In Arkansas, a covered landlord has 60 days after your tenancy ends to return your security deposit, along with a written itemized statement of any deductions. The deposit itself is capped at the equivalent of two months' rent. These rules come from Arkansas's security deposit subchapter, Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-301 and following. One feature that surprises many Arkansas renters: the law does not apply to every landlord. The Attorney General's office states the coverage rule bluntly — this law “applies only to landlords who rent six or more dwellings” — and it applies to private rentals, not government-subsidized housing.
How much can a landlord charge, and who is covered?
Arkansas limits a security deposit to no more than the equivalent of two months' rent. The Attorney General states the cap with no exceptions: “If you are required to pay a security deposit, you cannot be charged in excess of two months' rent.” The cap in § 18-16-304 reaches security taken however it is denominated, so do not assume a landlord can stack an extra charge on top of the ceiling simply by printing the word “fee” on it. No free official Arkansas source recognizes a carve-out from the cap for “nonrefundable” move-in, cleaning, or pet fees. If a covered landlord charges you two months' rent as a deposit plus a large nonrefundable fee, that is worth challenging, not accepting.
The biggest Arkansas-specific catch is the small-landlord exemption. The subchapter generally applies only to landlords who rent six or more dwelling units, or who use a paid third-party manager for their units. A landlord who personally owns five or fewer units and manages them without a paid agent may be exempt from the deposit cap and the return deadline entirely. If your landlord is a small individual owner, your rights come from your lease and general contract law instead — not from this statute.
Deposit cap: two months' rent, for covered landlords — with no official “fee” exception.
Exemption: a landlord renting five or fewer units and managing them personally may not be bound by the statute at all.
Verify: ask how many units your landlord rents, and whether a paid management company is involved. That one answer decides which rules apply to you.
One thing your city cannot do is help. Under Act 459 of 2025, which rewrote Ark. Code Ann. § 14-16-601, no Arkansas city, county, or other local government may enact or enforce an ordinance controlling the amount charged for rent, rental application fees, or rental deposits. The statewide cap is the ceiling; there is no stricter local deposit ordinance to go looking for.
The 60-day return deadline and itemized statement
For covered landlords, the deposit — minus any lawful deductions — must be returned within 60 days after the tenancy ends. If the landlord keeps any portion, the Attorney General confirms that “the landlord must give you a written, itemized list of the charges withheld within 60 days.” The 60-day clock is current law, not an old figure: Act 559 of 2009 amended § 18-16-305 in strike-and-underline, raising the deadline from thirty days to sixty.
Give the landlord a written forwarding address when you move out. Under § 18-16-305(b), a landlord is deemed to have complied by mailing the notice and any payment by first class mail to your last known address. But that is not the end of your deposit. Act 559 sets out exactly what happens next: if the letter containing the payment comes back to the landlord and the landlord “is unable to locate the tenant after reasonable effort,” then the payment becomes the landlord's property 180 days from the date the payment was mailed — and not before. Two things follow, and both favor you:
You have a 180-day window. If you moved without leaving a forwarding address, the money is not gone the moment the envelope bounces. Contact the landlord in writing and claim it.
The landlord must actually look for you. Forfeiture requires a reasonable effort to locate you. A landlord who mailed one letter to an address they knew you had left, and did nothing else, has not met that condition.
What can and cannot be deducted
For a covered landlord, the money may be applied to accrued unpaid rent and to damages the landlord suffered from your noncompliance with the rental agreement — “all as itemized by the landlord in a written notice delivered to the tenant.” A covered landlord may not charge you for normal wear and tear: the gradual, expected deterioration that happens when a place is lived in responsibly. A landlord may keep the entire deposit if the damage or unpaid rent exceeds it.
Usually deductible: unpaid rent, holes in walls, broken fixtures, pet damage, removing trash or abandoned property, cleaning filth well beyond normal use.
Not deductible (normal wear and tear): faded paint, minor carpet wear in walkways, small nail holes, lightly worn appliances, and general aging from ordinary living.
