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Give My Deposit Back

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Pennsylvania security deposit demand letter

This is the body of the letter, with your details in brackets. Sentences marked "Only if" appear only when your answers match. The letter is sent in your name.

I was a tenant at [rental address]. I paid a security deposit of $[deposit amount]. My lease terminated on [lease end date], and I returned possession on [surrender date]. I gave you my new address in writing on [forwarding address date].

Under section 512(a) of the Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, 68 P.S. § 250.512, within thirty days of the termination of a lease, or the surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever occurs first, a landlord must give the tenant a written list of any damages for which the landlord claims the tenant is liable, and must pay the tenant the difference between the deposit, with any unpaid interest, and the actual damages. The same subsection allows a landlord to refuse to return the deposit for nonpayment of rent or for breach of another condition of the lease.

More than thirty days have passed.

[Only if no list received] I have not received a written list of damages.[Only if nothing returned] I have not received my deposit.[Only if partial return] I received $[amount returned] on [date returned]. I have not received the balance.

[Only if no list received] Section 512(b) provides that a landlord who fails to provide the written list within thirty days forfeits all rights to withhold any portion of the deposit and interest, and all rights to sue the tenant for damages to the premises.

Section 512(c) provides that if the landlord fails to pay the tenant the difference between the deposit, with interest, and the actual damages within thirty days, the landlord is liable for double the amount by which the deposit and interest exceed the actual damages, as determined by a court, and that the burden of proving actual damages is on the landlord.

I am requesting the return of my security deposit with any interest required by the Act.

Statute: 68 P.S. § 250.512. Read the statute.

Last reviewed: October 2026