return prepaid rent, the tenant may recover the damage and security deposit and any prepaid rent (§ 115(E)), and the section does not preclude either party from recovering other damages available under the Act (§ 115(G)).

Does a landlord have to pay interest on a security deposit in Oklahoma?

Verified August 28, 2026 All Oklahoma topics →

Oklahoma expressly denies the tenant interest on a security deposit, and it does so while requiring the landlord to hold the money in an escrow account — two rules that sit in adjoining subsections and must never be blurred into one answer.

Cited to 41 O.S. § 115 (Damage or Security Deposits) — Oklahoma State Courts Network section text (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G) and 1 more cited source · Verified August 28, 2026

Section 115(A) of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act requires every deposit to "be kept in an escrow account for the tenant," maintained in Oklahoma at a federally insured financial institution, and makes misappropriating it a crime punishable by up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to twice the amount taken. Section 115(B) then directs that the landlord "shall return the balance of the security deposit without interest to the tenant within forty-five (45) days." Those forty-five days do not start when the tenant moves out: the clock runs from the latest of the end of the tenancy, delivery of possession, and the tenant's written demand for the money. A tenant who makes no written demand within six months after the tenancy ends loses the deposit altogether — it reverts to the landlord "in consideration of the costs and burden of maintaining the escrow account," which is the legislature's own explanation of why the escrow pays the tenant nothing.

Oklahoma deposit interest at a glance

Interest owed to the tenant	No — the statute addresses the interest and does not give it to the tenant
How the rate is set	No rate exists — there is no interest duty
Current figure	No published figure exists
Rate rules	No rate rules — no duty exists
Accrual and payment	No payment duty exists
Who and what is covered	No statutory conditions stated — see the summary and notes
Statute controls where or how the deposit is held	Yes
Interest-bearing account required	No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest
Custody rules	Every deposit "must be kept in an escrow account for the tenant, which account shall be maintained in the State of Oklahoma with a federally insured financial institution" (41 O.S. § 115(A)). That is a real escrow duty with three parts: the money is held for the tenant, the account is in Oklahoma, and the institution is federally insured. It is backed by a criminal sanction — misappropriation of the deposit "shall be unlawful and punishable by a term in a county jail not to exceed six (6) months and by a fine in an amount not to exceed twice the amount misappropriated from the escrow account." What the subsection does not say is that the escrow account must bear interest. It names the account's character (escrow, for the tenant, at an insured Oklahoma institution) and stops there. If the landlord's interest in the dwelling unit ends by sale, assignment, death, bankruptcy, receivership or otherwise, whoever holds the deposits must within a reasonable time either transfer them to the successor and notify the tenants in writing of the transfer and the transferee's name and address, or return them to the tenants; a transferee then takes on all the rights and obligations of a landlord holding those deposits (§ 115(C), (D)).
Penalty for violation	No penalty attaches to interest, because no interest is owed. The section's remedies run to the money itself: if a landlord or manager fails to comply with the section, or fails to return prepaid rent, the tenant may recover the damage and security deposit and any prepaid rent (§ 115(E)), and the section does not preclude either party from recovering other damages available under the Act (§ 115(G)). The escrow duty carries its own criminal penalty for misappropriation (§ 115(A)).
Local rules	None noted for this state

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Oklahoma Security Deposit Interest Laws (verified August 28, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/deposit-interest/oklahoma/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Check the verified Oklahoma answer — and every state and city that differs — in the deposit interest calculator — free, no signup, built on the same verified Oklahoma law as this page.

Notes and caveats

Escrow required and interest denied, in the same section — Whether the money must be held apart and whether the tenant is owed interest are separate questions, and Oklahoma answers them in opposite directions one subsection apart. Sources that see the escrow duty and infer that the escrow must pay the tenant have merged the two. The account is mandatory; the interest is expressly withheld.
The forty-five days start on a written demand — Subsection (B)'s clock runs from the latest of three events, all of which must occur: termination of the tenancy, delivery of possession, and written demand by the tenant. The written-demand condition is unusual among the states and is regularly dropped from state-by-state charts, which then report a flat forty-five days from move-out. A tenant who never demands in writing never starts the clock.
Six months of silence forfeits the deposit — If the tenant makes no written demand within six months after termination, the deposit "reverts to the landlord in consideration of the costs and burden of maintaining the escrow account, and the interest of the tenant in that deposit terminates at that time." That last phrase uses "interest" in its property sense — the tenant's claim to the money — and does not mean that interest stops accruing. None was accruing.
The deposit is not the last month's rent — Unless the rental agreement provides otherwise, a tenant may not apply or deduct any part of the security deposit from the last month's rent, or use it at any time in place of rent (§ 115(F)).
The text has stood since 2015 — Section 115 was last amended by Laws 2015, c. 94, § 1, effective November 1, 2015, after earlier amendments in 1980 and 1981 and the original 1978 enactment. The Legislature's own Title 41 compilation, published after the 2025 session, still carries 2015 as the most recent change.

Common questions: Oklahoma deposit interest

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

What is the Oklahoma security deposit interest rate right now?: No published figure exists.
When must a landlord pay or credit deposit interest in Oklahoma?: No payment duty exists.
Does the deposit have to be in an interest-bearing account in Oklahoma?: No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest. Every deposit "must be kept in an escrow account for the tenant, which account shall be maintained in the State of Oklahoma with a federally insured financial institution" (41 O.S. § 115(A)). That is a real escrow duty with three parts: the money is held for the tenant, the account is in Oklahoma, and the institution is federally insured.
What happens if a landlord does not pay deposit interest in Oklahoma?: No penalty attaches to interest, because no interest is owed. The section's remedies run to the money itself: if a landlord or manager fails to comply with the section, or fails to return prepaid rent, the tenant may recover the damage and security deposit and any prepaid rent (§ 115(E)), and the section does not preclude either party from recovering other damages available under the Act (§ 115(G)).
Do any cities or counties in Oklahoma have their own deposit-interest rules?: None noted for this state.

Citations

41 O.S. § 115 (Damage or Security Deposits) — Oklahoma State Courts Network section text · (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G) (verified 2026) Official source
Oklahoma Statutes Title 41 (Landlord and Tenant), complete title as published by the Legislature · § 115 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of 41 O.S. § 115 (Damage or Security Deposits) in the Oklahoma State Courts Network's publication of the Oklahoma Statutes — all seven subsections, A through G, plus the section's historical data line — and the same section read in the Legislature's own Title 41 compilation, published December 30, 2025, the two texts agreeing word for word. Every occurrence of the word "interest" in the section was examined in context: one monetary, in the return clause of subsection B, and three in the property sense (the tenant's interest in the deposit at forfeiture, cessation of the landlord's interest in the dwelling unit, and the landlord's successor in interest).