New York Security Deposit 14-Day Deadline: What If Day 14 Falls on a Weekend?

The short answer

For dwelling units covered by New York General Obligations Law section 7-108(1-a), the landlord must provide any required itemized statement and return the remaining security deposit within fourteen days after the tenant has vacated the premises. New York General Construction Law section 25-a separately provides that when a statutory period computed from a certain day ends on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, the required act may be performed on the next succeeding business day.

That means a fourteenth day that truly lands on a Saturday does not automatically make a Monday itemization and refund late. The analysis still depends on whether section 7-108(1-a) applies to the rental, what date the tenant legally and factually vacated, how the fourteen days are computed, whether the following Monday is a business day, and whether both the itemized statement and any remaining deposit were handled within the applicable period.

New York's 14-day rule is measured after the tenant has vacated

Section 7-108(1-a)(e) uses the tenant's vacating of the premises as the trigger. It does not say that the fourteen-day period always begins on the scheduled lease-expiration date. That distinction can matter when a tenant leaves and returns possession before the written termination date, or when belongings are removed but access, keys, or possession remain disputed.

The statute does not turn every early physical departure into an automatic legal conclusion about the vacate date. Preserve the written termination agreement, key-return or access-code record, move-out messages, inspection records, photographs, and any acknowledgment that possession was returned. Those facts can be important if the parties disagree about when the tenant actually vacated.

How New York counts a period stated in days

General Construction Law section 20 says that a period stated as a number of days from a certain day is measured in calendar days and excludes the calendar day from which the reckoning is made. When time is computed from an event, the event date is the day from which the reckoning is made and is excluded from the count.

Applied to section 7-108's fourteen-day period, the vacate date is not counted as day one. The next calendar day is the first day of the fourteen-day period. Because this is a fourteen-day period rather than a two-day period, ordinary intervening Saturdays and Sundays remain part of the calendar-day count.

What happens when day 14 is Saturday, Sunday, or a public holiday

General Construction Law section 25-a addresses statutory deadlines that end on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday. It says the act may be done on the next succeeding business day. The provision distinguishes statutory periods from periods created only by contract, which are addressed separately under section 25.

For a covered section 7-108 security-deposit deadline, this means the calendar count should be completed first. If the resulting final day is a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, section 25-a provides the next-business-day extension. Do not skip every weekend inside the fourteen-day period; section 20 describes the period as calendar days, while section 25-a addresses what happens when the final day itself falls on one of the listed non-business days.

The itemized statement and remaining deposit both matter

Section 7-108(1-a)(e) requires the landlord within the applicable period to provide an itemized statement indicating the basis for any amount retained and to return any remaining portion of the deposit. If the landlord fails to provide the statement and deposit within fourteen days, the statute says the landlord forfeits the right to retain any portion of the deposit.

A dispute should therefore track more than the date the accounting was drafted. Preserve when the tenant vacated, when the statement was sent or delivered, when the remaining money was returned, the mailing or electronic delivery evidence, and the actual contents of the itemization. A weekend-extension question does not decide whether a deduction itself was lawful or sufficiently itemized.

Coverage matters: the 14-day rule is not universal for every New York apartment

The New York Attorney General describes the fourteen-day return rule as applying to non-regulated units, and General Obligations Law section 7-108 contains exclusions from subdivision 1-a, including dwelling units subject to the city rent and rehabilitation law or the emergency housing rent control law and several specified residential-care or retirement settings. The statute's heading also identifies deposits made by tenants of non-rent-stabilized dwelling units.

In New York City especially, do not assume coverage from the address alone. Verify whether the apartment is rent stabilized, rent controlled, or otherwise in an excluded category before relying on subdivision 1-a's fourteen-day procedure or remedies. A lease label by itself may not conclusively establish regulatory status.

Missing the deadline can have consequences, but punitive damages are not automatic

For a covered rental, section 7-108(1-a)(e) says a landlord who fails to provide the required statement and deposit within the applicable fourteen-day period forfeits the right to retain any portion of the deposit. Subdivision 1-a(f) places the burden on the landlord to prove the reasonableness of an amount retained in a dispute.

Subdivision 1-a(g) provides actual damages for a violation and allows punitive damages of up to twice the amount of the deposit or advance when a violation is found to be willful. The word willful matters: the statute does not make punitive damages automatic whenever the parties disagree about the final date or the application of the weekend-extension rule.

Build a simple deadline record before deciding whether the return was late

Start with a chronology: the date the tenant actually vacated or possession was returned, the date the tenancy was scheduled to terminate, the date keys or access were surrendered, the fourteenth calendar day after the vacate date, whether that final day was a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, and the next succeeding business day if section 25-a applies.

Then add the landlord's itemized statement, proof of transmission or mailing, refund check or electronic payment record, lease and regulatory-status records, move-in and move-out condition evidence, and invoices supporting deductions. If the regulatory status or vacate date is disputed, those threshold issues should be resolved before treating a calendar calculation as the complete legal answer.

Use Max Rental Tools to organize the move-out record

Max Rental Tools includes Security Deposit Itemization, Security Deposit Refund Statement, Move-Out Condition Report, Tenant Intent to Vacate, and Resident Communication Record workflows. They can help organize the dates, deductions, delivery evidence, and possession history, while New York General Obligations Law section 7-108 and General Construction Law sections 20 and 25-a remain the controlling sources for the rules described here.