# North Carolina — Security deposit return deadlines by US state — the statutory clock a landlord has to return a tenant's deposit, quoted from the state statute

For North Carolina, return deadline is 30 days; deadline in days is 30; what starts the clock is after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession of the premises to the landlord; second deadline, and when it applies is 60 days, for the final accounting where the claim cannot be determined within 30 days; statute is N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-52, recorded from its source on 2026-08-26.

- **State:** North Carolina _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Return deadline:** 30 days _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Deadline in days:** 30 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **What starts the clock:** after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession of the premises to the landlord _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Second deadline, and when it applies:** 60 days, for the final accounting where the claim cannot be determined within 30 days _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Statute:** N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-52 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> The landlord in writing shall itemize any damage and mail or deliver same to the tenant, together with the balance of the security deposit, no later than 30 days after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession of the premises to the landlord. If the extent of the landlord's claim against the security deposit cannot be determined within 30 days, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an interim accounting no later than 30 days after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession of the premises to the landlord and shall provide a final accounting within 60 days after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession of the premises to the landlord.

## Source

- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_42/GS_42-52.html

Last verified: 2026-08-26. Review by: 2027-08-26.
Part of [Security deposit return deadlines by US state — the statutory clock a landlord has to return a tenant's deposit, quoted from the state statute](https://referencesource.org/security-deposit-return-deadlines-by-state/).