Security Deposit Alternative in Missouri
Missouri caps a security deposit at two months' rent and gives you 30 days after the tenancy ends to return it in full or send an itemized list of damages with the balance. Before you deduct anything you have to give the resident written notice of when you will inspect the unit, and they have the right to be there. Withhold wrongly and the resident recovers twice the amount.
What Missouri law says about security deposits
Read from the Missouri statute on 2026-09-10. 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 Missouri resident?
Missouri has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, so the arrangement rests on your lease and the general deposit rules. Those rules limit what a deposit can do for you. It has to be held in a federally insured bank, credit union or depository for the resident, with the interest belonging to you. It may be applied to three things only: unpaid rent, restoring the unit to its move-in condition less ordinary wear, and the loss from a resident leaving without proper notice, which you have to try to mitigate. Carpet cleaning can be charged only if the lease says so and you give a receipt for the actual cost within 30 days. Before you deduct anything you owe the resident written notice of the date and time you will inspect, and they may attend. Wrongful withholding costs twice the amount.
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 Missouri
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 Missouri 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.
Missouri security deposit alternative FAQs
Because Missouri limits what you can take from those two months to three listed purposes, and the move-out inspection the resident is entitled to attend turns every deduction into a discussion before it becomes a deduction. A deposit alternative lowers what a resident has to produce at move-in without lowering what the property can recover.
Security deposit rules in other states
See it on your Missouri 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.