Does Connecticut have a holding deposit law?

No holding-deposit statute appears in the Connecticut text recorded for this page, and whether the security-deposit statute reaches one depends on whether a rental agreement existed when the money was paid. § 47a-21(a)(11) defines a security deposit as “any advance rental payment” with exceptions; the cap and return rules are written for a “tenant”, a person “entitled under a rental agreement” under § 47a-1(l); and under § 47a-1(i) a rental agreement may be oral. The text does not say which side of that line a given holding deposit falls on.

How much can a Connecticut landlord take as a holding deposit?

Connecticut sets no figure for a holding deposit as such; if the money is a security deposit, § 47a-21(b) applies. Verbatim: “(1) In the case of a tenant under sixty-two years of age, a landlord shall not demand a security deposit in an amount that exceeds two months’ rent. (2) In the case of a tenant sixty-two years of age or older, a landlord shall not demand a security deposit in an amount that exceeds one month’s rent.” Both limbs are written for a tenant, and whether an applicant is one turns on whether a rental agreement, written or oral, exists.

When must a Connecticut landlord return a holding deposit?

If the money is a security deposit, § 47a-21(d)(2) requires delivery “Not later than twenty-one days after termination of a tenancy or fifteen days after receiving written notification of such tenant’s forwarding address, whichever is later”; if it is not, the statute as recorded for this page sets no deadline. Delivery is of the full amount plus accrued interest, or the balance after deductions for damages with a written statement itemizing their nature and amount. Whether a withdrawal before move-in is a “termination of a tenancy” is not answered by the text.

Is the Connecticut security deposit return deadline 30 days?

No; the 30-day figure comes from P.A. 87-348 in the amendment history and is superseded. The operative text of § 47a-21(d)(2) is twenty-one days after termination of a tenancy or fifteen days after written notification of a forwarding address, whichever is later. The thirty-day figure that is current is in (h)(4)(A): written notice of the amount held and the financial institution “not later than thirty days after the landlord receives a security deposit”, which is a disclosure duty, not a return deadline.

What if the applicant walks away after paying a Connecticut holding deposit?

The statute does not address an applicant who walks away, and what governs depends on whether an agreement to rent had been reached. If none had, the applicant was not a tenant under § 47a-1(l), no provision of § 47a-21 as recorded for this page reaches the money by its terms, and whether a written term about the money would be enforced is a contract question not researched here. If an oral agreement had been reached, the money may be a security deposit governed by (d)(2), though whether the withdrawal is a “termination of a tenancy” is not answered by the text.

Can a Connecticut holding deposit be non-refundable?

The statute does not say, and a blanket forfeiture clause is where a landlord is most exposed if the money turns out to be a security deposit. § 47a-21(d)(2) requires a landlord holding a security deposit to deliver either the full amount plus accrued interest or the balance after deduction for damages with a written itemised statement, and a landlord keeping the whole of it without a statement is exposed to twice the deposit, if the (d)(2) clock was triggered. Where no agreement to rent existed, the text recorded for this page supplies no rule either way, and whether a forfeiture term would be enforced was not researched.

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Free Connecticut Holding Deposit Agreement

Name: Free Connecticut Holding Deposit Agreement — Fillable PDF
Uploaded: 2026-08-28
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Description: Free Connecticut Holding Deposit Agreement — Fillable PDF

Connecticut has no holding-deposit statute in the text recorded for this page. Its security-deposit definition, § 47a-21(a)(11), reaches “any advance rental payment” — but the cap and the return deadline are written for a tenant, a person “entitled under a rental agreement”, and a rental agreement may be oral. Whether a given holding deposit is a security deposit depends on whether an agreement to rent existed when the money was paid, and the statute does not say.

Holding Deposit Record Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-21 Connecticut Free PDF

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Reviewed for Connecticut ~41 min read

A holding deposit is money a prospective tenant pays to take a unit off the market before a lease is signed. Connecticut is one of the seven states compared here where the security-deposit definition is written broadly enough to make the question genuinely hard. Chapter 831 of the General Statutes is captioned “Security Deposits”, and § 47a-21(a)(11) defines a security deposit as “any advance rental payment” with named exceptions. Nothing in the definition says the payer must already be a tenant. But the cap in subsection (b) and the return and penalty in subsection (d) are written in terms of a “tenant” or a “tenancy”, and a tenant under § 47a-1(l) is a person “entitled under a rental agreement”. Because § 47a-1(i) makes a rental agreement “all agreements, written or oral”, the line between an applicant and a tenant can be crossed by a conversation. This page sets out what the text says, what it does not say, and what to write down so that the question of when an agreement was formed can be answered from a record rather than from memory.

