What are the security deposit rules in Alaska?

Verified July 11, 2026 All Alaska topics →

Pending legislation — not yet law. The rules on this page reflect current law only. The following bill would change it if enacted:

HB 115 (34th Legislature, 2025-2026) — Would add AS 34.03.020(f): a landlord could not raise rent more than once per calendar year and would have to give written notice at least 90 days before the increase takes effect; if a tenancy ends without that notice having been given, the unit could not be re-rented above the old rent until 90 days after termination (anti-evasion clause). Applies to rental agreements entered into on or after the effective date. Would convert Alaska from a derivation state (no express rent-increase notice statute) to an express 90-day state.Status: Introduced 2025 (Rep. Gray); referred to House State Affairs and Labor & Commerce 2025-02-26; no committee action since (current status (H) STA, status date unchanged as of check). Alive until the 34th Legislature adjourns sine die. (checked 2026-07-11).

Alaska caps security deposits and prepaid rent combined at two months' rent - plus a separate pet deposit of up to one more month for a tenant with a pet that is not a service animal - but the whole deposit statute simply does not apply to units renting for more than $2,000 a month.

The landlord must mail an itemized written accounting and any refund to the tenant's last known address within 14 days after the tenancy ends and possession is returned, if either side gave a proper termination notice and nothing is deducted for damage; deducting for tenant-caused damage stretches the deadline to 30 days, and a tenant who moved out without proper notice or abandoned the unit also puts the landlord on the 30-day clock. Deposit money must go into a trust account (wherever practicable), accounted for separately per tenant and never commingled with the landlord's other funds, though no interest is owed. A landlord who wilfully blows the itemize-and-return duty can be ordered to pay up to twice the amount withheld, and Alaska's attorney-fee statute gives fees to the prevailing party. Nonrefundable 'cleaning fees' do not work here: the cap reaches deposits 'however denominated,' and the state's official guidance calls a nonrefundable cleaning fee just another name for a security deposit.

Alaska security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	2 months' rent — The two-month ceiling covers prepaid rent AND security deposit combined, 'however denominated' (AS 34.03.070(a)); 'prepaid rent' is a defined term that excludes the first month's rent (AS 34.03.360(16)). Two carve-outs: (1) an ADDITIONAL pet deposit of up to one month's periodic rent may be taken from a tenant who has a pet on the premises that is not a service animal (34.03.070(h), added 2014) - three months total possible for a pet household; (2) the entire section 'does not apply to rental units where the rent exceeds $2,000 a month,' so above that unindexed threshold there is no statutory cap - and by the plain text no trust-account, itemization, deadline, or penalty rules from this section either, though the state's official guidance describes the exemption only in relation to the cap.
Return deadline	14 days
Deadline conditions	Three-track structure (AS 34.03.070(g)): (1) 14 days after the tenancy is terminated and possession is delivered, IF the landlord OR the tenant gave a termination notice complying with AS 34.03.290 (either party's notice qualifies) - EXCEPT (2) even with compliant notice the landlord has 30 days after termination if costs are deducted for damages from the tenant's noncompliance with AS 34.03.120 (damage beyond normal wear and tear); and (3) 30 days if the tenant did not give compliant notice, running from termination, delivery of possession, or the landlord becoming aware the unit is abandoned. Practical reading taught by the Department of Law pamphlet and Court System PUB-30: full refund with nothing withheld for damages = 14 days; anything deducted for damages (guidance also folds in accrued-rent deductions) or a no-notice move-out = 30 days. The written itemization and refund are MAILED to the tenant's last known address; if the landlord does not know the address but knows how to reach the tenant, the landlord must make a reasonable effort to deliver them.
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	Deposit and prepaid rent may be applied only to accrued rent plus damages from the tenant's noncompliance with AS 34.03.120, and the accrued rent and damages 'must be itemized by the landlord in a written notice mailed to the tenant's last known address' within the (g) deadline, together with any balance due the tenant (AS 34.03.070(b)). 'Damages' means deterioration of the premises/contents and expressly excludes normal wear and tear (defined at (i)(1)) and deterioration caused by the landlord's own failures ((b)(2)). A premises condition statement and contents inventory prepared under AS 34.03.020(e) is presumptive evidence of move-in condition and the sanctioned basis for computing deductions (AS 34.03.090(b), 34.03.335).
Separate account required	Yes
Interest owed to tenant	No
Account & interest rules	No interest requirement - verified negative against the full chapter text. What IS required: all deposit and prepaid-rent money must be 'promptly deposited... wherever practicable, in a trust account in a bank, savings and loan association, or licensed escrow agent' with the withholding terms disclosed to the tenant; several tenants' funds may share one trust account with separate per-tenant accounting, but deposits may not be commingled with other funds or used cross-tenant (AS 34.03.070(c), tightened by Ch. 27 SLA 2014). A 2007 bill that would have required interest-bearing accounts (SB 56, 25th Legislature) died in Senate Labor & Commerce and was never enacted.
Pet deposits	Expressly authorized on top of the two-month cap since 2014 (AS 34.03.070(h), Ch. 27 SLA 2014): up to one additional month's periodic rent, only from a tenant who has a pet on the premises that is not a 'service animal' (defined at (i)(2) as an animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability). The pet deposit must be accounted for separately from the general deposit and prepaid rent and may be applied ONLY to damages directly related to the tenant's pet.
Non-refundable fees allowed	No
Penalty for violation	If the landlord wilfully fails to comply with the itemize-and-return duty, the tenant may recover 'an amount not to exceed twice the actual amount withheld' (AS 34.03.070(d)) - a discretionary ceiling of double, requiring wilfulness, not an automatic doubling. Other chapter damages remain recoverable on top ((e)), and attorney fees go to the prevailing party in any proceeding under the chapter (AS 34.03.350).
Tenant forwarding-address duty	None - no statutory duty to supply a forwarding address and no forfeiture for failing to. The landlord mails the itemization and refund to the tenant's last known address, and if the landlord lacks a mailing address but knows or has reason to know how to contact the tenant, the landlord must make a reasonable effort to deliver both (AS 34.03.070(g)). Supplying a current address remains the practical way to ensure receipt.

