Rental Deposit Rules in South Africa: What Landlords and Tenants Must Know
For landlords, tenants and property managers in South Africa. General information, not legal advice.
Direct answer: The Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999 does not cap how much a landlord can charge as a deposit, but it does control what happens to it afterward. The deposit must be kept in an interest-bearing account and the interest paid to the tenant. If nothing is owed, it must be refunded within 7 days of the lease ending. If something is owed, the balance is due within 14 days of the landlord getting the property back. If the tenant skips the move-out inspection, the deadline is 21 days from the lease ending.
No Cap on the Deposit Amount
There is no statutory limit on how much a landlord can ask for as a rental deposit in South Africa. The amount is whatever the landlord and tenant agree to, and it should be written into the lease. This is different from the fixed day-counts later in this guide, which the law does set precisely.
The Deposit Must Earn Interest, and the Tenant Is Entitled to See It
This is a genuinely strong protection that is easy to overlook. Under the Rental Housing Act, Section 5(3), a landlord must invest the deposit in an interest-bearing account at a financial institution, and the interest actually earned has to be paid to the tenant, at a rate no lower than an ordinary savings account would earn. A tenant can request written proof that this was done, and the landlord must provide it. A deposit sitting in a landlord's current account earning nothing is not compliant with the Act.
Two Joint Inspections
The law builds in two checkpoints to document the condition of the property, rather than leaving move-in and move-out condition as something either side has to argue from memory:
Before the tenant moves in: a joint inspection must take place, so there is an agreed record of the property's condition at the start.
At the end of the lease: a second joint inspection must happen, specifically within a period of three days prior to the lease expiring, to assess any damage before the tenant hands the property back.
The Refund Deadlines: 7, 14 and 21 Days
This is the part of the law worth knowing precisely, because the deadline depends on exactly what happened at move-out. The Rental Housing Act sets out three distinct scenarios:
Nothing owed to the landlord: 7 days. If the inspection shows no amount is owed, the landlord must refund the full deposit plus the interest it earned within 7 days of the lease expiring. No deductions, no set-off against anything else.
Something owed to the landlord: 14 days from handover, not from lease expiry. If the landlord has a legitimate claim, for repair costs for example, they may deduct it, but must refund the remaining balance within 14 days of the dwelling actually being handed back to the landlord. This is an important distinction: it runs from when the property is physically restored to the landlord, not from the date the lease was due to end, and the two dates can differ if a tenant vacates late.
Tenant doesn't show up for the move-out inspection: 21 days from lease expiry. If the tenant is not present for the inspection, the landlord must still carry it out, within 7 days of the lease expiring, to assess any damage. The balance owed to the tenant, after any lawful deduction, must then be refunded within 21 days of the lease expiring.
If the Landlord Fails to Inspect at All
There is a strong consequence built into the law for a landlord who simply doesn't do the move-out inspection, regardless of whether the tenant showed up. The Act treats that failure as an automatic acknowledgment that the dwelling was handed back in good repair. In that situation the landlord owes the tenant the full deposit plus the interest earned, with no deductions allowed at all. Skipping the inspection is not a safe way to avoid dealing with it; it removes the landlord's ability to deduct anything.
What Landlords Should Do
Put the deposit amount and the interest-bearing account arrangement in writing in the lease. Carry out and document both inspections, with dated photos both sides have seen. If you need to deduct anything, give the tenant an itemised written breakdown, and work out which deadline applies, 7, 14, or 21 days, based on what actually happened at move-out, then hit it.
What Tenants Should Do
Ask for the move-in inspection to happen, and keep your own dated photos too. Request written proof of the interest-bearing account if you want it; the landlord has to provide it on request. At move-out, show up for the inspection if you possibly can, since missing it extends the refund deadline from 7 or 14 days out to 21. If the refund doesn't arrive by the deadline that applies to your situation, follow up in writing, and consider South Africa's Rental Housing Tribunal if the landlord refuses to engage.
Recording Deposits in Domby
Each tenant record in Domby has a field for the security deposit, so the amount agreed at the start of the tenancy sits on the tenant's record rather than in a chat thread. The deposit is kept separate from rent payments in your records, and the generated tenancy agreement includes a deposit clause and lists the deposit in the schedule when one is recorded.
What Domby does not do is hold the deposit, invest it, or process the refund itself. The interest-bearing account, the inspections, and the refund all stay between landlord and tenant; keep your own records of each.
FAQ
No. The Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999 does not cap the deposit amount. It is whatever the landlord and tenant agree to, and it should be written into the lease.
Yes. Under Section 5(3) of the Rental Housing Act, the deposit must be kept in an interest-bearing account, and the interest actually earned, at least at an ordinary savings account rate, must be paid to the tenant. A tenant can request written proof of this.
It depends on the situation. If nothing is owed to the landlord, within 7 days of the lease expiring. If something is owed and deducted, the balance is due within 14 days of the property being handed back to the landlord. If the tenant misses the move-out inspection, the deadline is 21 days from the lease expiring.
The law treats that failure as an automatic acknowledgment that the property was returned in good repair. The landlord then owes the full deposit plus interest, with no deductions allowed.
Within a period of three days prior to the lease expiring, as a joint inspection between landlord and tenant, to assess any damage before the deposit is settled.
No, that figure is unrelated to deposits and is also outdated. It refers to a now-expired transitional rule for certain controlled premises that applied only until around 2002, not to deposits or to ordinary rent increases today.
Related guides
See what rights a tenant has in South Africa, whether a landlord can evict a tenant without going to court, and the free tenancy agreement template for South Africa. See also how a landlord can increase rent in South Africa. Browse all landlord guides.
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