Fill in the record

Fill in the fields below and the generator produces a clean, dated PDF you can print, sign and give to the applicant, keeping a copy for your file. Nothing is stored and there is no charge. Fields you leave blank print as a dash so you can complete them by hand.

Connecticut defines the deposit broadly and then keys the cap, return and penalty to a tenant

Start with the definition, because it is wider than most people expect. § 47a-21(a)(11), verbatim: “‘Security deposit’ means any advance rental payment, or any installment payment collected pursuant to section 47a-22a, except an advance payment for the first month’s rent or a deposit for a key or any special equipment.” Three things follow from those words. The category is any advance rental payment, not a payment described by label — so calling money a “holding deposit”, a “reservation fee” or a “good-faith deposit” does not by itself take it outside the definition. The exceptions are stated narrowly, in the statute’s own words: “an advance payment for the first month’s rent or a deposit for a key or any special equipment”. And the definition refers to “section 47a-22a” for installment payments, a section this page did not retrieve and does not describe. Now read what the rules are attached to. The cap in (b) opens “In the case of a tenant under sixty-two years of age” and its second limb “In the case of a tenant sixty-two years of age or older”. The return rule in (d)(2) runs from “termination of a tenancy” and requires delivery “to the tenant or former tenant”. The penalty in the same paragraph is measured by the security deposit “paid by such tenant”. The escrow-disclosure duty in (h)(4)(A) runs from when “the landlord receives a security deposit”. So the definition is broad and the machinery is tenant-specific. A “tenant” under § 47a-1(l) is “the lessee, sublessee or person entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit or premises to the exclusion of others or as is otherwise defined by law”, and under § 47a-1(i) a rental agreement means “all agreements, written or oral”. That is the whole question in two definitions. Money from someone who is not yet entitled under any agreement is, on the literal text, not money from a tenant. Money from someone who has been told, and has agreed, that the unit is theirs may be money from a tenant under an oral agreement. The text does not tell you which a given holding deposit is.

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THE PARTIES

Landlord or property manager name

Phone

Address for notices to the landlord

Applicant name(s) – everyone paying toward this deposit

Applicant phone

Applicant email

THE UNIT BEING HELD

Property street address

Unit / apartment number

City

County

ZIP

Monthly rent the unit is being offered at

WHAT THIS DEPOSIT IS – THIS ANSWER DECIDES WHICH LAW APPLIES

What are the parties agreeing this money is?

Amount of the holding deposit

Date the deposit was paid

How it was paid

The unit will be held for this applicant until (date)

Date by which the lease must be signed

IF THE APPLICANT WALKS AWAY

What happens to the deposit if the applicant does not sign by the date above?

If any money may be kept, state the condition on which it would be kept and what any deduction would cover

If any part is returned, within how many days of the walk-away date?

How any returned money will be sent, and to what address or account

IF THE LANDLORD BACKS OUT

If the landlord declines the applicant or withdraws the unit, the deposit is

Within how many days of the landlord’s decision?

Any other term about the landlord backing out

ON SIGNING THE LEASE

When the lease is signed, this deposit will be

If split or otherwise, state how

SIGN AND DATE

Any local ordinance the parties note as applying to this deposit (leave blank if none is known)

Date of this agreement

Date a signed copy was given to the applicant

CONNECTICUT – 47a-21

Is any applicant 62 years of age or older? (the cap drops from two months to one – 47a-21(b)(2))

If this money becomes a security deposit, the landlord must within 30 days give written notice of the amount held and the financial institution (47a-21(h)(4)(A)). Financial institution where it will be held:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The landlord has received the deposit in the amount and on the date recorded above, and this document is the applicant’s receipt for it. Both parties have read the section ‘What this deposit is’ and agree that it records what they intend – a hold with no agreement to rent yet, or the first part of a deposit under an agreement already reached. Both parties have agreed what happens to the money if the applicant does not sign, and it is written above. Both parties have agreed what happens if the landlord backs out, and it is written above. Both parties have agreed how the deposit is treated when a lease is signed. A signed copy has been given to the applicant and a copy kept by the landlord.

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Connecticut holding deposit at a glance

Settle this first: is a Connecticut holding deposit a security deposit?

