How much can a landlord charge for a security deposit in North Dakota?

1 month's rent — Two exceptions raise the ceiling to two months' rent: a tenant convicted of a felony, and a tenant with a judgment against them for violating a previous rental agreement. A pet security deposit is separate and has its own higher limit.

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

30 days. The clock starts only when both things have happened: the lease has terminated and the tenant has delivered possession. It is not enough that the lease ended.

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

Treble damages. A landlord is liable for three times any security deposit money withheld without reasonable justification (47-16-07.1(4)).

Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in North Dakota?

Yes — North Dakota requires interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. The landlord must deposit the money in a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account for the benefit of the tenant, and the deposit plus accrued interest must be paid to the tenant at termination — but no interest is owed if the period of occupancy was less than nine months (47-16-07.1(1), (3)).

Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in North Dakota?

No — non-refundable fees are not allowed in North Dakota.

What are the security deposit rules in North Dakota?

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North Dakota caps security deposits at one month's rent, with three carve-outs: up to two months' rent may be accepted from a tenant convicted of a felony (as an incentive to rent to them), up to two months' rent may be demanded from a tenant who has a court judgment against them for violating a previous rental agreement, and a separate pet security deposit of up to the greater of $2,500 or two months' rent may be charged for a pet that is not a disability-related service or companion animal.

Cited to N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 (1)-(6) and 6 more cited sources · Verified October 1, 2026

The deposit must be held in a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account for the tenant's benefit, and the deposit plus its accrued interest must be returned — with a written itemization of any deductions and a statement of any amount still owed or refunded — within 30 days after the lease ends and the tenant delivers possession; no interest is owed if the tenant lived there less than nine months. Deductions are limited to pet or negligence damage, unpaid rent, and cleaning or repairs needed to restore the unit to its move-in condition (normal wear and tear excepted), and the landlord must have given the tenant a signed move-in condition statement when the lease was signed. A landlord who withholds deposit money without reasonable justification owes the tenant treble (three times) damages.

North Dakota security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	1 month's rent — Two exceptions raise the ceiling to two months' rent: a tenant convicted of a felony, and a tenant with a judgment against them for violating a previous rental agreement. A pet security deposit is separate and has its own higher limit. The two exceptions were added in different sessions with different verbs. A landlord may ACCEPT up to two months' rent as security from an individual convicted of a felony offense, framed as an incentive to rent to the individual (47-16-07.1(1)(a), added 2017); and a landlord may DEMAND up to two months' rent as security from an individual who has had a judgment entered against them for violating the terms of a previous rental agreement (47-16-07.1(1)(b), added 2019). The pet security deposit sits in subsection 2.
Return deadline	30 days
Deadline conditions	The clock starts only when both things have happened: the lease has terminated and the tenant has delivered possession. It is not enough that the lease ended. The itemization of any amounts applied, together with the amount due and a written notice stating any amount still owed the landlord or the refund due the tenant, must be delivered or mailed to the tenant at the last address furnished to the landlord within 30 days after termination of the lease AND delivery of possession by the tenant (47-16-07.1(3)). For a domestic-violence termination under 47-16-17.1, the deposit clock is triggered on the first day of the month after the victim-tenant vacates if the victim (with minor children) is the only tenant, or at expiration of the lease if other tenants remain bound (47-16-17.1(8)). Amounts unclaimed by the tenant within one year of termination become reportable unclaimed property under 47-30.2-04.
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	Any portion of the deposit (and accrued interest) not paid back must be itemized by the landlord, and the deposit may be applied only to: damages from deterioration or injury to the property caused by the tenant's pet or by the negligence of the tenant or the tenant's guest; unpaid rent; and costs of cleaning or other repairs that were the tenant's responsibility and are necessary to return the unit to its original state when the tenant took possession, reasonable wear and tear excepted (47-16-07.1(3)). When the rental agreement is entered into, the landlord must provide a statement of the condition of the premises, agreed to and signed by both parties, which is prima facie proof of the premises' condition at the beginning of the rental agreement (47-16-07.2).
Separate account required	Yes
Interest owed to tenant	Yes
Account & interest rules	The landlord must deposit the money in a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account for the benefit of the tenant, and the deposit plus accrued interest must be paid to the tenant at termination — but no interest is owed if the period of occupancy was less than nine months (47-16-07.1(1), (3)). No statutory interest rate: the account's actual accrued interest is what is owed. The statute does not use the word 'separate'; the account requirement is that the funds be held in a federally insured interest-bearing account 'for the benefit of the tenant.' On sale of the property, deposit and accrued interest must be transferred to the new owner, and the seller stays liable until the transfer is made (47-16-07.1(5)).
Pet deposits	A pet deposit is capped by statute. A pet security deposit may not exceed the greater of two thousand five hundred dollars or an amount equivalent to two months' rent (section 47-16-07.1, subsection 2). It is the greater of the two, so on a nine-hundred-dollar unit the lawful figure is $2,500, not $1,800; the rent-linked figure only becomes the larger one above $1,250 a month. The pet-deposit rule, pet rent and fees, and the assistance-animal rules are on the pets and assistance animals page.
Non-refundable fees allowed	No
Penalty for violation	Treble damages. A landlord is liable for three times any security deposit money withheld without reasonable justification (47-16-07.1(4)).
Tenant forwarding-address duty	No statutory duty and no forfeiture: the landlord must deliver or mail the itemization and refund notice to the tenant at the last address furnished to the landlord (47-16-07.1(3)); amounts left unclaimed for one year become reportable unclaimed property rather than the landlord's money (47-30.2-04 reference in 47-16-07.1(3)).

