How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in Hawaii?

Question

Accepted Answer

Under HRS § 521-44(c), at the termination of a rental agreement in which the landlord required and received a security deposit, if the landlord proposes to retain any amount for a purpose specified in subsection (a), the landlord shall so notify the tenant in writing, unless the tenant had wrongfully quit the dwelling unit, together with the particulars of and grounds for the retention, including written evidence of the costs of remedying tenant defaults or of the costs of cleaning. The security deposit, or the remaining portion after any amounts authorized under this section have been claimed and retained, shall be returned to the tenant not later than fourteen days after the termination of the rental agreement. If the landlord does not furnish the written notice and other information required by subsection (c) within those fourteen days, the landlord shall not be entitled to retain the security deposit or any part of it, and shall return the entire amount. A return of the deposit or the required notice is presumptively proven if mailed to the tenant at an address supplied by the tenant, with acceptable proof of mailing and postmarked before midnight of the fourteenth day after termination, or if the tenant acknowledges receipt within the fourteen-day limit. Actions for recovery of a landlord's complete or partial retention of the security deposit shall be instituted not later than one year after termination of the rental agreement. Under subsection (d), a tenant absent from the dwelling unit for a continuous period of twenty days or more without written notice to the landlord is deemed to have wrongfully quit, except that the tenant is not considered absent without notice during any period for which the landlord has received payment of rent; in that wrongful-quit case the landlord may retain the entire deposit. Subsections (a) and (b) define allowed deposit uses and the cap, including the pet-animal additional deposit and the assistance-animal exception; subsections (e) through (h) address postdated instruments, transfers of the landlord's interest, small-claims proceedings, and damages, including an award of three times the amount wrongfully and wilfully retained. Those other subsections are not fully restated here. Example: if a tenancy ends on the 1st and the landlord wants to keep part of the deposit for documented cleaning costs, the remaining deposit and the written notice with that evidence must be furnished by the 15th, or the landlord must return the entire deposit.

Hawaii Deposit return deadline