Security Deposit Alternative in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania caps a security deposit at two months' rent in the first year of a lease and one month's rent in every year after it. Anything over $100 has to be held in an escrow account at a regulated bank, and the resident gets written notice of where. You then have 30 days after the lease ends, or after you accept the keys back, whichever comes first, to send a written list of damages with the balance. Miss that and you forfeit not only the deposit but the right to sue for the damage at all.
What Pennsylvania law says about security deposits
Read from the Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania resident?
Pennsylvania has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, so the structure rests on your lease and the general rules. Those rules are about the money you hold. Any deposit over $100 goes into an escrow account at a regulated institution, and you owe the resident written notice of the bank, its address and the amount. Once a deposit has been held more than two years it earns interest, of which you keep one percent a year as an administrative allowance and pass the rest to the resident. Within 30 days of the lease ending, or of accepting the keys back if that comes first, you send a written list of damages with the balance. Fail to send the list and you forfeit both the right to withhold anything and the right to sue for the damage. Fail to pay the balance and you owe double the amount by which the deposit exceeded the actual damage, with the burden of proving that damage on you.
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 Pennsylvania
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 Pennsylvania 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.
Pennsylvania security deposit alternative FAQs
Pennsylvania has no statute answering that, so a mandatory version is a question for your own attorney. The escrow, interest and 30-day rules all attach to money you hold as a deposit, so how the lease describes the fee, and whether anything is being held at all, is where that review should start.
Security deposit rules in other states
See it on your Pennsylvania 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.