How much can a landlord charge for a security deposit in Alabama?

1 month's rent — Additional amounts 'for pets, changes to the premises, or increased liability risks to the landlord or premises' sit outside the cap and are themselves uncapped (35-9A-201(a)).

How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in Alabama?

60 days. The clock runs from termination of the tenancy plus delivery of possession, with no tenant demand needed to start it. Within those 60 days the landlord must deliver a written itemized notice together with the amount due, and mailing the refund and accounting first-class to the tenant's written forwarding address is sufficient compliance (§ 35-9A-201(b), (e)).

What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in Alabama?

A landlord who fails to mail a timely refund or accounting within the 60-day period 'shall pay the tenant double the amount of the tenant's original deposit' (§ 35-9A-201(f)). It is a flat doubling of the ORIGINAL deposit, not of the amount wrongfully withheld, and the statute carries no bad-faith element.

Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in Alabama?

No — Alabama does not require interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Alabama's residential landlord-tenant chapter — Ala. Code ch. 35-9A, enacted by Act 2006-316 and amended through the 2025 code — contains no interest, escrow, trust-account, or receipt requirement anywhere in its text. Fifty-state charts importing other states' escrow or interest rules into Alabama are wrong.

What are the security deposit rules in Alabama?

Verified July 10, 2026 All Alabama topics →

Alabama caps security deposits at one month's rent, but lets landlords charge extra for pets, tenant changes to the premises, or increased liability risks — and those add-on deposits have no statutory limit.

Cited to Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 (current-code mirror, 2025 ed.) (a)-(h) and 2 more Alabama statutes · Verified July 10, 2026

After the tenancy ends and the tenant moves out, the landlord has 60 days to mail the refund with a written itemization of anything withheld; missing that deadline costs the landlord double the original deposit, with no bad-faith requirement in the statute. Tenants have duties too: provide a written forwarding address when vacating, and claim the refund — a deposit that goes unclaimed (or a refund check left outstanding) is forfeited to the landlord after 90 days. There is no requirement that the deposit earn interest or sit in a separate account. Beware stale guides quoting a 35-day return deadline or a 180-day forfeiture window: those numbers come from the original 2006 act and were changed to 60 and 90 days in 2014. The deposit rules cannot be waived in the lease.

Alabama security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	1 month's rent — Additional amounts 'for pets, changes to the premises, or increased liability risks to the landlord or premises' sit outside the cap and are themselves uncapped (35-9A-201(a)). The excepted categories are pet deposits, alteration deposits, and increased-risk deposits. The 2006 Alabama Comment confirms the landlord may hold only cash (not property) as security.
Return deadline	60 days
Deadline conditions	The clock runs from termination of the tenancy plus delivery of possession, with no tenant demand needed to start it. Within those 60 days the landlord must deliver a written itemized notice together with the amount due, and mailing the refund and accounting first-class to the tenant's written forwarding address is sufficient compliance (§ 35-9A-201(b), (e)). Under § 35-9A-141(3) 'day' means calendar day, but if the last day falls on a weekend or official holiday the period extends to the next business day.
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	Deductions are limited to accrued rent and damages from the tenant's noncompliance with the 35-9A-301 tenant-maintenance obligations, 'all as itemized by the landlord in a written notice' (35-9A-201(b)); if less than the entire deposit is refunded, an itemized list of amounts withheld is required within the 60-day period (35-9A-201(c)).
Separate account required	No
Interest owed to tenant	No
Account & interest rules	Alabama's residential landlord-tenant chapter — Ala. Code ch. 35-9A, enacted by Act 2006-316 and amended through the 2025 code — contains no interest, escrow, trust-account, or receipt requirement anywhere in its text. Fifty-state charts importing other states' escrow or interest rules into Alabama are wrong.
Pet deposits	Pet deposits are expressly excepted from the one-month cap (35-9A-201(a)) and are uncapped, but they remain 'money held by the landlord as security,' so the same 60-day return, itemization, and double-penalty machinery applies.
Non-refundable fees allowed	Not addressed by statute
Penalty for violation	A landlord who fails to mail a timely refund or accounting within the 60-day period 'shall pay the tenant double the amount of the tenant's original deposit' (§ 35-9A-201(f)). It is a flat doubling of the ORIGINAL deposit, not of the amount wrongfully withheld, and the statute carries no bad-faith element. Subsection (g) preserves other damages for either party; subsection (h) binds the current holder of the landlord's interest.
Tenant forwarding-address duty	Affirmative statutory duty: upon vacating, the tenant 'shall provide to the landlord a valid forwarding address, in writing' (35-9A-201(d)). If none is provided the landlord mails first-class to the last known address or, if none, to the rental unit itself — and any deposit unclaimed by the tenant, as well as any check outstanding, is forfeited to the landlord after 90 days.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Alabama Security Deposit Laws (verified July 10, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/security-deposits/alabama/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Alabama statute in the citations section below.

Generate a Alabama security-deposit return letter — free, no signup, built on the same verified Alabama rules as this page.

