Idaho puts no ceiling on what you can collect as a security deposit. Collect one month, collect three; the statute doesn't care. What Idaho Code § 6-321 regulates, precisely, is the calendar and the paperwork on the way back out, and that's where Idaho landlords actually lose money.

Add the 2025 session's reshuffling of the rental statutes (more on that below) and you get a state where the rules are short but easy to cite wrong. The condensed numbers live on our Idaho quick-reference page; here's the full picture.

Taking and holding a deposit in Idaho: the lease does the work

With no statutory cap, the practical limit on deposit size is the market. Most Boise-area landlords sit around one month's rent because a $4,000 move-in cost empties the applicant pool fast; in a tight rural market you have more room. Idaho also doesn't require you to pay interest, hold the money in a separate account, or complete a move-in checklist.

That freedom cuts the other way on timing. The default return deadline is 21 days after the tenant surrenders the premises. A written agreement can set a different number, but never more than 30 days (Idaho Code § 6-321). If your lease is silent, you're on the 21-day clock. Most Idaho form leases fix the full 30 days for exactly this reason; check what yours says today, not at move-out.

Compare the neighbors: Colorado defaults to one month with a lease option to stretch to 60 days, while Montana also runs shorter clocks. Idaho's 21-day default is one of the tighter ones in the region.

One more lease-drafting point: any fee you want to keep, cleaning fees included, has to actually appear in the rental agreement, because Idaho bars charging tenants costs the agreement doesn't contain (§ 55-305). A 'nonrefundable fee' that exists only in your head is just deposit money you now owe back.

Returning and itemizing: the signed statement § 6-321 demands

Refund anything less than the full deposit and the refund must arrive with a signed statement itemizing the amounts retained, the purpose of each, and a detailed list of expenditures made from the deposit (§ 6-321). A line that says 'cleaning: $400' won't survive small claims. The statute asks for expenditures, so keep the invoices and receipts behind every number.

You can't touch the deposit for normal wear and tear, which Idaho defines as deterioration from the intended use of the unit 'without negligence, carelessness, accident, or misuse or abuse.' Carpet worn flat over a five-year tenancy is your cost. A burn hole in that carpet is the tenant's.

Here's the expensive part. A tenant chasing a wrongly held deposit serves a 3-day written demand, then sues under Idaho Code § 6-320, and § 6-317 lets the court treble the damages. Hold back $2,000 you can't document and the judgment can reach $6,000 before costs. The full chapter sits on the Idaho Legislature's site and is a ten-minute read; it's worth it.

Fees, late charges, and rent raises after the 2025 renumbering

Idaho had no late-fee statute at all until 2023. Now every fee imposed on a residential tenant, late fees included, must be reasonable, and you can't charge a fee, fine, or interest that isn't in the rental agreement (§ 55-305). Changing a fee on a written lease takes 30 days' written notice.

Rent increases and nonrenewals each require at least 30 days' written notice before they take effect (§ 55-304(2)). Other changes to month-to-month terms need only 15 days' notice before the end of the month (§ 55-304(1)).

Now the citation trap. Those rules lived at § 55-307 and § 55-314 until July 1, 2025, when SB 1043 reorganized chapter 3 of Title 55. The substance didn't change; the section numbers did. If your lease template or notice forms cite § 55-307 for rent increases, update them before a sharp-eyed tenant's lawyer does it for you.

SB 1043 also gave Idaho's rent control preemption its own section: cities and counties can't regulate rent, fees, or deposits on private residential property, and can't force owners into voluntary federal housing assistance programs (§ 55-306). So there is no rent control in Idaho, and no local government can create it.

Entry notice: Idaho's silence, and what to write instead

Idaho has no statute requiring advance notice before you enter an occupied unit. That surprises owners arriving from states where entry rules are spelled out; Arizona requires two days' notice by statute, and Montana requires 24 hours.

