{
    "title": "Six city housing law comparison 2026",
    "basis": "Assembled from Homzora city datasets already published for Massachusetts, Georgia, Illinois and Chicago, Florida, and New York, plus San Francisco and California research verified on the date shown.",
    "sources": [
        "https://homzora.co/data/homzora-massachusetts-deposit-law-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/data/homzora-massachusetts-notice-periods-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/atlanta/data/homzora-georgia-notice-periods-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/atlanta/data/homzora-georgia-deposit-law-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/chicago/data/homzora-chicago-deposit-rules-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/chicago/data/homzora-illinois-deposit-law-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/chicago/data/homzora-chicago-notice-periods-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/miami/data/homzora-florida-deposit-law-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/miami/data/homzora-florida-notice-periods-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/new-york/data/homzora-newyork-deposit-law-2026.json",
        "https://homzora.co/new-york/data/homzora-newyork-notice-periods-2026.json",
        "https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/civil-code/civ-sect-1950-5/",
        "https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/civil-code/civ-sect-1946-1/",
        "https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/code-of-civil-procedure/ccp-sect-1161/",
        "https://www.sf.gov/reports--security-deposits",
        "https://www.sf.gov/learn-about-rent-increases-san-francisco"
    ],
    "verified": "2026-09-18",
    "note": "This file compares statutory rules across the six cities Homzora covers. It is assembled from figures already published in the city datasets rather than researched afresh, so every cell can be traced back to the file it came from. Where a city dataset does not publish a figure, the cell is empty. An empty cell means Homzora has not verified it, not that the city has no rule.",
    "unverified_entries": [
        "Massachusetts and Georgia rent increase limits and late fee rules beyond those shown are not published in the Homzora datasets and are left empty.",
        "California penalties for a late deposit return were not verified to the Homzora standard and the cell is empty.",
        "Georgia and Florida deposit interest obligations are not published in the Homzora datasets for those states and are left empty.",
        "Georgia, Florida and California late fee limits are not published and are left empty.",
        "San Francisco figures come from research verified on 2026-09-18 rather than from a published Homzora San Francisco statutory dataset, because that edition publishes quantitative data rather than statutory reference."
    ],
    "documented_disagreement": [
        "Chicago and Illinois set different deposit return deadlines and different interest thresholds, and a Chicago tenancy is subject to both. The city figures are used here because they govern within Chicago, and the state figures appear in the Chicago datasets alongside them."
    ],
    "license": "CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Homzora, homzora.co",
    "methodology": "https://homzora.co/boston-housing-data/",
    "columns": [
        "measure",
        "boston_ma",
        "atlanta_ga",
        "chicago_il",
        "miami_fl",
        "new_york_ny",
        "san_francisco_ca",
        "notes"
    ],
    "rows": [
        {
            "measure": "Security deposit cap",
            "boston_ma": "1 month",
            "atlanta_ga": "2 months",
            "chicago_il": "No statutory limit",
            "miami_fl": "No statutory limit",
            "new_york_ny": "1 month",
            "san_francisco_ca": "1 month, or 2 for a qualifying small landlord",
            "notes": "Georgia allows twice what Massachusetts and New York do. Illinois and Florida set no cap at all, so the limit is whatever the market bears. California permits two months only where the landlord is a natural person or an LLC of natural persons owning no more than two properties totalling four units, and never against a servicemember."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Deadline to return the deposit",
            "boston_ma": "30 days",
            "atlanta_ga": "30 days",
            "chicago_il": "45 days",
            "miami_fl": "15 days with no claim, 30 days with a claim",
            "new_york_ny": "14 days",
            "san_francisco_ca": "21 days",
            "notes": "New York is the fastest and Chicago the slowest, a spread of 31 days. Florida runs two tracks depending on whether the landlord claims deductions."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Penalty for missing the deadline",
            "boston_ma": "Three times the deposit",
            "atlanta_ga": "Three times the deposit for bad faith",
            "chicago_il": "Two times the deposit",
            "miami_fl": "Forfeiture of the claim",
            "new_york_ny": "Total forfeiture of the deposit",
            "san_francisco_ca": "",
            "notes": "New York is the harshest: miss fourteen days and the entire deposit is forfeited regardless of what the tenant owes. Massachusetts and Georgia treble it. California penalties were not verified to this standard and are left empty."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Annual interest owed to the tenant",
