Security Deposit Alternative in Idaho
Idaho sets no ceiling on a security deposit and instead fixes the clock and the paperwork. Where the lease names no date you have 21 days after the resident hands back the unit, and 30 days at the outside whatever the lease says. Refund less than the full amount and the cheque has to travel with a signed statement itemizing what you kept, why, and a detailed list of what the money was spent on.
What Idaho law says about security deposits
Read from the Idaho statute on 2026-09-11. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Idaho resident?
Idaho has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, so the arrangement rests on your lease and the general refund rules. Those rules are mostly about proof. A refund for less than the full deposit has to arrive with a signed statement that itemizes the amounts kept, the purpose of each, and a detailed list of what was actually spent out of the deposit. Since 2021 there has also been a custody rule for third-party managers: a deposit on a property run by a third-party manager sits in a separate account at a federally insured institution, apart from the manager's own operating account. Offering residents a choice is straightforward. Requiring the fee is a conversation with your own attorney.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Idaho
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Idaho property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Idaho security deposit alternative FAQs
Because the cap was never the constraint in Idaho. Move-in cost is, and every dollar you hold has to be accounted for line by line within 30 days. A deposit alternative lowers what a resident has to produce on day one and takes the itemized-refund exercise off the table, without lowering what the property can recover.
See it on your Idaho units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.