Hawaii: Security Deposit Return Deadlines & Deductions
The short answer
A Hawaii landlord must return your security deposit, or send written notice of any deductions with supporting evidence, within 14 days after your rental agreement terminates — one of the shortest deadlines in the country. Miss that deadline and the landlord forfeits the right to keep any of it, no matter what damage exists. The deposit itself is capped at one month's rent, plus a separate pet deposit of up to another month's rent if you have a pet. No interest is owed on it, and there's no separate-account requirement, though your claim to the money beats any of the landlord's other creditors. If a court finds the landlord retained your deposit wrongfully AND willfully, it can award triple the amount wrongfully withheld; if the retention was wrongful but not willful, you're only entitled to the amount itself.
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This is the general rule in Hawaii. Ezel applies current Hawaii law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44 (Residential Landlord-Tenant Code) |
|---|---|
| Deadline to return the deposit | 14 days after the rental agreement terminates — not gated on a separate forwarding-address or damages-determination step. Mailed delivery is presumptively timely if postmarked before midnight of the 14th day. Any action to recover a wrongfully withheld deposit must be filed within 1 year of termination. |
| Itemized statement required? | Yes — written notice of any amount retained, with the particulars and supporting evidence (estimates, invoices, receipts), due by the same 14-day deadline unless the tenant is deemed to have wrongfully quit. Missing the deadline forfeits the landlord's right to keep ANY portion of the deposit. |
| What can be deducted | Unpaid rent; damage from the tenant's failure to keep up statutory tenant duties, or unreturned keys/fobs/openers/mailbox keys; cleaning needed to return the unit to its move-in condition; damage caused by a tenant who wrongfully quits; pet-caused damage if a pet deposit was collected; and unpaid utility charges the landlord billed and paid on the tenant's behalf. The statute never uses the phrase 'normal wear and tear' — deductions are simply limited to this closed list of purposes. |
| Maximum deposit amount | One month's rent for the security deposit itself, plus a separate pet deposit of up to another month's rent if the tenant actually has a pet on the premises (not required, and not chargeable, for a disability assistance animal). No other money may be collected at lease signing besides first month's rent and these deposits. |
| Interest on the deposit? | No interest required |
| Penalty for a late/bad-faith withholding | Two independent remedies. (1) Missing the 14-day notice/return deadline is an automatic, no-fault forfeiture of the landlord's entire right to retain any part of the deposit. (2) In a small-claims dispute over a retained deposit: wrongful AND willful retention lets the court award triple the amount wrongfully withheld plus cost of suit; wrongful but not willful retention gets just the amount plus cost of suit; a landlord who was entitled to retain the money gets that amount plus cost of suit. Neither side may be represented by an attorney in that action. |
| Separate account or bond required? | No separate-account or bond requirement in the statute's text. The deposit must simply be 'held by the landlord for the tenant,' with the tenant's claim to it ranking ahead of the landlord's OTHER creditors — including a bankruptcy trustee — even if the deposit is commingled with the landlord's own funds. |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law
Hawaii's deposit rules live in one section of its Residential
Landlord-Tenant Code, Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44.
Deadline to return the deposit
The security deposit, minus any lawful deductions, "shall be returned to
the tenant not later than fourteen days after the termination of the
rental agreement" (§ 521-44(c)). That's the whole trigger — termination of
the rental agreement — with no separate forwarding-address or
damages-determination step required first. Mailed delivery counts as
timely if it's "postmarked before midnight of the fourteenth day." Any
lawsuit to recover a wrongfully withheld deposit has to be filed "not
later than one year after termination of the rental agreement."
Itemized statement required?
Yes, whenever the landlord wants to keep any part of the deposit. The
landlord must notify the tenant "in writing... together with the
particulars of and grounds for the retention, including written evidence
of the costs... such as estimates and invoices... or receipts" — and this
notice is due within the same 14-day window as the return itself. Skip it,
and "the landlord shall not be entitled to retain the security deposit or
any part of it," full stop (§ 521-44(c)).
