Settle a security deposit after move-out
deposit_settlement_settleRead-onlyIdempotent
Settles a US residential security deposit after move-out under the state's statute (50 states and DC) and a covered city's ordinance. Inputs: state, deposit_usd, vacated_on; optional city, monthly_rent_usd, move_in_on, deductions (category, amount, item age, whether the tenant caused it), the dates that start a state's clock, and as_of. Returns the return deadline and its status, each deduction allowed or not (with depreciation), interest owed, refund due, penalty exposure, a draft itemized statement and a citation for every rule. Not for: legal advice, tenant demand letters, repair cost estimates, pet deposits, rentals outside the US. Deterministic and source-cited: the same input gives the same result.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| city | No | City, for a city overlay where covered (e.g. 'Chicago'). Optional. | |
| as_of | No | Date for deadline status; defaults to today (UTC). Send YYYY-MM-DD for repeatable results. | |
| audit | No | Also return the run record and input/result hashes (an audit trail). Default false. | |
| state | Yes | US state, 2-letter code (e.g. 'CA'); a state name also works. | |
| county | No | TN county: act applies over 75,000 population by 2010 census (66-28-102(a)). Inferred from city only if unambiguous. | |
| returned | No | Prior refund/statement and date; timeliness assesses each duty and days late. | |
| furnished | No | The unit is rented furnished (California before AB 12: 3 months; Kansas: 1.5 months; Delaware: no cap). | |
| deductions | No | Charges to deduct (or the landlord's list). Explicit [] means no deductions and selects shorter periods (MT10 days, AK14); omit when unknown. | |
| move_in_on | No | Tenancy start (YYYY-MM-DD). Used for interest and, when an item's age is unknown, for depreciation. | |
| vacated_on | Yes | Day the tenant moved out and returned possession (YYYY-MM-DD). | |
| client_refs | No | Your own reference ids (e.g. unit_id, job_id). Echoed back, never used. | |
| deposit_usd | Yes | Security deposit held, dollars. | |
| lease_end_on | No | Scheduled lease end (YYYY-MM-DD), if different from actual tenancy end. Lost rent/lease-break charges use it. Deadlines use tenancy_ended_on, else move-out; scheduled end remains a later alternative. | |
| serve_pinned | No | Optional, with expect_ruleset. True asks us to answer under the ruleset version you named even when the rules have changed since, from that version's signed bundle; the result says so in served_from_bundle. We refuse a version older than 12 months, one a later correction or law change replaced for your state, or one we have no bundle for. Default false: the call fails whenever the rules have changed. | |
| tenancy_type | No | written_lease or at_will. ME 6033(2): written period<=30 days, at-will 21. MA 15 B(4):30 days from move-out(at-will) or lease end(written). Omitted when vacated_on precedes tenancy_ended_on: earlier at-will date leads; other date listed. | |
| documentation | No | What documentation you have; leave a field out when unknown. | |
| building_units | No | Units in the building. Some interest rules depend on it (NY 6+, IL 25+). | |
| expect_ruleset | No | Optional. The ruleset version you built against, as results carry it in provenance.ruleset_version (e.g. 'sd-2026.11.14'), or its sha256: hash. If the rules have changed since, the call fails (nothing computed, nothing charged) and says what is in force now, so you upgrade on your own schedule. Leave it out to answer under the current rules. | |
| owner_occupied | No | The landlord lives in the building (ME, NH, NJ and Chicago exempt small owner-occupied buildings; with building_units). | |
| small_landlord | No | CA AB 12: natural person or LLC of natural persons, at most 2 properties containing at most 4 units total, tenant not a service member;2 month cap. | |
| pet_deposit_usd | No | Pet portion of deposit_usd: outside caps in MO/AL/ND/Saint Paul; extra cap allowance of 1 month in HI/AK, half in KS, quarter in NE. | |
| monthly_rent_usd | No | Monthly rent, for the deposit cap check. | |
| prepaid_rent_usd | No | Advance rent beyond first month, held besides deposit_usd. Counts in AK/AZ/CA/CT/MD/MI/NY caps; earns interest in CT/MA(last-month rent)/MD/Chicago; Minneapolis cap becomes half-month. UT: send only unused balance, added to refund (57-17-3(2)(b)); elsewhere refund is deposit-only with prepaid-return warning. | |
| tenancy_ended_on | No | Actual tenancy end: lease end, early termination or accepted surrender (YYYY-MM-DD). End-of-tenancy deadlines use this; send a different scheduled end as lease_end_on. Legacy scheduled ends still work, with an earlier move-out alternative where applicable. | |
| tenant_abandoned | No | Abandoned or evicted: MD 8-203(h) clock starts at written demand; WA 59.18.280 at landlord awareness; LA 9:3251(C) one-month rule excluded. Omitted: inferred from tenant_gave_proper_notice=false. If vacated_on precedes tenancy_ended_on, earlier abandonment clock leads; other date listed. | |