No statute doesn't mean no rules. Your lease terms control, and barging in against them (or repeatedly, to pressure a tenant) invites a breach of quiet enjoyment claim. The clean practice: write 24 hours' notice into the lease, reserve emergency entry, and honor what you wrote.

Eviction in Idaho: 3-day notices and a trial inside 12 days

Idaho's eviction notices are short and blunt. Nonpayment takes a 3-day written notice to pay or vacate (§ 6-303(2)). A lease violation takes a 3-day notice to cure or vacate (§ 6-303(3)). Unlawful drug activity supports a 3-day notice with no cure. Ending a month-to-month without cause requires one month's written notice (§ 55-208), plus the 30-day nonrenewal notice under § 55-304(2) where it applies.

For nonpayment-only cases, Idaho then moves faster than almost any neighbor: the court must set trial within 12 days of the complaint being filed, with service at least 5 days before the hearing (§ 6-310). A cooperative calendar can have possession resolved in under three weeks from the first notice.

Two 2024 and 2025 additions round out the picture:

  • Squatters: HB 321 (2025) created § 6-310A, effective July 1, 2025. An owner or agent files a verified complaint with the county sheriff swearing the occupants were never tenants, were told to leave, and refused; the sheriff can then remove them without an eviction lawsuit. It does not apply to holdover tenants, so don't try to shortcut a real eviction with it.
  • Record shielding: SB 1327 (2024) added § 6-303A. Unlawful detainer cases filed on or after January 1, 2025 that end in complete dismissal are shielded from public view after three years, or sooner by stipulation. Expect older dismissed filings to quietly vanish from screening reports over time.

Self-help remains a losing move. Idaho's forcible entry provisions run through the same chapter, and § 6-317's treble damages apply to unlawful entry and detention claims too. Locks get changed by the sheriff after judgment, not by you.

Habitability and the tenant's 3-day demand letter

Idaho skipped the uniform landlord-tenant act, so tenant remedies concentrate in one statute: Idaho Code § 6-320. It lets a tenant sue for damages and specific performance over failed weatherproofing, broken electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating, cooling, or sanitary systems, hazardous conditions, missing smoke detectors, or a wrongly kept deposit.

The tenant's required first step is a written notice listing each failure, and you get 3 days to fix what's listed before they can file. Take that letter seriously; it's the last cheap exit. Idaho gives tenants no statutory repair-and-deduct or rent withholding rights, so § 6-320 is their main lever, and treble damages ride along with it (§ 6-317).

Required disclosures are nearly nonexistent by state law; the big one is federal: pre-1978 housing needs the lead-based paint disclosure and pamphlet. Idaho-ready lease and notice templates are in our forms library, and Rentari's compliance alerts already reflect the post-SB 1043 section numbers.

Idaho landlord FAQ

How long do I really have to return a security deposit in Idaho?

21 days after the tenant surrenders the unit, unless a written agreement sets a longer period, capped at 30 days (§ 6-321). A silent lease means 21 days. Partial refunds need the signed, itemized statement with expenditures.

Can I keep part of the deposit for carpet cleaning?

Only if the condition goes beyond normal wear and tear or the lease made the tenant responsible for it as a stated charge. Document the condition, itemize the actual cost, and remember unjustified retention risks treble damages (§§ 6-320, 6-317).

Do I have to give 24 hours' notice before entering an Idaho rental?

No statute requires it. Your lease controls entry, so write a notice period in and follow it. Entering in violation of the lease can breach the covenant of quiet enjoyment even without a statute on point.

What did Idaho change about squatters in 2025?

HB 321 created Idaho Code § 6-310A (effective July 1, 2025), letting owners have the sheriff remove unauthorized occupants on a sworn complaint without filing an eviction. It only covers people who were never tenants; holdover tenants still require the normal § 6-303 process.

This is general information about Idaho rental law, not legal advice. Statutes move (2025 just renumbered several), so before acting on any deadline or notice here, verify against the current Idaho Code or run it past an Idaho attorney who handles landlord-tenant work.