Notes and caveats

Load-bearing figures double-read on the official akleg.gov text (byte-identical fetches via two request paths) and reconciled against the enrolled HB 282, the DOL 2024 pamphlet, and Court System PUB-30. TRAPS: (1) $2,000 exemption - statutory sentence says 'This section does not apply,' which by plain text removes the cap AND the trust-account/itemization/deadline/penalty rules for >$2,000/month units; both official guidance documents mention the exemption only around the cap, and no case law scoping it was found - copy should follow the plain text but flag the ambiguity. Threshold is not inflation-indexed. (2) Return deadlines - the popular '14 days with notice / 30 without' chart line has been wrong since Ch. 27 SLA 2014 (signed 2014-06-17): any deduction for 34.03.120 damages moves a proper-notice case to 30 days, and EITHER party's 34.03.290-compliant notice (not just the tenant's) starts the 14-day track. Statutory text ties the 30-day extension to deductions 'for damages'; official guidance (PUB-30) folds accrued-rent deductions into the same 30-day track - flag when rendering. (3) Penalty is 'not to exceed twice' and requires WILFUL noncompliance - discretionary ceiling, not automatic double damages. (4) Interest myth debunked: SB 56 (25th Leg., 2007) would have required interest-bearing accounts; it died in Senate L&C, yet its text still surfaces in search results as if law. (5) DOL pamphlet fn. 70 cites 'AS 34.03.070(j)' for the wear-and-tear definition - typo; the definition is at (i)(1); no subsection (j) exists (official text and FindLaw mirror agree). (6) touchngo.com, the usual AK mirror, was unreachable this session; amendment history was pinned from the official enrolled HB 282 instead. nonrefundable_fees_allowed=false rests on (a)'s 'however denominated' plus official DOL guidance (nonrefundable cleaning fee = disguised deposit; move-in fees forfeited if the tenant walks are unlawful); cost-based application screening fees are treated as probably lawful by the same guidance. Successor owners are bound by the section (34.03.070(f)) and sellers stay liable unless deposits are assigned and accepted (34.03.110(a)(1)). A tenant absent 20+ days does NOT forfeit the deposit in Alaska (no HI-style rule) - abandonment just starts the 30-day clock at the landlord's awareness.

Statute citations

AS 34.03.070 (a)-(i) Official source
AS 34.03.360 (16) Official source
AS 34.03.110 (a)(1) Official source
HB 282, Ch. 27 SLA 2014 (enrolled text on official BASIS) secs. 2-6, 13 Official source
Alaska Dept. of Law, The Alaska Landlord & Tenant Act: what it means to you (2024) pp. 7-8, 27 Official source
Alaska Court System, PUB-30 Alaska Landlord and Tenant Act handbook (10/18) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Alaska State Legislature site (www.akleg.gov, Alaska Statutes 2024 infobase; the statutes.asp host 403s automated fetchers but serves full section text to curl with a browser user agent via its media=print endpoint): AS 34.03.070, 34.03.140, and 34.03.290 each fetched twice through independent request paths (single-section fetch plus a different-range fetch) with byte-identical results, and AS 34.03.020 fetched twice to verify the negative (no rent-increase language). The complete chapter (all 44 sections, 34.03.010-34.03.380) was fetched in one pass and every section heading enumerated for the verified-negative sweeps (no late-fee, grace-period, interest, unconscionability, rent-control, or preemption provision). Every load-bearing figure additionally reconciled against three more sources: the enrolled text of HB 282 (28th Leg.), Ch. 27 SLA 2014, read in full on the official BASIS bill-text system (pins the pet-deposit subsection, the per-tenant trust-accounting rules, and the 30-day damages exception to the 14-day return track, all added 2014); the Alaska Department of Law's official 2024 pamphlet 'The Alaska Landlord & Tenant Act: what it means to you' (law.alaska.gov); and the Alaska Court System's PUB-30 handbook (public.courts.alaska.gov, 10/18 ed.). FindLaw's mirror (current through 2025-01-01) matched the official 34.03.070 text verbatim as a second-path check. Preemption negative run against a one-fetch official sweep of AS Title 29 (Municipal Government, chs. 29.10-29.71 including 29.35 powers and 29.40 planning): zero rent-control or landlord-tenant provisions. Legislative check 2026-07-11 on official BASIS: all 97 bills passed by the 34th Legislature (2025-2026, status dates through 2026-07-09) enumerated - none on-topic (SB 50, Ch. 19 SLA 25, is municipal comprehensive planning only); full introduced-bill sweep found one pending on-topic bill, HB 115 (90-day rent-increase notice), idle in House State Affairs since 2025-02-26 - flagged, not incorporated.