How to Get Your Security Deposit Back in Canada (With a Demand Letter)

• Deposit law is provincial. Check your own province’s tenancy authority before you do anything.
• Ontario is the odd one out: a landlord can’t charge a security or damage deposit, full stop. The only deposit they can take is a rent deposit (last month’s rent), which covers your final month and earns you annual interest.
• BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia do allow security or damage deposits, but with tight return deadlines after you move out, often 10 to 15 days.
• A dated demand letter is the standard first move before a tribunal. Plenty of landlords pay up the moment they get one.
• Keep a dated copy of the letter and a mailing confirmation. That’s your proof of what you sent and when.
• If the landlord still won’t pay, take it to your provincial tenancy tribunal. In some provinces you can be awarded double the deposit.

In Ontario, your landlord was never allowed to charge you a damage or security deposit in the first place. Most tenants don’t know that. They hand over a few hundred dollars at move-in because the landlord asked for it, then spend months chasing it at move-out, when the real answer is that the money should never have left their pocket.

There is no single Canadian rule here. Every province and territory writes its own law, and the gaps between them are wide. So before you do anything, pin down two things: what kind of deposit you actually paid, and what your province says about it. Get that wrong and you’ll either chase money you aren’t owed or walk away from money you are. It’s the single most common way tenants lose out.

Ontario: no security or damage deposit allowed

An Ontario landlord cannot legally collect a security deposit, a damage deposit, or a pet deposit. One deposit is permitted, and only one: a rent deposit, the thing everyone calls “last month’s rent.” It can’t exceed one month’s (or one rental period’s) rent. It has to be applied to your final rental period. And the landlord owes you interest on it every year, set at the provincial rent-increase guideline. They can’t dip into it for cleaning. They can’t dip into it for damage. If the landlord thinks you owe them for damage, their only route is to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board and make the case. Keeping your money isn’t an option they have.

So when an Ontario landlord is sitting on a “damage deposit,” odds are it should never have been collected, and you can demand the whole thing back. Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board handles these, and CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario) has a plain-language guide worth reading.

Provinces that DO allow security/damage deposits

Outside Ontario, most provinces let a landlord hold a security or damage deposit. The catch is the return deadline that kicks in once you move out and give them a forwarding address:

• British Columbia: the deposit and its interest come back within 15 days of the tenancy ending and you handing over a forwarding address. The exceptions: you agree in writing to deductions, or the landlord files with the Residential Tenancy Branch inside that window. Blow the deadline and the landlord can owe a tenant double the deposit. The BC Residential Tenancy Branch spells it out.
• Alberta: 10 days from when you give up possession. By then the landlord either returns the deposit plus interest or mails you an itemized statement of account for whatever they’re deducting. See Alberta.ca and CPLEA.
• Manitoba: security deposits are allowed, capped at half a month’s rent, and run through the Residential Tenancies Branch.
• Nova Scotia: the deposit generally comes back within 10 days of the tenancy ending, through the province’s Residential Tenancies Program.
• Quebec: a landlord cannot require a security deposit. Disputes go to the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL).

Deadlines and details shift from one province to the next, so confirm the rule against your own tenancy authority before you write a word. The steps that follow hold up everywhere. All that changes is the deadline and what your deposit was called.

A demand letter lands harder when there’s a record sitting behind it. Take a few minutes to pull these together before you draft anything:

• Your move-out date and forwarding address. In most provinces the return clock doesn’t start until you’ve handed back the keys and given the landlord somewhere to send the money. Get that address to them in writing.
• Dated photos or video of the unit at move-out, plus any move-in/move-out inspection report you both signed. This is what you’ll hold up against a “cleaning” or “damage” claim.
• Your lease and proof of payment showing the amount and what it was called: “security deposit,” “damage deposit,” or “last month’s rent.”
• Your province’s deadline. Look it up so the letter can cite the actual rule, something like “under BC law you had 15 days to return my deposit.”
• Any prior messages. Texts or emails where the landlord admitted to holding the deposit or said they’d return it.

Ontario tenant who got charged a deposit that was never legal? Flag it. Your letter can say plainly that the deposit wasn’t permitted under the Residential Tenancies Act and has to come back in full.

Skip the legal jargon. A demand letter just has to be clear, dated, factual, and firm. Cover all of this:

• The date at the top. It anchors both your deadline and your record.
• The parties: your full name, and the landlord’s or property manager’s.
• The rental unit address the deposit was tied to.
• Your move-out date and the date you handed over your forwarding address.
• The amount owed: the deposit, plus any interest your province tacks on.
• The legal basis in one plain sentence. The province’s return deadline, or for Ontario, that the deposit wasn’t permitted at all.
• A hard deadline to pay, usually 10 to 14 days out from the letter’s date.
• What happens if they ignore it: you apply to your provincial tenancy tribunal.
• Your forwarding address and how to reach you.

