Manitoba security, pet and tenant-services deposits

Maximum deposit amounts

• Security deposit: maximum half of the first month’s rent. If the first month’s rent is $1,600, the limit is $800, not a full month’s rent.
• Pet damage deposit: for a deposit collected on or after August 1, 2014, up to one month’s rent. Older deposits may have lower historical limits. A landlord cannot charge a pet damage deposit because a tenant relies on a service animal. The pet deposit is for pet-related damage/cleaning, not ordinary unrelated charges.
• Tenant-services security deposit: up to half of one month’s tenant-services charge where services are provided; it is distinct from a regular rent security deposit and is used for tenant-service amounts and related obligations.

End of tenancy

No landlord claim: return the deposit(s), plus any applicable interest, within 14 days after the tenancy ends. Landlord asserting a claim: send the tenant a copy of the written, itemized claim within 28 days after the tenancy ends; describe and support any alleged unpaid rent, damage or extraordinary cleaning. Those are different deadlines. Sending a claim does not automatically settle the dispute or establish that all requested deductions are justified.

If the claim is for no more than the deposit(s), the Branch may decide it from written evidence with no ordinary claim-filing fee. The Branch generally asks the tenant to send written comments within 14 days after it sends the landlord’s claim to the tenant. Keep receipts, move-in and move-out photos, condition reports and the forwarding address. A tenant contesting allocation of the deposit should contact the Branch within two years after the tenancy ends to use the no-fee deposit-decision process; after that, a regular compensation claim and fee may be needed.

Plan return and claim dates; if you are disputing deductions, follow the claim guide.

Interest

The province’s official schedule lists a 0.5% annual deposit interest rate for 2026, and provides a historical table for older periods. Do not multiply a single-year rate by years when the holding period crosses rate changes; use the Branch interest tool.

Do not confuse deposit return and claim deadlines

Example: a tenancy ends June 30. With no claim, the landlord’s ordinary return deadline is 14 days after the end. If the landlord alleges $250 in cleaning charges instead, the separate written-claim deadline is 28 days after the end; the tenant can dispute the amount using photos or a condition report. The Branch—not the landlord’s invoice alone—may determine who receives a disputed deposit. Interest is calculated using the applicable provincial rates for each year of the holding period.

RTB landlord claims policy · Official interest rate history.