Security Deposit Alternative in North Dakota
North Dakota caps security at one month's rent however you name it, and lifts that to two months only in two situations the statute spells out: a resident with a felony conviction, where the larger deposit is framed as an incentive to rent to them, and a resident with a judgment against them for breaching an earlier lease. A pet deposit is separate and capped at the greater of $2,500 or two months' rent. Whatever you hold has to sit in an interest-bearing account for the resident, and the interest is theirs.
What North Dakota law says about security deposits
Read from the North Dakota 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 North Dakota resident?
North Dakota has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, and the deposit rules it does have are unusually specific. Money taken as security, however denominated, goes into a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account held for the resident, and both the deposit and the interest are paid over when the lease ends. The ceiling is one month's rent with two narrow exceptions, each of them about risk rather than unit type: up to two months from someone with a felony conviction, offered as an incentive to rent to them at all, and up to two months from someone with a judgment against them for breaching a previous rental agreement. A pet deposit sits outside that and is capped at the greater of $2,500 or two months' rent.
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 North Dakota
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 North Dakota 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.
North Dakota security deposit alternative FAQs
North Dakota has no statute answering that, so a mandatory version is a question for your own attorney. Point them at the cap, which reaches security however denominated and carries only two named exceptions, and at the requirement that anything held earn interest for the resident.
See it on your North Dakota 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.