What can be deducted
The statute limits deposits to five purposes: unpaid rent; damage from the
tenant's failure to meet the Code's maintenance duties, or unreturned
keys/fobs/openers/mailbox keys; cleaning needed to restore the unit to "as
fit a condition as that which the tenant entered into possession of";
damage caused by a tenant who wrongfully quits; pet-caused damage (if a
pet deposit was collected); and unpaid utility charges the landlord billed
and paid on the tenant's behalf (§ 521-44(a)). Notably, the statute's own
text never uses the phrase "normal wear and tear" — it simply doesn't
authorize a deduction outside this closed list.
Maximum deposit amount
One month's rent for the ordinary security deposit, plus — separately — a
pet deposit of up to another month's rent if the tenant actually has a pet
residing on the premises. That pet deposit "shall not be required... from
any tenant who does not have a pet animal," and can't be charged at all
for a disability assistance animal (§ 521-44(b)). Beyond these two
deposits and the first month's rent, "the landlord may not require or
receive from or on behalf of a tenant at the beginning of a rental
agreement any money other" (§ 521-44(b)).
Interest on the deposit?
No. Nothing in § 521-44 requires interest on a held deposit.
Penalty for a late/bad-faith withholding
Two separate mechanisms apply. First, missing the 14-day notice-and-return
deadline is an automatic forfeiture: the landlord "shall not be entitled
to retain the security deposit or any part of it," no fault or bad faith
required (§ 521-44(c)). Second, if the dispute reaches the small claims
division of district court, the outcome turns on the court's finding: if
the landlord "wrongfully and wilfully retained" the deposit, the court
"may award the tenant damages in an amount equal to three times the
amount... wrongfully and wilfully retained and the cost of suit"; if the
retention was wrongful but not willful, the court "shall award the tenant
damages in an amount equal to the amount... wrongfully retained and the
cost of suit" — no multiplier; and if the landlord was actually entitled
to keep the money, the court awards the landlord that same disputed amount
plus costs (§ 521-44(h)). Notably, "neither the landlord nor the tenant
may be represented by an attorney" in that small-claims action.
Separate account or bond required?
No. The statute only requires the deposit to be "held by the landlord for
the tenant," with the tenant's claim ranking ahead of the landlord's OTHER
creditors — including a bankruptcy trustee — "even if the security
deposits are commingled" with the landlord's own money (§ 521-44(b)). This
is a bankruptcy-priority protection, not an affirmative duty to keep the
money in a separate account.
What trips people up
A long, unexplained absence can cost you the whole deposit before you
even move out. If you're away from the unit for 20 or more continuous
days without giving the landlord written notice, the statute deems you to
have "wrongfully quit" — and the landlord "may retain the entire amount"
of the deposit on that basis alone (§ 521-44(d)), separate from the normal
14-day return process.
The 14-day clock is genuinely short — don't expect a grace period.
Unlike many states that allow 30, 45, or 60 days, Hawaii's deadline runs
from termination of the rental agreement with no extra step built in.
A treble-damages award isn't automatic just because the landlord kept
your money. You get three times the amount only if a court finds the
retention was both wrongful AND willful; an ordinary wrongful (but
good-faith) retention only gets you the amount itself plus court costs.
Common questions
How long does my Hawaii landlord have to return my deposit? 14 days
after the rental agreement terminates.
Is there a cap on my deposit? Yes — one month's rent, plus a separate
pet deposit of up to another month's rent if you have a pet.
Can I get triple my deposit back if the landlord kept it wrongly? Only
if a court finds the retention was both wrongful and willful. A wrongful
but non-willful retention only entitles you to the amount itself plus
costs.
Statutes and sources
- Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44(a) — defines a security deposit and the five purposes it may be used for.
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0044.htm (accessed 2026-07-06) - Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44(b) — the one-month deposit cap, the separate pet-deposit cap, and the creditor-priority protection.
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0044.htm (accessed 2026-07-06) - Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44(c) — the 14-day return/notice deadline and automatic forfeiture for missing it.
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0044.htm (accessed 2026-07-06) - Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44(d) — the 20-day-absence deemed-wrongful-quit rule.
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0044.htm (accessed 2026-07-06) - Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-44(h) — the small-claims damages tiers (treble/actual/landlord-entitled) and the no-attorney-representation rule.
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0044.htm (accessed 2026-07-06)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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