Published 2026-09-25 · 16 min read

Idaho Landlord-Tenant Law 2026: The Plain-English Guide

Idaho is one of the most landlord-friendly states in the country — not because it grants landlords extraordinary powers, but because the statutes are short, specific, and leave a great deal to the lease. The core framework lives in Idaho Code Title 6, Chapter 3 (§§ 6-301–6-324), with tenancy, rent-change, and fee rules in Title 55 (§§ 55-208, 55-304, 55-305, 55-306). Headline facts: no cap on security deposits, a 21-day return deadline extendable only to a 30-day maximum, 3-day eviction notices, a 30-day written notice for residential rent increases and nonrenewals, a rule that every tenant fee must be reasonable, and no statute governing landlord entry. If it is not in your lease, Idaho law probably does not say it.

This page also corrects claims circulating in landlord summaries, including earlier versions of this guide: the deposit treble-damages penalty is not in § 6-321 (it runs through §§ 6-320 and 6-317); § 6-324 is the attorney-fees section, not a retaliation statute, and the oft-quoted one-month's-rent-plus-$500 retaliation penalty could not be verified in any Idaho statute; and the Idaho Human Rights Act's housing provision is § 67-5909, not § 67-6509. Statute text was verified against the Idaho Legislature's official publication and the current Idaho Code as published by Justia.

At a glance

How much can an Idaho landlord charge as a security deposit, and when must it be returned? (§ 6-321)

No cap, and a broad definition

Idaho places no statutory limit on the deposit amount — § 6-321 simply never sets one. The definition is broad: amounts deposited for any purpose other than the payment of rent are deemed security deposits (§ 6-321(1)). Labels do not control — a "non-refundable fee" that functions as security for performance will be treated as deposit money, with the return and itemization duties attached. Idaho has no separate statutes on pet deposits or application fees; define both in the lease, and expect anything held against contingencies to be pulled into § 6-321.

The 21-day clock, the 30-day ceiling, and when it starts

On termination of the lease and surrender of the premises, everything held as a deposit must be refunded except amounts necessary to cover the contingencies specified in the deposit arrangement (§ 6-321(1)). Timing under § 6-321(2): refunds are due within 21 days if no time is fixed by agreement, and in any event within 30 days after surrender — the absolute ceiling however the lease is drafted. The clock starts at surrender, not the lease's paper end date. Any refund smaller than the full amount must be accompanied by a signed statement itemizing the amounts lawfully retained, the purpose for each, and a detailed list of expenditures made from the deposit. The signature and detail are statutory: an unsigned summary or a round-number "cleaning and repairs" line does not satisfy the section, and a tenant's § 6-320 action (below) can be premised on the failure itself.

Wear and tear is defined — use the definition

Section 6-321(1) bars retaining any part of a deposit for normal wear and tear, and defines the term itself: deterioration from the use for which the rental unit is intended, without negligence, carelessness, accident, or misuse or abuse by the tenant, household members, or their invitees or guests. Every deduction is a comparison against that sentence — faded paint and traffic-worn carpet sit on the statute's side; a guest's burn or damage from misuse sits on yours. Because the definition turns on cause, dated move-in and move-out photographs make a deduction defensible. Use our Security Deposit Deadline Finder, the deductions guide, and the move-in/move-out inspection checklist.

Worked example: the deposit clock and the money

A tenancy at $1,800 a month ends and the tenant surrenders the unit on Monday, March 2, 2026; you hold an $1,800 deposit. With no different time fixed in the lease, the refund is due Monday, March 23, 2026 — 21 days after surrender; even the longest lawful lease period could not push it past Wednesday, April 1, 2026. Suppose the file supports $450 of damage beyond wear and tear and $185 of cleaning, each invoiced — $635 total. The refund due by March 23 is $1,165, with the signed statement itemizing both items. Calendar the deadline at surrender; treat day 14 as your internal mailing date.

Separate accounts: the third-party-manager rule and its exemptions

Since a 2021 amendment (2021 ch. 197), § 6-321(4) requires a deposit for residential premises managed by a third-party manager to be maintained in a separate account at a federally insured financial institution, separate from the manager's operating account. The exemptions were missing from earlier summaries: the requirement does not apply to the property owner, to managers who share common members or principals with the property-owner entity, to a real estate licensee, or to a nonprofit business organization established under Title 30, Chapter 30. No one owes the tenant interest on the deposit under Idaho law.