Keep it businesslike. No venting. If this ends up in front of an adjudicator, you want a letter that reads like a reasonable person wrote it.

Copy this and swap the bracketed bits for your own details. It’s written for a province that allows security deposits. The note underneath shows how to retool it for Ontario.

Ontario adaptation: if you were charged a “security” or “damage” deposit, rewrite the legal-basis paragraph to read: “Under the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord in Ontario is not permitted to collect a security or damage deposit. The only lawful deposit is a rent deposit applied to the last rental period. I am therefore requesting the full return of $[amount].” If your fight is instead over an unreturned last month’s rent deposit or interest you’re owed, say so plainly and name the rent-deposit interest.

How you send the letter almost matters as much as what’s in it. Landlords have a habit of suddenly “never receiving” the thing, so you want a dated record that you put it in the mail.

Nothing fancy required. Two pieces cover you:

• A dated copy of the exact letter you sent. Save the file and keep a copy of the mailed version.
• A dated mailing confirmation showing the day it went out.

The easiest way to get both is PostPal. Type or upload your letter at postpal.ca/send. We print it, fold it into an envelope, and put it in the mail through Canada Post the next business day for about $6 flat. You get a dated mailing confirmation in your inbox plus a copy of exactly what went out. No special trip, no standing in line.

File that confirmation with your photos and your lease. If this reaches a tribunal, you can lay it all in front of the adjudicator: the letter, the date, and the fact that you gave the landlord a fair shot to pay before you escalated.

Deadline comes and goes, still no money? Your demand letter already did the work that matters. It’s on record that you tried the reasonable route first. Now you apply to your province’s tenancy tribunal, which can order the landlord to hand the money back.

• Ontario: apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board (for example, a tenant application about a rent deposit or interest).
• British Columbia: apply to the Residential Tenancy Branch for dispute resolution — a missed 15-day return can mean double the deposit.
• Alberta: apply to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) via Alberta.ca.
• Manitoba: contact the Residential Tenancies Branch.
• Other provinces and territories: search for your provincial residential tenancy authority — every region has one.

When you file, your demand letter, your mailing confirmation, your photos, and the lease become the backbone of the case. Ontario tenant who needs to send physical forms to the Board? Here’s where to mail Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board forms.

Can my landlord keep my deposit for cleaning?

Rarely, and only where security or damage deposits are legal in the first place. In most provinces a landlord can deduct for real damage past normal wear and tear, or for genuine cleaning costs, but they owe you an itemized statement. They don’t get to just pocket it. Normal wear and tear never counts as a valid deduction. And in Ontario the whole question is moot: a landlord can’t keep a deposit for cleaning because the deposit was never legal to begin with, and the rent deposit goes to your last month.

How long does my landlord have to return it?

Depends where you are. BC gives a landlord 15 days. Alberta and Nova Scotia, 10. The clock usually starts when the tenancy ends and you’ve handed over a forwarding address. Check your provincial tenancy authority for the exact deadline that binds your landlord.

What if my landlord won’t respond?

Send one clear demand letter with a firm deadline and hang on to proof you mailed it. Still silence? Apply to your provincial tenancy tribunal. The fact that you wrote first, set a deadline, and have a dated mailing confirmation works in your favour.

I’m in Ontario — my landlord took a “damage deposit.” Is that legal?

No. Ontario landlords can collect a rent deposit (last month’s rent) and nothing else, certainly not a security or damage deposit. If you were charged one, demand it back, and apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board if it comes to that.

Do I owe or am I owed interest on my deposit?

In several provinces you’re owed it. Ontario landlords pay you annual interest on the rent deposit at the rent-increase guideline rate. BC and a few others apply interest to security deposits too. Fold whatever you’re owed into the amount you demand.

How do I prove I sent the letter?

You just have to show it went out. A dated copy of the letter and a dated mailing confirmation, like the receipt PostPal emails you, is enough to establish what you sent and when.

Can I deduct the deposit from my last month’s rent myself?

Careful here. It hangs entirely on your province and the type of deposit. In Ontario the rent deposit gets applied to your last rental period automatically, so you don’t pay that final month over again. Elsewhere, holding back rent to “use up” a security deposit can put you in breach of the tenancy. If you’re unsure, ask for the deposit back in writing instead of taking it into your own hands.

Most landlords are betting you won’t push. A dated letter with a real deadline calls that bluff, and a surprising number of deposits show up within the week once one lands. When it doesn’t work, you’ve lost nothing. The letter you already wrote becomes the spine of your tribunal case.

When yours is ready to go out, PostPal handles the part nobody enjoys. Type or upload it, and it’s printed, enveloped, and mailed through Canada Post the next business day, with a dated confirmation waiting in your inbox.

Mail your demand letter with PostPal →

Related Posts

• How to Send Legal Notices & Demand Letters in Canada
• Demand Letter for an Unpaid Invoice
• Mail a Tenant Notice Online