What do I owe on the deposit?
Some LA cities make you pay your tenant interest on their deposit every year. Some do not. This shows which, and how much, year by year.
Where interest is owed, the rate is set city by city and reset every January. Pick your rules below and we will show the rate for each year you held the deposit, with the bulletin it came from.
Do I owe my tenant interest on their security deposit?
Deposit interest is money an owner owes a tenant simply for having held their deposit. California does not require it statewide. Some cities do, and each of those cities publishes its own rate for each calendar year, so a deposit held across several years is several different rates rather than one. This tool covers the City of Los Angeles RSO, unincorporated Los Angeles County, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pasadena and AB 1482, and works the balance out a year at a time using the rate published for that year, with the bulletin each rate came from.
Applies January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026
Simple interest, set each calendar year by the Rent Adjustment Commission, on every deposit held at least one year. An owner may instead pay the actual interest the bank paid on the deposit, and must then hand the tenant the bank statement showing it. During the tenancy you pay the accrued interest either as a direct payment or as a credit against rent: LAMC §151.06.02(C) says you choose one of the two and must tell the tenant your choice in writing, and you may pay monthly or yearly. When the tenancy ends, §151.06.02(D) sends any unpaid accumulated interest back at the same time and in the same manner as the deposit itself. The RSO does not require deposit interest on mobile home park spaces. §151.06.02(D), read verbatim in the city's code library (2026 Rev. 8 compilation) on August 9, 2026, sends unpaid accumulated interest back ‘at the same time and in the same manner as required for return of security deposits in California Civil Code Section 1950.5(f)’. That cross-reference is stale in the code's own text: since January 1, 2026 (AB 414) the 21-day return-and-itemize provision is §1950.5(h), and (f) is the pre-move-out inspection. The rule is unchanged: same time, same manner as the deposit. Only the subdivision letter moved.
Source: LAMC 151.06.02 via LAHD Bulletin #44: Interest Payments on Security Deposits (rev. 01/13/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
A verified negative. Civil Code §1950.5 is the whole of the state's residential deposit law and it contains no interest requirement anywhere in its text. Some cities do require it. LA City and West Hollywood are the ones in our coverage area that we have confirmed.
Source: California Civil Code §1950.5 (security deposits): the whole of the state's deposit law, which requires no interest Verified August 9, 2026