The statute does not say. § 47a-21(a)(11) defines a security deposit as “any advance rental payment”, but the cap and return rules are keyed to a “tenant” — a person “entitled under a rental agreement”, which § 47a-1(i) says may be oral. If an agreement to rent existed when the money was paid, every rule below may apply; if not, on the literal text, none of them does

The definition

“any advance rental payment, or any installment payment collected pursuant to section 47a-22a, except an advance payment for the first month’s rent or a deposit for a key or any special equipment” — § 47a-21(a)(11). It names no holding deposit and no applicant

The cap, if the money is a security deposit

“In the case of a tenant under sixty-two years of age”, not more than two months’ rent; “a tenant sixty-two years of age or older”, not more than one month’s rent — § 47a-21(b). Both limbs are written for a tenant

The return, if the money is a security deposit

“Not later than twenty-one days after termination of a tenancy or fifteen days after receiving written notification of such tenant’s forwarding address, whichever is later”, with accrued interest or an itemised statement — § 47a-21(d)(2). Violation: twice the amount of the deposit

Connecticut note: Read the conditional in both directions before relying on it. A landlord who takes a holding deposit, agrees on the phone that the applicant can have the unit from the first of the month, and then treats the money as unregulated because no lease was signed may have formed an oral rental agreement under § 47a-1(i) and be holding a security deposit under § 47a-21, with the cap, the escrow-disclosure duty in (h)(4)(A) and the double-damages penalty in (d) all live. A landlord who takes the same money from an applicant who is still being screened, with no agreement yet reached, is on the literal text holding money from someone who is not a “tenant”. The text gives no test for telling the two apart. That is a question of when an agreement was formed, and it is answered by courts, not by these sections — and case law was not researched for this page.

The return rule is 21 days or 15 days, whichever is later — not 30 — and it prices a violation at double

If a holding deposit is a security deposit, this is the paragraph that governs its return, and it is quoted because any source quoting Connecticut at 30 days is quoting the annotation, not the statute. § 47a-21(d)(2), verbatim: “Not later than twenty-one days after termination of a tenancy or fifteen days after receiving written notification of such tenant’s forwarding address, whichever is later, each landlord other than a rent receiver shall deliver to the tenant or former tenant at such forwarding address either (A) the full amount of the security deposit paid by such tenant plus accrued interest, or (B) the balance … after deduction for any damages … together with a written statement itemizing the nature and amount of such damages.” The penalty is in the same paragraph: “Any landlord who violates any provision of this subsection shall be liable for twice the amount of any security deposit paid by such tenant, except that, if the only violation is the failure to deliver the accrued interest, such landlord shall be liable for ten dollars or twice the amount of the accrued interest, whichever is greater.” Two warnings. First, the section’s amendment history records P.A. 87-348 setting a thirty-day return; that figure is superseded, and a source quoting Connecticut at 30 days for the return is quoting the annotation, not the operative text. Second, notice what triggers the clock: “termination of a tenancy” and a written forwarding address. Both are events in the life of a tenancy. Where a holding deposit was paid by someone who never became a tenant, the paragraph supplies no trigger at all — and where an oral agreement made the payer a tenant, whether a withdrawal before move-in is a “termination of a tenancy” is something the text does not say.

How to take a holding deposit in Connecticut under § 47a-21

The five-step sequence

Write down, before taking the money, whether an agreement to rent has been reached

This is the fact the whole statute turns on. Under § 47a-1(i) a rental agreement includes an oral one, so the question is not whether a lease has been signed but whether the parties have agreed the applicant may occupy. State in the record either that the application is still under review and no agreement exists, or that the parties have agreed and this money is being taken as a security deposit under § 47a-21. Do not leave it unstated.

Keep the amount inside the cap that would apply if the money is a security deposit

§ 47a-21(b) limits a security deposit to two months’ rent for a tenant under sixty-two and one month’s rent for a tenant sixty-two or older. The statute does not say the cap applies to a holding deposit; it does say the cap applies to a security deposit, and a holding deposit may turn out to be one. Taking more than the cap and later finding an oral agreement existed is the exposure. Record the monthly rent the amount is measured against.

State what the money becomes on signing, and what it is if signing never happens

The definition excepts “an advance payment for the first month’s rent”. Whether holding money that will be credited to the first month is inside that exception, or is instead an “advance rental payment”, is not answered by the text. Say in the