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, North Dakota Security Deposit Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/security-deposits/north-dakota/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

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

Editable North Dakota deposit kit — the deposit disposition letter, the move-in receipt with the custody and interest statements, a deposits-held register with the return deadline computed, and the rules fact sheet built on the verified North Dakota rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.

Notes and caveats

The two exceptions to the cap use two different verbs — A landlord may ACCEPT up to two months' rent as security from an individual convicted of a felony (47-16-07.1(1)(a), 2017 N.D. Laws ch. 316), but may DEMAND up to two months' rent from an individual with a judgment against them for violating a previous rental agreement (47-16-07.1(1)(b), 2019 N.D. Laws ch. 379). The verb difference is in the statutes themselves, and the official session laws carry it.
Drafting trap: a cross-reference the Legislature never conformed — 47-16-07.1(1) still says the deposit and its interest are payable 'subject to the conditions of subsection 2,' but subsection 2 has been the PET-DEPOSIT subsection since 2015 HB 1192 renumbered the application-and-itemization subsection from 2 to 3 without fixing the cross-reference. The sensible reading is the application subsection — now subsection 3.
The account rule says 'federally insured,' never the word 'separate' — The separate-account answer here rests on the statute's language that the funds be held in a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account 'for the benefit of the tenant.' Note that the statute never actually uses the word 'separate.'
What North Dakota treats as security, whatever it is called — North Dakota reaches money required as a security deposit, however denominated, and caps security, however denominated, at one month's rent apart from the two named exceptions for a felony conviction and a prior rental-agreement judgment (N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1(1)). The deposit and any interest accruing on it must be paid to the tenant when the lease ends, less amounts the landlord itemizes for pet or negligence damage, unpaid rent, and cleaning or repairs that were the tenant's responsibility. Section 47-16-07.1 permits no part of that money to be kept as a nonrefundable charge, and money withheld without reasonable justification carries treble damages. A pet security deposit under subsection 2 is security as well, capped at the greater of two thousand five hundred dollars or two months' rent, and it is accounted for the same way. Charges that are not taken as security, such as an application fee, fall outside this section.
Dead-bill debunk: HB 1272 (2025) failed the House — HB 1272 would have mandated move-in AND move-out inspections, re-keyed the 30-day return clock to the move-out inspection, deemed a landlord no-show a full-deposit forfeiture, and moved the itemization rule into a subsection of its own, though it left the stale 'subsection 2' cross-reference in place. It FAILED the House 41-47 on 2025-02-07; current law requires only the 47-16-07.2 move-in condition statement.
Unclaimed deposits: the current cite is 47-30.2-04 — The unclaimed-property cross-reference in the current text is 47-30.2-04. Older sources still give 47-30.1-08, which is stale.
These figures are the current Century Code text — The figures above are the text of N.D. Cent. Code 47-16-07.1 as the Legislative Assembly posts it, and its code page states that the posted code reflects every change approved by the 69th Legislative Assembly.
Public landlords are covered too — The security deposit section binds the state and its political subdivisions when they lease real property or dwellings and require money as a security deposit, so a city, county or state agency renting out housing holds the deposit on the same terms as a private landlord.

