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

21 days. The clock does not always start at move-out. It starts on the date the rental agreement terminates if the tenant leaves on time, earlier if the landlord rerents first, and later — on the date the landlord learns the tenant is gone — for a holdover.

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

A tenant who loses money because of a deposit violation can recover double that loss, plus costs and a reasonable attorney fee.

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

No — Wisconsin does not require interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Neither Wis. Stat. 704.28 nor ATCP 134 contains any escrow, trust-account, or interest requirement.

Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in Wisconsin?

No — non-refundable fees are not allowed in Wisconsin.

What are the security deposit rules in Wisconsin?

Verified October 1, 2026 All Wisconsin topics →

Wisconsin sets no cap on residential security deposits, but the landlord must return the deposit within 21 days — with a written statement itemizing every amount withheld — and a violation exposes the landlord to double damages plus attorney fees.

Cited to Wis. Stat. 704.28 (1)-(5) and 7 more cited sources · Verified October 1, 2026

The 21-day clock starts on the lease termination date if the tenant leaves on time, on the earlier of the termination date or a replacement tenant's move-in if the tenant leaves early, or on the date the landlord learns a holdover tenant is gone. Deductions are limited to unpaid rent, tenant damage/waste/neglect, certain utility and municipal charges, and reasons spelled out in a separate 'NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS' document — never normal wear and tear. Anything paid as security counts, whatever it is called, including pet deposits and any prepaid rent beyond one month. There is no interest or escrow requirement. Tenants also get front-end rights: a check-in sheet with 7 days to record existing damage, and on request, a list of what was deducted from the previous tenant's deposit.

Wisconsin security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	No statutory cap
Return deadline	21 days
Deadline conditions	The clock does not always start at move-out. It starts on the date the rental agreement terminates if the tenant leaves on time, earlier if the landlord rerents first, and later — on the date the landlord learns the tenant is gone — for a holdover. The trigger date depends on how the tenancy ended (Wis. Stat. 704.28(4)(a)-(c), mirrored in ATCP 134.06(2)): (a) if the tenant vacates ON the termination date, the clock starts on the date the rental agreement terminates; (b) if the tenant vacates or is evicted BEFORE the termination date, it starts on the termination date — or earlier, on the date a new tenant's tenancy begins if the landlord rerents first; (c) if the tenant vacates or is evicted AFTER the termination date, it starts on the date the landlord LEARNS the tenant has vacated or was removed under s. 799.45(2). The landlord must 'deliver or mail' the deposit within 21 days of that trigger date. Sources that flatly say '21 days after move-out' miss that for a holdover the clock can start later (landlord's knowledge) and for an early move-out it can start before the tenant is even gone from the lease term.
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	If any amount is withheld, the landlord must deliver or mail — within the same 21-day window — a written statement accounting for ALL amounts withheld, describing each item of physical damage or other claim and the amount withheld as reasonable compensation for each item or claim (ATCP 134.06(4)). Intentionally misrepresenting or falsifying any claim against the deposit is itself a prohibited practice. Note the layer split: the itemized-statement duty lives in the ADMINISTRATIVE CODE, not in Wis. Stat. 704.28 — a statute-only read misses it. Front-end scaffolding: Wis. Stat. 704.08 requires a check-in sheet for new tenants (7 days from start of occupancy to complete and return; not required again on renewal, and not required at all for the rental of a plot of ground for a manufactured or mobile home), and ATCP 134.06(1) requires pre-deposit written notice that the tenant may inspect within not less than 7 days after the start of tenancy and may request a list of deductions taken from the PRIOR tenant's deposit (landlord must provide that list within 30 days of the request, or within 7 days after notifying the prior tenant of their deductions, whichever is later).
Separate account required	No
Interest owed to tenant	No
Account & interest rules	Neither Wis. Stat. 704.28 nor ATCP 134 contains any escrow, trust-account, or interest requirement. Madison's old ordinance requiring interest on deposits is dead letter: Wis. Stat. 66.0104 prohibits local ordinances imposing security-deposit requirements 'additional to the requirements under administrative rules,' so charts still showing Madison deposit-interest rules are citing preempted law.
Pet deposits	No statute addresses a pet deposit, and no general deposit cap exists for one to count against. 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	A tenant who loses money because of a deposit violation can recover double that loss, plus costs and a reasonable attorney fee. The remedy comes through a two-layer enforcement hook. ATCP 134 is a rule/order issued under Wis. Stat. 100.20, and 100.20(5) lets any person suffering pecuniary loss from a violation sue and 'recover twice the amount of such pecuniary loss, together with costs, including a reasonable attorney fee.' Wisconsin courts have long applied this to tenants suing over ATCP 134 deposit violations (e.g., Shands v. Castrovinci, 115 Wis. 2d 352 (1983)). On the statutory side, Wis. Stat. 704.95 provides that practices violating 704.28 or 704.44 'may also constitute unfair methods of competition or unfair trade practices under s. 100.20,' bridging statute violations into the same double-damages remedy.
Tenant forwarding-address duty	No affirmative statutory duty to furnish a forwarding address, but ATCP 134.06(5) shields a landlord who complies with the section from violation merely because postal delivery to the tenant failed — so a tenant who leaves no address risks a timely-mailed refund going astray with no remedy.

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

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

Editable Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.