Remember the coverage line. The itemization duty and the deduction limits are creatures of this statute, so they bind covered landlords. If your landlord is an exempt small owner, there is no statutory right to a written itemization — what you can insist on is whatever your lease says. Document everything either way: date-stamped photos or video at move-in and move-out, your signed move-in checklist, and copies of every message. That evidence is what wins these cases.
Interest on deposits
Arkansas does not require landlords to pay interest on residential security deposits or to hold them in a separate escrow account. Do not expect interest unless your lease specifically promises it.
Penalties for wrongful withholding
The subchapter's remedies section, Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-306, is the tenant's lever. It lets a tenant whose covered landlord failed to comply recover the property and money due, damages equal to two times the amount wrongfully withheld, costs, and a reasonable attorney's fee. The doubling is a fixed measure, not a judge's ceiling.
The exception you need to know before you count on it: the same section limits the landlord to costs plus the sum wrongly withheld if the landlord proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the noncompliance was a bona fide error that happened despite procedures reasonably designed to avoid it, or was based on a good-faith dispute over the amount due. A landlord who genuinely disagrees about the cost of the carpet is in a very different position from one who simply kept your money and ignored you. So aim your demand letter at showing there was no good-faith dispute: point to the missing itemized list, the blown 60-day deadline, or the invented charge.
A note on sourcing, because you deserve to know. Arkansas is unusual: it does not publish its codified statutes free online, and the 1979 act that created § 18-16-306 predates the legislature's digital archive. Every other rule on this page is linked to a free official Arkansas source we read ourselves. The exact wording of the remedies section is the one thing we could not pull from a free government source. Read § 18-16-306 itself at a county law library or courthouse, or ask an Arkansas legal aid office, before you rely on the precise multiplier in a filing.
A second route to your deposit: uninhabitable housing
Since Act 1052 of 2021, leases entered into or renewed after November 1, 2021 carry implied residential quality standards (§ 18-17-502) — running water, potable water, working sewer and plumbing, electric, a sound roof and building envelope, and functioning heat and air where the unit already had it. If your unit does not comply, your rent is current, and you give the landlord written notice (certified mail, or another method your lease allows) specifying exactly what is wrong, then if the landlord does not fix it within 30 calendar days, your remedy is to terminate the lease without penalty and get your security deposit back. The statute calls this the tenant's sole remedy, and it does not excuse you from paying rent in the meantime — but it is a real, separate path to recovering a deposit that the deposit statute alone does not give you.
How to sue — and how to pick the right court
Deposit cases belong in District Court, but which division you choose changes what you can win. This is the detail most Arkansas renters get wrong.
Small claims division — no lawyers, on either side. The Arkansas Judiciary describes it as handling contract and personal-property matters up to $5,000, tried informally with relaxed rules of evidence. The Attorney General's Guide to Small Claims Court is blunter: these cases are resolved “under relaxed rules of procedure and without attorneys.” Attorneys are not merely unnecessary there — they are not permitted, so your landlord cannot bring one either. The trade-off: if no attorney can appear, the statutory attorney's fee award under § 18-16-306 has nothing to attach to.
Regular civil division — lawyers allowed. District courts hear civil matters up to $25,000. If you want counsel, or you want to pursue the statutory attorney's fee and double damages with a lawyer's help, this is the division to file in.
Send a written demand letter first, stating the amount owed and a deadline (often 7-14 days). Reference the missing itemized statement and the 60-day deadline.
File in the county where the landlord resides or where the obligation was to be performed — that is the venue rule in the Attorney General's guide, and it is usually, but not always, where the rental sits.
Filing fees typically run about $30 to $65, per that guide; your district court clerk has the exact figure.
Bring your lease, move-in and move-out photos, the itemized statement (or proof none ever came), and your demand letter.
Either side may appeal a small claims judgment within 30 days of entry.
Legal aid or a tenant attorney is worth a call if the amount is large, if you want the statutory attorney's fee, or if you are unsure whether the statute even covers your landlord — that last question decides everything else. This article is general information, not legal advice; Arkansas law changes, so confirm the current Arkansas statute or consult an Arkansas landlord-tenant attorney about your situation.
