The security deposit: amount, rules, and refund
When you make a rental investment, you can, as the owner, require the payment of a security deposit whose amount and terms of restitution are regulated. We provide you with an overview of this regulation.
The purpose of a security deposit 🔏
The amount of the security deposit 💶
This cannot exceed one month’s rent excluding charges for unfurnished rentals, two months’ rent excluding charges for furnished rentals and must be indicated in the lease. It cannot be changed in case of renewal or revision of the lease. There is a special case: if you require rent to be paid in advance, for example quarterly, the security deposit cannot apply.
It is still at the time of signing the lease that this aspect is determined. The tenant plans to pay this amount directly to the landlord by check (or cash against receipt). If applicable, a third party takes care of it for him through one of the following schemes : Advance loca-pass from Action Logement, Aid from the Housing Solidarity Fund (FSL).
The thorny question of restitution 🥀
Who doesn’t know a tenant whose security deposit has been wrongfully withheld?
Failing to return it is not trivial; it exposes the landlord to a formal notice followed, in case of failure, by a court appearance or even a judgment, with, on the deposit side, accruing interest… But let’s stop considering the worst. In the vast majority of cases, here’s what you need to remember - no pun intended, of course. Theoretically, in the absence of damages noted in the inventory, the deposit must be returned no later than one month after the end of the lease. In case of deductions from the initial amount, the owner must be able to provide supporting documents: quotes or invoices, photos, expert reports, entry and exit inventories, etc. When the tenant leaves, in the case of a collective housing, the owner freezes the advance of recoverable charges. They can then provision these charges up to a limit of 20% of the security deposit. After the annual regularization, they have one month to reflect the validated accounts on the retained amount. Nota bene: you are not obliged to proceed this way; you can also settle accounts amicably, and that’s all we wish for you!
Also discover
