Holding Deposits: Reserving a Home for an Applicant
Ask an approved applicant for a deposit to hold a home until a date. They accept written terms and pay into your payout account; it is credited at signing or refunded — under the rules each state sets.
A holding deposit keeps a home for one applicant while the lease is prepared and signed. You ask for it from an approved application; the applicant reads your written terms, accepts them by typing their name, and pays from a saved bank account or card. It is credited when the lease is signed, or refunded. Holding deposits are in the Lease Center on the website, on each approved applicant's card, and under Holding deposits in the Tools hub on the iPhone and Android apps.
Seayora does not hold this money. It is paid to the owner's account, like rent, and refunded from it.
Asking for one
Open an approved application — pre-approved, screening complete, or with a lease drafted — and choose Ask for a holding deposit. Set the amount, the date the home is held until (at most 30 days), what it is credited to, and what happens if the applicant does not go ahead. As you type, Seayora shows the most you may ask for, your state's rule and its citation, what a payment costs, and the exact terms the applicant will accept.
Seayora never asks for more than one month's rent, and a state's own limit always wins. One home can have only one holding deposit in progress at a time. Your payout account must be set up first, because the deposit is paid into it like rent.
What it is credited to
| Choice | What happens at signing |
|---|---|
| The first month's rent | Taken off the first rent charge on the lease, shown on that charge. |
| The security deposit | Recorded as received toward the security deposit when the lease is signed, with a deposit receipt. |
If the applicant does not go ahead
| Choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fully refundable | Returned in full whatever happens. |
| Kept if the applicant does not go ahead | Kept when the applicant withdraws, or a lease was offered and not signed by the hold date. |
| Part kept if the applicant does not go ahead | A set amount kept in those cases; the rest returned. |
If the owner decides not to go ahead — declines the application, withdraws the offer, or has not offered a lease by the hold date — the whole deposit is refunded.
Keeping any of it is possible only when the applicant withdrew, or did not sign the lease you offered by the hold date — and only up to what the terms they accepted said. You give a reason, which the applicant reads, and the rest is refunded. Where a state allows only actual expenses, you list each one.
State rules
Seayora applies these rules, read from each statute. A rule marked as our reading has not been verified — confirm it before relying on it. In a state not listed, Seayora's own rules apply.
| State | Holding deposit | Limit | Refund when you do not go ahead | You may keep | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Allowed | 25% of the first month's rent | No day count (Seayora: 7 days) | Only what the written terms say | RCW 59.18.253 |
| Oregon | Allowed | — | 4 days | Only what the written terms say | ORS 90.297 |
| Minnesota | Allowed | — | 7 days | Only what the written terms say | Minn. Stat. § 504B.175 |
| Virginia | Allowed | — | 20 days | Only itemized actual expenses and damages | Va. Code § 55.1-1203 — our reading, unverified |
| Massachusetts | Not allowed | — | No day count (Seayora: 7 days) | Nothing | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(1)(b) |
| New York | Allowed — the law is not settled | No "deposit or advance" may exceed one month's rent. Seayora counts a holding deposit toward that, together with the security deposit. | No day count (Seayora: 7 days) | Only what the written terms say | N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(a) — our reading, unverified |
We have no holding-deposit statute on file for this state. Seayora's own rules apply: written terms the applicant accepts before paying, credited to the move-in, and refunded in full if you do not go ahead. Check local law before relying on it.
Paying it
The applicant chooses a saved payment method — or adds one through the payment processor's own form — types their full name to accept the terms, and pays. A second tap is never a second charge. If a payment is declined they can try another method.
Paid by card, the card processing charge is not refunded. Pay from a bank account, or with a debit card, to avoid it.
Paid from a bank account, the bank processing cost (a small percentage, capped) comes out of your payout. The applicant gets a receipt with the written terms printed on it, kept in their documents; you get a copy.
Where each one stands
- Waiting for the applicant
- Payment in progress
- Paid — unit held
- Credited to the lease
- Refunded
- Kept under the terms
- Withdrawn before payment
- Expired unpaid
- Payment returned by the bank
Seayora lapses a request that is not paid by its hold date, credits a paid deposit once the lease is signed, and tells you once when a hold has passed without a signed lease, or when a refund you owe is due. If you decline the application, an unpaid request is withdrawn and a paid deposit is refunded in full automatically — you can switch the automatic refund off in your defaults, and you are then reminded to refund it yourself.
Your defaults
Holding deposit defaults set what a new request starts with: the amount (a percentage of the rent or a fixed amount), how many days the home is held, what it is credited to, what happens if the applicant does not go ahead, your own additional terms, and whether a declined application refunds automatically.
Connected assistants
A connected assistant can read your holding deposits, and an applicant's assistant can read theirs, with the list_holding_deposits tool. Asking for, paying, refunding or keeping one is done in Seayora, because each moves or binds money.
Related features and guides
- State Lease Rules and the State Law Notice — Documentation. Each state’s rules about a residential lease’s deposit, late fees, notice periods and entry, with the statute behind each — checked against your lease before it is sent, and added to a template as a cited notice.
- Applying Together: Co-Applicants and Guarantors — Documentation. Roommates, partners and guarantors apply for one home together: the lead invites them by email, each accepts from their own account and is screened as themselves, and the approved household signs the lease.
- Creating & E-Signing Leases — Documentation. How to build a lease, send it for electronic signature, and rely on the audit trail under ESIGN and UETA.
- Digital Leases & eSignature — Feature. Build digital leases from your templates, send them for legally binding eSignature under ESIGN/UETA with a full audit trail, and store executed copies automatically.
- Security Deposits Explained: Rules and Getting It Back — Guide. How security deposits work for renters and landlords — typical amounts, what they cover, return timelines, and how to get your full deposit back.
- Online Rental Applications — Feature. Collect complete rental applications online and track every applicant in one pipeline, with the same questions and the same criteria for everybody. Screening reports are not available through Seayora yet — no consumer reporting agency is connected — so nothing is ordered and no screening fee is charged.