Deposits transfer with the property

If the property changes ownership during a tenancy, the new owner is liable for refund of the deposits (§ 6-321(3)) — whether or not the seller transferred the funds. Put per-unit deposit amounts on the closing statement; buyers who skip this inherit the refund duty and the 21/30-day clock at the eventual surrender.

The penalty, stated precisely: § 6-320 plus § 6-317

Section 6-321 contains no penalty clause of its own. The exposure arrives through two other sections, and the mechanism tells you where the off-ramp is:

• The vehicle is § 6-320. A tenant may sue for damages and specific performance for, among other grounds, failure to return a security deposit as and when required by law (§ 6-320(a)(4)).
• The gateway is § 6-320(d). Before filing, the tenant must give the landlord three days' written notice listing each failure or breach, with a written demand requiring performance or cure; if the failure is not cured within three days after service, the tenant may sue. Notice is served under § 6-323: personal delivery, leaving a copy with an employee at the landlord's usual place of business, or certified mail, return receipt requested.
• The multiplier is § 6-317. Where a party recovers damages in a forcible or unlawful entry or detainer matter, or in a § 6-320 action, judgment may be entered for three times the amount at which the actual damages are assessed. Trebling is discretionary and trebles the actual damages assessed — for a wrongfully withheld $1,165 balance, exposure runs to $3,495 on that measure — not an automatic three-times-the-whole-deposit fine for a one-day delay.
• Fees follow § 6-324. The prevailing party is entitled to attorney's fees except in cases where treble damages are awarded. In § 6-303(2) cases, fees are available only if the three-day notice advised the tenant that fees would be awarded to the prevailing party — put that sentence in every nonpayment notice.

The practical translation: the tenant's § 6-320(d) letter is the last exit. Returning the deposit, or the defensible balance with its signed statement, inside that 3-day window removes the premise of the action.

How much notice must an Idaho landlord give for a rent increase or nonrenewal? (§§ 55-304, 55-305, 55-306)

Rent increases and nonrenewals: the 30-day rule

Earlier versions of this page said Idaho has no dedicated rent-increase notice statute. That is no longer safe. Under § 55-304(2) — a residential rule added in 2020 and carried through the 2025 reorganization — a landlord of residential property must give the tenant written notice at least 30 days before a rent increase takes effect or a lease is nonrenewed. (The section's older first part allows month-to-month term changes on notice given at least 15 days before the month expires, § 55-304(1); for residential increases and nonrenewals, calendar the later, longer 30-day rule.)

Worked example: a written increase notice delivered Monday, March 2, 2026 cannot take effect before Wednesday, April 1, 2026; a notice delivered March 10 cannot support an April 1 increase. There is no cap on the amount and no frequency limit — the control is timing. On a fixed term, rent is what the lease says: changes happen at renewal, or mid-term only if the lease reserves that right. See how to raise rent legally and how to handle late rent.

Fees: no numeric cap, but a reasonableness rule since 2023

Idaho fixes no dollar or percentage cap on late fees and mandates no grace period — late is when the lease says it is late. But since July 1, 2023, § 55-305 (2023 ch. 67; redesignated in 2025) has imposed two real limits on all fees charged to a residential tenant, expressly including late-payment fees, for agreements entered into or renewed on or after that date. Every fee must be reasonable. And an owner may not charge a fee above the amount the rental agreement allows, or one the agreement does not include at all, unless the agreement is oral or the owner gives 30 days' written notice of the change. Section 55-305(4) is explicit the other way: nothing in it limits the amount chargeable for rent. Draft late fees as a stated, defensible amount on a stated trigger day, keep them in the signed agreement, and never improvise a new fee mid-tenancy without the 30-day notice.

Rent control: preempted, and the preemption widened in 2025

Idaho has no state rent control, and local government cannot create any. The current provision is § 55-306 (2025 ch. 65): a local governmental unit may not enact, maintain, or enforce an ordinance or resolution that would force owners to participate in an optional federal housing assistance program, or any other program or law regulating rent, fees, or deposits on private residential property. The only carve-out is property the local unit itself has an interest in. The preemption descends from the former § 55-307(2) rent-control ban, was broadened in 2024, and was restated in broader form in 2025. A city-level deposit cap or fee schedule is not a gap waiting to be filled locally; it is preempted.

