Connecticut's §47a-21 is a banking statute as much as a landlord-tenant one — escrow accounts, annual interest, and a return clock with a doubling penalty — plus a senior-tenant protection found almost nowhere else.
How much can a landlord charge?
Two months' rent — but only one month if the tenant is 62 or older. A tenant who turns 62 mid-tenancy can demand refund of the excess. Deposits sit in an escrow account at a Connecticut financial institution, separate from the landlord's funds, remaining the tenant's property.
Interest — annually, by law
Deposits earn interest at the rate set annually by the Banking Commissioner (tied to deposit-index rates), paid or credited to the tenant each year on the tenancy anniversary and at the end. Decades of unpaid deposit interest is one of Connecticut's most common quiet violations.
The return clock
The landlord must return the deposit plus accrued interest within 21 days of termination or 15 days after receiving the tenant's forwarding address in writing — whichever is later — accompanied by a written itemized statement of any damages claimed. Tenants: send the forwarding address in writing immediately; the clock literally waits for it.
Deductions and the penalty
Unpaid rent and damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, itemized. Fail the deadline or the itemization and the landlord is liable for twice the amount of the deposit — enforced through housing session courts and small claims, with the doubled figure computed on the full deposit for return violations.
Why Connecticut deposit disputes are documentation disputes
The statute polices money-handling to the decimal, but leaves the wear-and-tear line — where every actual dispute lives — entirely to the evidence. In a two-month-deposit state, that line can be worth thousands, and it's drawn by whoever documented condition, not whoever remembers it.
SealMove draws it permanently. Every photo and video is cryptographically sealed the instant it's captured, independently timestamped, and locked with Face ID into a tamper-evident archive. At move-out, your walkthrough lines up room-by-room against the sealed baseline — and either party can send the other a report to review and acknowledge, no app required.