Landlord Atlas

What are the security deposit rules in Nebraska?

Verified July 11, 2026 All Nebraska topics →

Nebraska caps security deposits at one month's rent, plus a pet deposit of up to one-quarter of a month's rent, and the landlord must return the balance with a written itemization within 14 days after the tenancy ends.

Since a 2019 amendment (LB 433) the 14-day clock runs from the date the tenancy terminates — the tenant does not have to demand the money or supply an address first, and if no address was provided the landlord must mail the refund to the tenant's last-known address, with long-unclaimed balances going to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property. A landlord who misses the deadline owes the tenant the money due plus court costs and attorney's fees, and a willful, bad-faith failure adds liquidated damages of one month's rent or twice the deposit, whichever is less. There is no interest, escrow, or separate-account requirement, and the deposit cap does not bind public housing agencies.

Nebraska security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit 1 month's rent — One month's periodic rent is the ceiling for security 'however denominated'; in addition, a pet deposit of up to one-fourth of one month's periodic rent may be demanded 'when appropriate,' so a tenancy with a pet can carry up to 1.25 months total. The cap does not apply to housing agencies organized or existing under the Nebraska Housing Agency Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-1416(1)).
Return deadline 14 days
Deadline conditions The balance and a written itemization must be delivered or mailed to the tenant within 14 days after the date of termination of the tenancy (76-1416(2)). No demand by the tenant is required, and the clock does not wait for a forwarding address: if the tenant provides no mailing address or instructions, the landlord must mail the balance and itemization by first-class mail to the tenant's last-known mailing address. If that mailing comes back undeliverable, or the returned balance stays outstanding for one year, it becomes abandoned property that must be reported and paid to the State Treasurer under the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act.
Itemization required Yes
Itemization rules A written itemization must accompany the returned balance within the 14-day window (76-1416(2)). The deposit and any prepaid rent may be applied only to unpaid rent and damages the landlord has suffered from the tenant's noncompliance with the rental agreement or with the tenant's maintenance duties under 76-1421.
Separate account required No
Interest owed to tenant No
Account & interest rules No section of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act requires interest on deposits or a separate, trust, or escrow account (negative check run twice against the full act text). Charts importing other states' escrow or interest rules into Nebraska are wrong.
Pet deposits Expressly authorized and separately capped: a pet deposit may not exceed one-fourth of one month's periodic rent, on top of the one-month general cap (76-1416(1)). It is part of the 'security' scheme, so the same 14-day return, itemization, and penalty rules apply.
Non-refundable fees allowed Not addressed by statute
Penalty for violation If the landlord fails to comply with the return-and-itemization duty, the tenant may recover the property and money due, court costs, and reasonable attorney's fees (76-1416(3)). If the failure is 'willful and not in good faith,' the tenant may additionally recover liquidated damages of one month's periodic rent or two times the security deposit, whichever is LESS — the lesser-of cap is in the statutory text and is routinely dropped by secondary sources that advertise a flat '2x deposit' penalty.
Tenant forwarding-address duty No affirmative statutory duty. If the tenant provides no mailing address or instructions, the landlord must mail the refund and itemization to the tenant's last-known address (76-1416(2)); the tenant does not forfeit the refund, which ultimately routes to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property.

Notes and caveats

Stale-source trap (high traffic): the original 1974 text required return 'within fourteen days after demand and designation of the location where payment may be made or mailed' — LB 433 (2019, approved May 30, 2019, no emergency clause, effective three calendar months after the 2019 session's May 31 adjournment) struck the demand-and-designation trigger and keyed the deadline to termination of the tenancy, adding the last-known-address mailing duty. Many charts and even careful secondary sources still print the demand trigger; it has been dead since 2019 (pinned from the LB 433 slip law, which shows the stricken text). LB 532 (2021, § 7) then replaced LB 433's 30/60-day State Treasurer remittance mechanics with the current one-year abandoned-property rule. Penalty trap: encode and render the lesser-of cap — '2x the deposit' alone overstates the exposure whenever the deposit exceeds half a month's rent (with a full one-month deposit the real ceiling is one month's rent). nonrefundable_fees_allowed is null: the act neither authorizes nor prohibits nonrefundable fees, and the cap's 'security, however denominated' language pulls anything functioning as security under the one-month ceiling; LB 17 (2025-26), which would have banned most non-rent fees, died in committee at sine die 2026-04-17. All figures quadruple-read (official page twice + LB 433 and LB 532 slip laws).

Statute citations

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Nebraska Legislature site (nebraskalegislature.gov): sections 76-1416, 76-1423, 76-1437, and 13-331 each fetched twice in independent reads (standard and print views) with all load-bearing figures matching verbatim (one-month deposit cap, one-quarter-month pet deposit, 14-day return keyed to the date of termination of the tenancy, lesser-of one month's rent/2x deposit penalty, 24 hours' written entry notice with purpose and anticipated-window content requirements, 30-day/7-day periodic termination notice, rent-control preemption text), and each additionally reconciled character-for-character against the official enacted slip laws downloaded from nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs: LB 433 (2019) and LB 532 (2021) for 76-1416, LB 320 (2021) for 76-1423, LB 266 (2025) for 13-331 — so every amendment claim is pinned from the session law itself. Also read: 76-1408 (exclusions), 76-1414 (rent terms), 76-1432(2) (absence entry), 76-1410(13) (rent definition), 76-1412 (unconscionability), 76-1431(2) (7-day pay-or-quit). FindLaw mirror (current through 2024) matched 76-1423 verbatim; Justia/LegiScan returned 403 and were not needed. Negative checks (no late-fee or grace-period provision, no deposit interest, no escrow/trust account, no rent-increase notice or frequency rule) run twice against the full act text via the legislature's consolidated display (76-1401 through 76-14,111). Pending-bill check 2026-07-11 on official bill pages: LB 17 (fee limits, late-fee cap) indefinitely postponed 2026-04-17; LB 587 (tenant remedies) indefinitely postponed 2026-04-17; LB 980 and LB 469 (2026 eviction-procedure bills) not enacted — no slip law exists; 109th Legislature 2nd session adjourned sine die 2026-04-17.