            "boston_ma": "5 percent or actual, in a Massachusetts bank",
            "atlanta_ga": "",
            "chicago_il": "0.01 percent for 2026, set by the Comptroller",
            "miami_fl": "",
            "new_york_ny": "Required at 6 or more units",
            "san_francisco_ca": "4.2 percent for 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027",
            "notes": "Three different mechanisms. Massachusetts sets a floor in statute. Chicago publishes a rate annually and it has sat near zero for a decade. San Francisco publishes a rate annually and it is currently 4.2 percent, a difference of 420 times. New York conditions it on building size. Illinois requires it only at 25 or more units."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Notice to terminate, tenancy under 1 year",
            "boston_ma": "30 days for a monthly tenancy",
            "atlanta_ga": "60 days from the landlord, 30 from the tenant",
            "chicago_il": "30 days under 6 months, 60 days from 6 months",
            "miami_fl": "30 days month to month",
            "new_york_ny": "30 days",
            "san_francisco_ca": "30 days",
            "notes": "Georgia is the only one where the two parties owe different notice for the same tenancy. Massachusetts states three months as the statutory default and reduces it to the rent interval or thirty days, whichever is longer, where rent is payable more often than quarterly."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Notice to terminate, tenancy 1 to 2 years",
            "boston_ma": "30 days, not tiered by length",
            "atlanta_ga": "60 days, not tiered by length",
            "chicago_il": "60 days",
            "miami_fl": "30 days month to month, 60 days year to year",
            "new_york_ny": "60 days",
            "san_francisco_ca": "60 days",
            "notes": "Massachusetts and Georgia do not lengthen notice as a tenancy gets older. Chicago, New York and California all do. A tenant of ten years in Boston gets the same thirty days as a tenant of ten weeks."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Notice to terminate, long tenancy",
            "boston_ma": "30 days, not tiered by length",
            "atlanta_ga": "60 days, not tiered by length",
            "chicago_il": "120 days after 3 years",
            "miami_fl": "60 days year to year",
            "new_york_ny": "90 days after 2 years",
            "san_francisco_ca": "60 days",
            "notes": "The spread is the widest on this table. A long standing tenant gets 120 days notice in Chicago and 30 in Boston, a factor of four for the same situation."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Notice to pay rent or quit",
            "boston_ma": "14 days, with a 10 day right to cure",
            "atlanta_ga": "3 business days",
            "chicago_il": "10 day cure right",
            "miami_fl": "3 days",
            "new_york_ny": "14 day rent demand",
            "san_francisco_ca": "3 days excluding Saturdays, Sundays and judicial holidays",
            "notes": "Three cities say three days and none of them mean the same thing. Georgia means three business days. California excludes weekends and judicial holidays by statute. Florida means three days. Counting any of them as plain calendar days is the most common error in published guidance."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Rent increase limits",
            "boston_ma": "",
            "atlanta_ga": "",
            "chicago_il": "Preempted statewide, no rent control anywhere in Illinois",
            "miami_fl": "No limit",
            "new_york_ny": "No cap on market rate units, separate regime for rent regulated",
            "san_francisco_ca": "1.6 percent for 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027 on covered units",
            "notes": "San Francisco is the only city here with a binding annual cap on covered units. Illinois preempts rent control entirely. New York regulates a large stabilized stock separately from market rate."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Late fee limits",
            "boston_ma": "No fee for 30 days after the due date",
            "atlanta_ga": "",
            "chicago_il": "Capped outside the city",
            "miami_fl": "",
            "new_york_ny": "50 dollars or 5 percent of rent, whichever is less",
            "san_francisco_ca": "",
            "notes": "Massachusetts has the longest statutory grace period in the country. A lease charging a late fee at five days is generally unenforceable there. New York caps the amount rather than delaying it."
        },
        {
            "measure": "Deposit receipt or condition statement required",
            "boston_ma": "Receipt immediately, statement of condition within 10 days",
            "atlanta_ga": "Written move-in inspection list before the deposit is accepted",
            "chicago_il": "Receipt required, rate summary attached",
            "miami_fl": "Disclosure of where the deposit is held within 30 days",
            "new_york_ny": "Two inspections offered",
            "san_francisco_ca": "",
            "notes": "Massachusetts is the most procedurally demanding: fail to provide the statement of condition and the landlord loses deduction rights entirely."
        }
    ]
}