Notes and caveats

The one-month cap has three uncapped exceptions — Additional amounts 'for pets, changes to the premises, or increased liability risks to the landlord or premises' sit outside the cap (§ 35-9A-201(a)) and are statutorily uncapped — Alabama does not have a flat one-month limit.
Stale-source trap: 35 days and 180 days are pre-2014 figures — The as-enacted 2006 text (35-day return, 180-day forfeiture) still circulates in older guides — and in copies of Act 2006-316 itself. Act 2014-279 (SB291, effective July 1, 2014) set the current 60- and 90-day figures; measure any 35-day claim against the current text.
The penalty doubles the ORIGINAL deposit — The § 35-9A-201(f) penalty doubles the original deposit, not the amount wrongfully withheld — stronger than it looks in small disputes.
No tenant-demand trigger — Unlike South Carolina, the 60-day return clock runs from termination of the tenancy plus delivery of possession alone — the tenant does not have to ask.
The deposit rules cannot be waived — § 35-9A-163(a)(1) voids lease clauses waiving 'requirements of security deposits established by this chapter.'
Nonrefundable fees are an open question — Chapter 9A neither authorizes nor prohibits nonrefundable fees. An unlabeled 'nonrefundable deposit' would collide with the cap and return machinery, but no statute or located case resolves the point, so the question is left open rather than answered.
No interest and no separate account — Nothing anywhere in chapter 9A requires interest, an escrow or trust account, or a receipt. The silence runs through the whole chapter, not merely through the sections a reader would think to look at.

Common questions: Alabama security deposits

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

How much can a landlord charge for a security deposit in Alabama?: 1 month's rent — Additional amounts 'for pets, changes to the premises, or increased liability risks to the landlord or premises' sit outside the cap and are themselves uncapped (35-9A-201(a)).
How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in Alabama?: 60 days. The clock runs from termination of the tenancy plus delivery of possession, with no tenant demand needed to start it. Within those 60 days the landlord must deliver a written itemized notice together with the amount due, and mailing the refund and accounting first-class to the tenant's written forwarding address is sufficient compliance (§ 35-9A-201(b), (e)).
What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in Alabama?: A landlord who fails to mail a timely refund or accounting within the 60-day period 'shall pay the tenant double the amount of the tenant's original deposit' (§ 35-9A-201(f)). It is a flat doubling of the ORIGINAL deposit, not of the amount wrongfully withheld, and the statute carries no bad-faith element.
Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in Alabama?: No — Alabama does not require interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Alabama's residential landlord-tenant chapter — Ala. Code ch. 35-9A, enacted by Act 2006-316 and amended through the 2025 code — contains no interest, escrow, trust-account, or receipt requirement anywhere in its text. Fifty-state charts importing other states' escrow or interest rules into Alabama are wrong.
Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in Alabama?: Not addressed by statute.

Statute citations

Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 (current-code mirror, 2025 ed.) (a)-(h) (verified 2026) Unofficial mirror
Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 (official ALISON code viewer) (a)-(h) (verified 2026) Official source
HB 287 / Act 2006-316 (official as-enacted URLTA text with Alabama Comments; § 201 figures later amended by Act 2014-279) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Alabama's code is LexisNexis-published and the official ALISON code viewer requires interactive access (the legacy alisondb host is dead), so verification pairs independent current-code mirrors with official as-enacted session-law text: Ala. Code §§ 35-9A-121, 35-9A-122, 35-9A-141, 35-9A-143, 35-9A-161, 35-9A-163, 35-9A-201, 35-9A-303, 35-9A-421, 35-9A-441, and 11-80-8.1 each read verbatim on at least two independent hosts (Justia 2025-code edition, FindLaw current through 2024-12-30, al.elaws.us) with every decisive figure matching (one-month cap and its three exceptions, 60-day return, 90-day forfeiture, double-deposit penalty, two days' entry notice, 30-day/7-day periodic termination notice, seven-business-day cure windows), and the full text of HB 287/Act 2006-316 (the URLTA enactment, with Alabama Comments) read from the state judiciary host macon.alacourt.gov, against which whole-chapter negative checks were run (no late-fee cap, no grace period, no deposit interest, no escrow requirement). Act 2014-279 (SB291, eff. 2014-07-01, 35->60-day and 180->90-day changes) verified via matching credit lines on three mirrors; no official act PDF available. Pending-bill check 2026-07-09: 2026 Regular Session adjourned sine die; only adjacent bill HB80 (eviction writ procedure) — no bill touching the four topics. The remaining official-host confirmations were completed 2026-07-10: §§ 35-9A-201 (full (a)-(h) text, history line 'Act 2006-316, p. 668, §1; Act 2014-279, p. 886, §1'), 35-9A-303 (full (a)-(e) text), and 35-9A-441 (full (a)-(c) text) each read verbatim ON THE OFFICIAL ALISON CODE VIEWER (alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=...), matching the mirror-verified readings with no substantive differences — the citations marked official are now sight-verified, and Act 2014-279's credit line was confirmed on the official host. HB80's Senate fate also resolved 2026-07-10: passed House 103-0 (2026-01-22), reported out of Senate Judiciary (2026-02-18), placed on the Senate calendar (2026-02-19), and died in chamber without a floor vote at sine die — dead, not law, nothing to flag.