Common questions: North Dakota 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 North Dakota?: 1 month's rent — Two exceptions raise the ceiling to two months' rent: a tenant convicted of a felony, and a tenant with a judgment against them for violating a previous rental agreement. A pet security deposit is separate and has its own higher limit.
How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in North Dakota?: 30 days. The clock starts only when both things have happened: the lease has terminated and the tenant has delivered possession. It is not enough that the lease ended.
What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in North Dakota?: Treble damages. A landlord is liable for three times any security deposit money withheld without reasonable justification (47-16-07.1(4)).
Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in North Dakota?: Yes — North Dakota requires interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. The landlord must deposit the money in a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account for the benefit of the tenant, and the deposit plus accrued interest must be paid to the tenant at termination — but no interest is owed if the period of occupancy was less than nine months (47-16-07.1(1), (3)).
Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in North Dakota?: No — non-refundable fees are not allowed in North Dakota.

Citations

N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 · (1)-(6) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.2 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-17.1 · (8) (verified 2026) Official source
HB 1192, 2015 N.D. Laws ch. 312 (pet-deposit subsection; official session laws) · sec. 1 (verified 2026) Official source
HB 1220, 2017 N.D. Laws ch. 316 (felony exception; official session laws) · sec. 1 (verified 2026) Official source
HB 1150, 2019 N.D. Laws ch. 379 (prior-judgment exception; official session laws) · sec. 1 (verified 2026) Official source
HB 1272 (2025) — FAILED, official bill overview (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text in the official North Dakota Century Code chapter PDFs on ndlegis.gov on October 1, 2026: chapter 47-16 in full, 47-32-01 and 47-32-02, 9-08-03 and 9-08-04, and 47-30.2-04. The Legislative Assembly's code page states that the posted code reflects all changes approved by the 69th Legislative Assembly, and the chapter 47-16 file already prints the text that took effect on January 1, 2026. Figures read: one-month deposit cap; two-month felony and prior-judgment exceptions; pet deposit of the greater of $2,500 or two months' rent; 30-day itemized return; nine-month interest threshold; treble damages; 30-day written change-of-terms notice covering rent; 25-day tenant termination after a change notice; one-calendar-month termination of a month-to-month tenancy; no entry-hour figure. Amendment history read in the session laws: 2015 ch. 312 (HB 1192, separate pet deposit), 2017 ch. 316 (HB 1220, felony exception), 2019 ch. 379 (HB 1150, prior-judgment exception), 2021 ch. 337 (SB 2048, unclaimed-property cross-reference), 2025 ch. 145 (HB 1489, 47-16-17.1(2)(a), effective January 1, 2026) and 2025 ch. 423 (HB 1610, new 47-16-20.1, effective August 1, 2025). 2025 bills that failed, read on the official bill pages: HB 1272 (inspections and deposits, House 41-47 on 2025-02-07), SB 2236 (late-fee cap, Senate 7-39 on 2025-02-04), SB 2237 (5-41) and SB 2366 (8-37); SB 2238 was enacted as 47-32-05 (2025 ch. 427, effective August 1, 2025). The 69th Legislative Assembly also sat in special session on January 21-23 and September 2-4, 2026, and neither session amended Title 47. There is no regular session in 2026; the next is January 2027. Negative findings (no late-fee statute, no entry-hour figure, no deposit-interest rate figure, no frequency limits) rest on the complete section list of chapter 47-16.