How much notice is required to end an Idaho tenancy at will? (§ 55-208 and the lease)

• Tenancy at will / month-to-month: either side may terminate on written notice of not less than one month (§ 55-208) — the landlord's notice specifying a removal period of not less than one month, the tenant's a vacating date not less than one month from the notice date. A notice given Monday, March 2, 2026 specifying Thursday, April 2, 2026 satisfies the floor. Do not write "30 days" in your own notices — the statute says one month, and months are not all 30 days.
• Year-to-year and longer periodic tenancies: Attorney General guidance applies the same one-month written notice. Fixed-term leases with a stated end date simply end, with no statutory termination notice owed.
• Week-to-week: no statute — the lease must specify the process.
• Increases and nonrenewals ride the separate 30-day rule in § 55-304(2); one written notice given early enough satisfies both clocks.
• Duty to mitigate: if a tenant breaks the lease early, Idaho follows the ordinary contract expectation that the landlord make reasonable efforts to re-rent. Document re-listing dates, ads, and showings — they determine the damage claim. See our lease agreement guide.

Entry: the Idaho catch

Idaho has no statute on landlord entry notice. The Attorney General's manual treats entry as a matter the lease should specify, against the tenant's right to privacy and quiet enjoyment. Accepted practice is 24 hours' reasonable notice for inspections, repairs, and showings, with immediate entry for genuine emergencies — but it binds no one unless the lease says so. The showing trap is real: the lease should reserve the right to show the property; without that reservation, access for showings is negotiated case by case. Write a full entry clause — notice method and period, hours, purposes, emergency exception, showing rights — into every Idaho lease, then follow it exactly and log each entry.

How does an eviction work in Idaho? (§§ 6-303–6-316)

Self-help eviction is a bad idea in Idaho even though no single statute brands it in those words: change the locks or shut off utilities and you invite a damages claim and a credibility problem in the possession case you still have to file. Possession changes hands through an unlawful detainer action under Title 6, Chapter 3. Section 6-303 defines five grounds; each has its own front-end notice rule, and they are not interchangeable.

The five grounds and their notices

• Holdover (§ 6-303(1)). A tenant who continues in possession after the term expires without permission is an unlawful detainer; a tenancy at will must first be terminated by the § 55-208 notice.
• Nonpayment (§ 6-303(2)). After default in rent, serve three days' written notice requiring payment — stating the amount due — or possession, on the tenant and any subtenant in actual occupation. Two details summaries drop: the notice must warn a residential tenant that, if a court enters judgment against them, they will have 72 hours to remove their belongings before the landlord may remove and dispose of them under § 6-316 (commercial and large-tract tenants get seven days or longer as the court grants); and it may be served at any time within one year after the rent becomes due. Add the § 6-324 fees advisement to the same document.
• Other lease violations (§ 6-303(3)). Failure to perform any other lease condition — including a covenant not to assign or sublet — requires three days' written notice requiring performance or possession. Within those three days, the tenant, an occupying subtenant, a mortgagee of the term, or another interested person may perform and save the lease from forfeiture. Exception: if the violated covenant cannot afterward be performed, no cure notice need be given.
• Assignment, subletting, or waste (§ 6-303(4)). Either act contrary to the lease terminates it under the subsection; the landlord is entitled to restitution on service of a three-day notice to quit. There is no cure right on this track.
• Controlled substances (§ 6-303(5)). If any person — not only the tenant — is or has been engaged in the unlawful delivery, production, or use of a controlled substance on the premises during the term, the ground exists, with terms as defined in § 37-2701. Correction to the earlier version of this page: subsection (5) states no notice period at all. The "24-hour notice" figure in secondary summaries traces to Attorney General manual practice, not to § 6-303 — do not print 24 hours on a notice as though it were statutory. Document the factual basis carefully: the statute states no standard of proof for the drug-activity finding, so your evidence file is the case.

When the clocks actually start: service and counting

Service (§ 6-304). Serve by delivering a copy to the tenant personally. If the tenant is absent from both residence and usual place of business, leave a copy with a person of suitable age and discretion at either place and mail a copy to the tenant at the residence. If residence and business cannot be ascertained, or no suitable person can be found, affix a copy conspicuously on the property, deliver a copy to a person residing there if one can be found, and mail a copy addressed to the tenant at the property. Subtenants are served the same way. Keep a written service record — date, time, method, person served; sloppy service is how sound evictions get dismissed.

Counting. Section 6-303 does not say how to count its three days. The rule comes from the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 6(a): the triggering day is not counted; the last day is counted unless it falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, in which case the period runs to the next business day; and — the sentence that drives Idaho eviction math — when the period is less than seven days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays are excluded. That is why practitioners call the 3-day notice three working days: the shorthand comes from Rule 6(a), not from the eviction statute.

