What Must a Security Deposit Receipt Include?

A security deposit receipt must document more than money received: beyond the amount, date, property and parties, many states require it to disclose where the deposit is held (sometimes the bank's name and address), whether it earns interest, and the conditions and deadline for its return. It is the first document in a paper trail that ends, months or years later, with the deposit's return — or the dispute over it.

This is general information, not legal advice; landlord-tenant statutes vary significantly by state.

The core fields

1. Date received.
2. Tenant and landlord names — as on the lease.
3. Property address.
4. Amount, labeled as security deposit — separate from rent, pet deposits or last month's rent, each of which may have different legal treatment.
5. Payment method.
6. Signature of the receiver.

The labeling matters more here than on any other receipt: commingled "move-in money" without labels becomes ambiguous exactly when clarity is needed. If one payment covers deposit plus first month, itemize each on its own line — the same principle as any partial or split payment receipt.

The disclosure fields states add

• Where the deposit is held: several states require naming the bank or escrow institution — some require the account details on the receipt or within days of receipt.
• Interest: a number of states and cities require deposits to earn interest with periodic statements or credits.
• Return terms: the statutory deadline (commonly 14–45 days after move-out, varying by state) and the deduction rules. Restating them on the receipt isn't always required but prevents the standard dispute.
• Move-in condition reference: not part of the receipt strictly, but the receipt is the natural place to reference the condition report both parties signed — the two documents together bracket the tenancy.

Why this receipt outlives the others

Rent receipts matter for months; the deposit receipt matters for the entire tenancy plus the return window. At move-out, the questions are: how much was the deposit (the receipt), what condition justified deductions (the condition report), and was the return timely (the statute). Landlords who can produce all three win disputes cheaply; the record-keeping habit is the same one behind how to write a rent receipt, with higher stakes.

For landlords: issue it properly

Number it in your receipt series (numbering systems here), give the tenant the original, keep a copy with the lease, and diary the statutory return deadline the day you issue it. The rent receipt template adapts directly — relabel the line item as security deposit and add the holding disclosure your state requires; generate it at /create.

For tenants: what to check before signing anything

That the amount matches the lease, that "deposit" is the word on the paper, that the receiver's signature is real ink or verifiable, and — in disclosure states — that the holding information is present. A tenant holding a proper deposit receipt has already won half of the eventual argument; one holding a rent receipt that vaguely includes "move-in funds" has not. Keep it with the lease for the duration; a photo backed up somewhere counts, per the durability logic of handwritten receipts.

The bottom line

Amount, parties, property, date, label — then the state-specific disclosures: where held, what interest, when returned. One extra paragraph at move-in, one avoided dispute at move-out.