Landlord Atlas

What are the security deposit rules in Idaho?

Verified July 11, 2026 All Idaho topics →

Idaho puts no cap on security deposits, but the landlord must refund the deposit within 21 days after the tenant surrenders the premises — or within a different period the lease fixes, never more than 30 days after surrender.

Any partial refund must come with a signed statement itemizing what was kept, why, and how it was spent, and nothing may be kept for normal wear and tear, which the statute defines. There is no penalty multiplier: a shorted tenant's remedy is a damages suit under § 6-320 after a 3-day written demand, with attorney fees to whoever wins. One quiet 2021 addition: deposits held by a third-party property manager must sit in a separate account at a federally insured institution, though owners, owner-affiliated managers, real estate licensees, and nonprofits are all exempt from that rule.

Idaho security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit No statutory cap
Return deadline 21 days
Deadline conditions Refund is due within 21 days after termination of the lease and surrender of the premises if no time is fixed by agreement; the parties' agreement may fix a different period, but the refund is due in any event within 30 days after surrender (Idaho Code § 6-321(2)). The clock runs from surrender of the premises — Idaho has no forwarding-address trigger.
Itemization required Yes
Itemization rules Any refund of less than the full amount deposited must be accompanied by a signed statement itemizing the amounts lawfully retained, the purpose for each amount retained, and a detailed list of expenditures made from the deposit (§ 6-321(2)). No part of the deposit may be retained for normal wear and tear, which § 6-321(1) defines as deterioration from intended use without negligence, carelessness, accident, or misuse by the tenant, household members, invitees, or guests.
Separate account required No
Interest owed to tenant No
Account & interest rules Not addressed by statute
Pet deposits No separate pet-deposit statute. Idaho Code § 6-321(1) deems all amounts deposited for any purpose other than payment of rent to be security deposits, so a refundable pet deposit is subject to the same 21/30-day return and itemization rules.
Non-refundable fees allowed Not addressed by statute
Penalty for violation No statutory multiplier. The tenant's remedy is a civil action for damages and specific performance under § 6-320(a)(4) for failure to return a deposit as required by law, which requires a 3-day written notice and demand to cure before filing (§ 6-320(d), served per § 6-323); the prevailing party recovers attorney fees (§ 6-324).
Tenant forwarding-address duty Not addressed by statute

Notes and caveats

max_deposit null: verified negative — full-text sweep of Title 6 ch. 3 (§§ 6-301 to 6-324) and Title 55 chs. 2-3 found no cap; § 55-306 in fact preempts LOCAL regulation of deposits. separate_account_required false for landlords generally: § 6-321(4) (added 2021 ch. 197) imposes the separate federally-insured-account rule only on third-party managers, and exempts property owners, managers with common members/principals of the owner entity, real estate licensees, and title 30 ch. 30 nonprofits — the licensee exemption covers most professional PMs. interest_required false: verified negative, no interest provision anywhere in swept chapters. nonrefundable_fees_allowed null: no statute expressly allows or bans them; § 6-321(1) deems every non-rent amount deposited a refundable security deposit (refundable except contingencies specified in the deposit arrangement), and the AG manual's framing is 'rent is non-refundable, deposits are refundable.' § 6-320(e): the tenant remedy section does not apply to tracts of 5+ acres used for agricultural purposes. § 6-321(3): on sale of the property the new owner is liable for the refund. Double-read: § 6-321 verified verbatim on the official HTML page and the official T6CH3.pdf chapter PDF.

Statute citations

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on legislature.idaho.gov (official HTML section pages), double-read against the official chapter PDFs (T6CH3.pdf, T55CH3.pdf, T55CH2.pdf) and the enrolled session laws S1043 (2025 ch. 65 recodification), H0594 (2020 ch. 254), H0545 (2024 ch. 257); Idaho Attorney General Landlord and Tenant Manual (July 2025) used as official agency confirmation of verified negatives; FindLaw mirror used only to reconcile pre-2025 section numbering.