| contractor_needed | No | Damage exceeds the deposit and needs a third-party contractor, and you said so in writing in time (Virginia, West Virginia: 15 more days). | |
| lease_return_days | No | Return period the lease sets, in days, where the statute lets a lease set one (Colorado up to 60, Idaho up to 30, Maine shorter). | |
| lease_term_months | No | Term of the lease in months (0 for month-to-month). Delaware's cap applies to leases of a year or more, New Mexico's to shorter ones. | |
| statement_sent_on | No | Itemized statement sent/delivered (YYYY-MM-DD), to assess timeliness; documentation.itemized_statement alone supplies no date. | |
| demand_received_on | No | Deposit demand received (YYYY-MM-DD): written in OK; first-class mail in MD (8-203(h)). Starts clocks in AZ/KS/OK/SC/MS. | |
| tenant_age_60_plus | No | An occupant is 60+ (NH 540-A:5,I: owner-occupied exemption excluded). tenant_age_62_plus=true implies this. | |
| tenant_age_62_plus | No | The tenant is 62 or older (Connecticut: a one-month cap). | |
| deposit_required_on | No | Colorado cap: date submission was required. Collection, move-out and as_of cannot establish the 2027 exception. | |
| new_tenant_rent_usd | No | Monthly rent the new tenant pays (with new_tenant_moved_in_on): the rent received for overlapping days is credited against rent claimed for them. | |
| third_party_managed | No | A third party manages the unit or collects rent for a fee. | |
| claim_notice_sent_on | No | Written claim notice sent (YYYY-MM-DD). FL: within 30 days of termination; DC:45. Balance due 30 days after timely notice; late notice does not count. | |
| deposit_collected_on | No | Collection date; defaults to move_in_on. CA AB12 uses it. CO: proxy only if deposit_required_on is absent; never proves the exception. | |
| landlord_units_owned | No | Rental units the landlord owns in all (Arkansas 5 or fewer, Georgia 10 or fewer, with third_party_managed, may be exempt). | |
| interest_paid_through | No | Interest already paid/credited through this date; accrual starts here (annual-payment rules, e.g. SF/LA/Berkeley/CT/MA). | |
| interest_rate_percent | No | Annual deposit-bank rate: NJ/ND/NH/NY/PA/Portland; MA uses lesser of bank rate or 5%. Omitted bank rate is unknown. IL 765 ILCS 715 uses published IDFPR rate instead. | |
| new_tenant_moved_in_on | No | Re-rented: new tenant's move-in date (YYYY-MM-DD). Can shorten WV/WI periods; rent overlapping the new tenancy is unrecoverable. | |
| rent_ordinance_covered | No | Covered by LA RSO or Berkeley Rent Ordinance: required for their deposit interest. Unknown interest stays beside, not inside, refund. | |
| owner_is_natural_person | No | GA 44-7-36 only: true=natural-person owner; false=LLC/corporation/partnership/trust, which cannot claim small-landlord exemption. Omitted: exemption stays an alternative. | |
| renter_notice_served_on | No | UT 57-17-3(3) renter notice served after deadline (YYYY-MM-DD). Owner gets 5 business days to comply (5); no notice means no 57-17-5 relief. | |
| landlord_filed_action_on | No | MI 554.613: date landlord sued for claimed damage (YYYY-MM-DD); sue or return balance within 45 days. Omitted assumes no suit. | |
| tenant_gave_proper_notice | No | A termination notice that meets the statute was given (Alaska: 14 days instead of 30 when nothing is deducted for damage). | |
| lease_signed_or_renewed_on | No | Current lease signing/last renewal (YYYY-MM-DD). GA cap from 2024-07-01; MD from 2024-10-01. Defaults move_in_on; warns later renewal may activate cap. | |
| deposit_in_separate_account | No | TN 66-28-301(a): deposit-only separate account. No account and no damage listing means none can be kept (c). | |
| nonstandard_provision_signed | No | Wisconsin: the tenant signed a separate NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS document covering the charge (ATCP 134.06(3)(b)); false makes such charges 'no'. | |
| forwarding_address_received_on | No | Written forwarding address received (YYYY-MM-DD). Can start/hold clocks in TX, CT, IA, MN. | |
| tenant_gave_forwarding_address | No | False: no written forwarding address ever given. May relieve penalties in IL/PA/OH/SC/NH; DE also accepts a lease notice address. forwarding_address_received_on implies true. | |
| colorado_post_closing_occupancy | No | Colorado: buyer-landlord bought this residence from seller-tenant; both executed purchase-contract post-closing occupancy before the deposit was required. True confirms all facts; false excludes; null unknown. Exception from 2027-01-01. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| run | No | ||
| links | No | ||
| result | Yes | ||
| review | No | ||
| reading | No | ||
| signature | No | ||
| input_hash | No | ||
| client_refs | No | ||
| deprecation | No | ||
| result_hash | No | ||
| request_hash | No |