Notes and caveats

Two layers: Wis. Stat. 704.28 and ATCP 134.06 — Wisconsin deposit law lives in BOTH the statute — withholding grounds, the 21-day return, the wear-and-tear bar, added by 2011 Act 143 — and the administrative code, which supplies the check-in rights, the prior-tenant deduction disclosure, the itemized-statement duty, and the misrepresentation ban. The two texts are deliberately parallel on the 21-day rule, but the itemization duty is ATCP-only and the withholding grounds are statutory, so reading one layer alone misses half the law.
Double damages reach both layers — ATCP 134 violations carry the Wis. Stat. 100.20(5) private remedy — double the tenant's pecuniary loss plus attorney fees — and Wis. Stat. 704.95 extends that hook to violations of 704.28.
Fabricated cap: no '1 month / 2 months furnished' rule — The maximum-deposit answer is blank because NO cap exists in either layer. The '1 month unfurnished / 2 months furnished' cap still displayed for Wisconsin on major listing-site guides in July 2026 is pure fabrication, apparently imported from other states.
What Wisconsin counts as deposit or earnest money — A security deposit in Wisconsin is the total of all payments and deposits a tenant gives the landlord as security for performing the tenant's obligations, and it takes in any rent paid beyond one month's prepaid rent (Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.02(11)). Money a prospective tenant gives a landlord, however denominated or described, for the option of entering into a rental agreement or for having one considered is an earnest money deposit (ATCP 134.02(3)), and once the landlord enters into a rental agreement with that applicant, written or oral, it must be returned in full or applied as rent or as a security deposit (ATCP 134.05(2)). The full security deposit, less the amounts the law allows to be withheld, must be delivered or mailed within twenty-one days, and nothing may be withheld for normal wear and tear. Neither the statute nor the trade practice code permits any part of that money to be kept as a nonrefundable charge. The one separate charge these laws name is the landlord's actual cost of obtaining a consumer credit report on an applicant, which the applicant must be told about beforehand and given a copy of (ATCP 134.05(4)).
Tenancies these rules do not cover — ATCP 134.01 carves out hotels and transient occupancy, employer-provided or free units, agricultural tenancies, government-owned units, and similar arrangements, and Wis. Stat. 704.28(5) limits that section to residential tenancies.
Stale-source warning: pre-2012 summaries miss the statute — They predate 2011 Act 143's creation of Wis. Stat. 704.28 and describe a purely administrative-code regime.
The itemized statement survived a court challenge; skipping it can be a crime — Landlords have argued that because Wis. Stat. 704.28 says nothing about a statement of withholdings, the department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection had no power to require one. The Court of Appeals rejected that in a published decision. Section 704.95 stops the department only from changing a right or duty that originates in chapter 704, and chapter 704 is silent on withholdings statements, so the duty in the residential rental practices rules stands on its own. The same decision holds that a landlord can be charged criminally as an unfair trade practice for withholding more than the statute allows or for failing to give the statement at all (State v. Lasecki, 2020 WI App 36, paragraphs 2, 15 and 31).

Common questions: Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin?: No statutory cap.
How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in Wisconsin?: 21 days. The clock does not always start at move-out. It starts on the date the rental agreement terminates if the tenant leaves on time, earlier if the landlord rerents first, and later — on the date the landlord learns the tenant is gone — for a holdover.
What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in Wisconsin?: A tenant who loses money because of a deposit violation can recover double that loss, plus costs and a reasonable attorney fee.
Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in Wisconsin?: No — Wisconsin does not require interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Neither Wis. Stat. 704.28 nor ATCP 134 contains any escrow, trust-account, or interest requirement.
Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in Wisconsin?: No — non-refundable fees are not allowed in Wisconsin.

Citations

Wis. Stat. 704.28 · (1)-(5) (verified 2026) Official source
Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.06 · (1)-(5) (verified 2026) Official source
Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.02 · (11) (verified 2026) Official source
Wis. Stat. 704.08 (verified 2026) Official source
Wis. Stat. 100.20 · (5) (verified 2026) Official source
Wis. Stat. 704.95 (verified 2026) Official source
State v. Lasecki, 2020 WI App 36 (Wis. Ct. App., published) · ¶¶ 2, 15, 30-31 (verified 2026) Official source
Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.05 (earnest money deposits and credit check fees) · (2), (4) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute and administrative code text on the official Wisconsin Legislature site (docs.legis.wisconsin.gov, which officially hosts both Wis. Stats. and Wis. Admin. Code): Wis. Stat. 704.28, 704.05(2), 704.19, and Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.06 and ATCP 134.09 each read TWICE via alternate stable deep links — all key figures (21-day deposit return and its three trigger events, 12-hour entry notice, 28-day periodic-tenancy termination notice, 7-day check-in window, the three late-fee paragraphs of ATCP 134.09(8)) matched verbatim across both reads. Also read in full once: Wis. Stat. 100.20(5), 704.95, 704.44, 704.45, 704.08, 704.10, 704.17(1g), 66.1015, 66.0104, and ATCP 134.01/134.02(11) (scope and 'security deposit' definition). Pending-bill statuses checked on docs.legis.wisconsin.gov 2026-07-09: all landlord-tenant bills (AB 1064 application fees, AB 1048 repeal of 66.0104) failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1 on 2026-03-23, and AB 202 (Wisconsin Consumer Act exemption / void-lease remedy rewrite) passed both houses, was vetoed on March 27, 2026, and failed on the override vote on May 13, 2026. October 1, 2026: every section named above, with Wis. Stat. 704.17, 704.21, 704.29, 799.05, 799.20, 799.206, 799.40 to 799.45, 422.203 and 421.301 and ATCP 134.05 and 134.08, was read again on docs.legis.wisconsin.gov in the edition updated through 2025 Wisconsin Act 247 and in effect on October 1, 2026, which takes in the whole 2025-26 session; ATCP 134 stands at Register November 2024 No. 827. No 2025-26 act amended a section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee, entry or eviction answers rest on; 2025 Acts 90 and 29 changed the lease-termination sections and are stated there. Koble Investments v. Marquardt, 2026 WI 19 (June 5, 2026), was read on wicourts.gov.