Send the statement and the refund anyway, on time, to the last address you have. In most states that means the rental unit itself, which feels pointless and is exactly what the statute contemplates. What you must not do is wait for an address to arrive.
The deadline runs from possession, not from cooperation.
The clock does not pause
This is the part landlords get wrong, and it is the expensive part. Deposit statutes tie the return deadline to the tenant vacating or returning possession. None of them add “or when the tenant provides an address.”
California says where the mail goes when the tenant gave nothing:
Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h)(6)
mailings to the tenant under this subdivision go to the address provided by the tenant. If the tenant does not provide an address, they go to the unit that has been vacated.
So a landlord holding a deposit on day 19 with no address does not have a deadline problem that solves itself on day 30. They have a mailing decision to make today.
Where to send it
Work down this list, and document what you tried.
- A forwarding address the tenant gave you, in the notice, in a text, in an email, anywhere. Check your messages before you conclude there is none.
- The address on the application or the lease, if it is different from the unit and looks like a family address.
- The vacated unit itself, which is what several statutes specify. Mail forwarding that the tenant filed with the postal service will do the rest, and if they did not file any, the returned envelope becomes part of your record.
Send by a method that produces proof. Certified mail with return receipt, or whatever your state’s statute specifies. The envelope that comes back marked undeliverable is evidence that you complied, and it is worth more than the postage.
Do not send the money electronically to an account you were not authorized to use. California in particular regulates electronic return of a deposit, and the rules there sit on the electronic security deposit return page.
Write the statement the same way you always would
There is a temptation to treat an unreachable tenant as a licence to be casual. Resist it. The statement you send to an empty unit is the statement a judge reads if the tenant surfaces eleven months later with a small claims filing.
Same rules: room and item, what was wrong, what it cost, what proves it, depreciation on anything with a useful life, and the refund on its own line. The full sequence is in how to write a security deposit deduction letter.
Keep the mailing receipt with it.
One more thing worth doing while the unit is empty: photograph it. A tenant who cannot be reached now can still file later, and the condition record is the only thing that will be the same in a year. California requires those move-out photographs anyway, before and after any repair or cleaning you intend to charge for, under Civ. Code § 1950.5(g)(2). Everywhere else it is simply the cheapest insurance available on a statement nobody has read yet.
When the check is never cashed
Now you are holding money that belongs to someone you cannot find. This is not yours, and it does not become yours through the passage of time.
Most states have an unclaimed property program, run by the treasurer or a comparable office, and uncashed refunds are exactly what it is built for. The process is roughly the same everywhere: hold the funds for a dormancy period defined by state law, make a documented attempt to contact the owner, then report and remit the money to the state. The tenant can claim it from the state whenever they turn up.
Three practical notes:
- Do not close the deposit account balance out into your operating account because a check went stale. That converts a clean administrative task into a much worse fact.
- Keep the statement, the mailing proof, and the uncashed check together. The state will ask what you did to find the owner.
- Look up your own state’s dormancy period rather than guessing. They vary, and the filing is usually annual.
Two habits that prevent the whole situation
Ask for the forwarding address in writing when notice is given, not at the walkthrough. A tenant three weeks from moving usually knows where they are going; a tenant carrying boxes on the last day does not want to talk about mail.
Put the forwarding address line on your notice acknowledgment, so the request goes out automatically the moment a tenant gives notice rather than depending on you remembering. A small form beats a good intention.
And keep a second contact on file from the start. An emergency contact collected at application is the single most useful piece of information you have when someone disappears, and it costs nothing to ask for it.
For everything the deadline itself depends on, security deposit limits by state covers the caps and where to find your state’s return window. Deposit tracking will hold the deadline, the statement, and the mailing record on the lease, so an unreachable tenant becomes an administrative task rather than a forgotten one.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and local ordinances vary. Confirm current requirements with your city, county, or an attorney before you act.