Official Legal Sources for Arkansas
This page is based on Arkansas state landlord–tenant law. Laws change — verify the current text directly against the official sources below. This is general legal information, not legal advice.
Arkansas landlord–tenant statutes (full text) — reproduced on this site from the public-domain Arkansas Code, because Arkansas publishes its official code only through a commercial service.
Local ordinances may apply. This page covers Arkansas state law. Your city or county may add protections — such as rent control, just-cause eviction, rental registration, or stricter housing codes — that change these rules. Check your local city or county ordinances.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an Arkansas landlord have to return my deposit?
For landlords covered by the statute -- those renting six or more dwellings, or using a paid third-party manager -- the deposit and a written itemized statement of any deductions are due within 60 days after your tenancy ends. Act 559 of 2009 raised that deadline from 30 days, so 60 is current law. If your landlord is an exempt small owner, this deadline does not bind them and your lease governs.
Is there a limit on how much deposit a landlord can charge in Arkansas?
Yes. For covered landlords the deposit is capped at the equivalent of two months' rent, and the Attorney General states that cap with no exception. The cap in Ark. Code Ann. 18-16-304 reaches security taken however it is denominated, so a landlord should not be able to escape it by labeling an extra charge a nonrefundable fee. No free official Arkansas source recognizes such a carve-out. If you were charged two months' rent plus a large nonrefundable move-in, cleaning, or pet fee, that is worth challenging.
Why might Arkansas's deposit law not apply to my landlord?
Arkansas exempts small landlords. The Attorney General's office says the law 'applies only to landlords who rent six or more dwellings.' If your landlord rents five or fewer units and manages them personally without a paid third-party manager, the cap, the 60-day deadline, and the written-itemization duty likely do not apply at all -- your rights come from your lease and general contract law. Ask how many units your landlord rents; that answer decides everything else.
Can my landlord keep the deposit for normal wear and tear?
Not if the statute covers your landlord. A covered landlord may deduct only accrued unpaid rent and damages from your noncompliance with the lease, all itemized in a written notice -- not the ordinary aging of the unit (faded paint, light carpet wear, small nail holes). But if your landlord is an exempt small owner, that statutory protection and the written-itemization duty do not apply, and what you can insist on is whatever your lease promises.
What if my landlord mails the deposit to my old address and it comes back?
You still have time. Under Ark. Code Ann. 18-16-305(b), as amended by Act 559 of 2009, a returned payment becomes the landlord's property only 180 days after the date it was mailed, and only if the landlord is unable to locate you after reasonable effort. The money is not forfeited the moment the envelope bounces, and a landlord who made no real effort to find you has not met the condition. Contact them in writing and claim it.
What can I recover if my landlord wrongfully keeps my deposit?
Under Ark. Code Ann. 18-16-306, a tenant of a covered landlord can recover the money due, damages equal to two times the amount wrongfully withheld, costs, and a reasonable attorney's fee. The important exception: if the landlord proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure was a bona fide error made despite procedures designed to avoid it, or was based on a good-faith dispute over the amount due, the landlord owes only the sum withheld plus costs. One caveat we will be straight about -- Arkansas does not publish its code free online, so read 18-16-306 at a law library or ask legal aid before relying on the exact multiplier in a filing.
Where do I sue in Arkansas to get my deposit back?
In District Court -- but choose the division carefully. The small claims division handles claims up to $5,000 informally and, per the Attorney General's official guide, 'without attorneys': no lawyer may appear for you or for your landlord, which also means the statutory attorney's-fee award has nothing to attach to there. If you want a lawyer, or you want to pursue that fee, file in the district court's regular civil division, which hears civil matters up to $25,000. Venue is the county where the landlord resides or where the obligation was to be performed. Send a written demand letter first.
This article is general legal information, not legal advice, and may not reflect the most current law or the law in your jurisdiction. Laws vary by state and change over time. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed attorney.
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