Worked example: you serve a nonpayment notice on Friday, March 6, 2026. Friday is excluded as the trigger day and the weekend as intermediate days, so the count runs Monday, March 9 (day 1), Tuesday, March 10 (day 2), Wednesday, March 11 (day 3) — earliest filing Thursday, March 12, 2026. Serve early in the week when you can: a Friday service donates the whole weekend to the clock.

The court process, judgment, and belongings

After the notice runs, file for possession under § 6-310: trial is scheduled within twelve days of filing, and the summons, complaint, and trial setting must be served not less than five days before trial. A faster track in § 6-310 — trial within 72 hours, service at least 24 hours ahead — exists only for forcible-detainer cases against occupants with whom no landlord-tenant relationship ever existed; misusing it against a former tenant exposes you to treble damages for a bad-faith filing. Judgment and restitution run under § 6-316, including the post-judgment belongings window: 72 hours for a residential tenant to remove property before the landlord may remove and dispose of it as the section allows. Only the judgment and the sheriff's process move a tenant out. Full process: how to evict a tenant and our eviction process guide.

Two newer provisions every Idaho landlord should know

Unauthorized occupants: § 6-310A (2025). Effective July 1, 2025 (House Bill 321; 2025 ch. 222), owners have a limited alternative to a court case for true squatters: present a completed, verified complaint in the statutory form to the county sheriff and obtain immediate removal — only when all eight conditions are met, including that the occupants unlawfully entered and remain, the property was not open to the public when they entered, the owner has directed them to leave, they are not current or former tenants, they are not immediate family members, and no litigation about the property is pending. The sheriff verifies record ownership, serves a notice to immediately vacate, and puts the owner in possession. It cuts both ways: a person wrongfully removed may sue for restoration, actual damages, statutory damages of three times the fair market rent, costs, and fees — never use § 6-310A against anyone who was ever your tenant. The same law created crimes for false statements to detain real property and for fraudulent sale or lease of residential property (§§ 18-3621, 18-3622).

Dismissed evictions get shielded: § 6-303A (2024). For cases filed on or after January 1, 2025, if the entire case was dismissed, no appeal is pending, and at least three years have passed from filing — or the parties stipulate — the defendant's records are shielded from public disclosure automatically, no petition required (2024 ch. 269). Build screening criteria on judgments and verified history, not on an old dismissed filing. See our tenant screening red flags guide.

What habitability duties can an Idaho tenant enforce in court? (§ 6-320)

Idaho enacts no freestanding habitability code. What it enacts is a tenant's cause of action — and the list in § 6-320(a) is, in practice, the duty list. A tenant may sue for damages and specific performance for: (1) failure to provide reasonable waterproofing and weather protection; (2) failure to maintain in good working order the electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating, cooling, or sanitary facilities the landlord supplied; (3) maintaining the premises in a manner hazardous to the tenant's health or safety; (4) failure to return a security deposit as and when required by law; (5) breach of any lease term materially affecting health and safety, explicit or implicit; and (6) failure to install approved smoke detectors in each dwelling unit under the landlord's control, including mobile homes. City and county housing codes apply on top of this list; the section does not apply to tracts of five acres or more used for agricultural purposes (§ 6-320(e)).

The "three-day repair standard" is a pre-suit notice, not a repair deadline

The claim that Idaho landlords must complete repairs within three days misreads the mechanism. Under § 6-320(d), before a tenant has standing to file a § 6-320 action, the tenant must give the landlord three days' written notice listing each failure or breach the action will be premised on, with a written demand requiring performance or cure. If a listed failure is not performed or cured within three days after service, the tenant may sue. The three days are the landlord's cure window before litigation, running from service of an itemizing notice — a vague "the place needs work" message does not start it, and a proper § 6-320(d) letter is a litigation document the day it arrives. Service follows § 6-323: personal delivery, leaving a copy with an employee at the landlord's usual place of business, or certified mail, return receipt requested.

Worked example: you sign for a § 6-320(d) certified-mail notice on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. On Rule 6(a) counting — trigger day and intermediate weekend days excluded — the cure count runs Thursday, October 1 (day 1), Friday, October 2 (day 2), Monday, October 5 (day 3); an uncured failure may be sued on from Tuesday, October 6. Date-stamp every maintenance report on arrival, and answer § 6-320(d) notices in writing inside the window even if the full repair needs scheduling. See how to handle maintenance requests.

What the tenant can win — and what the tenant cannot do

On a finding for the tenant, judgment is entered for the damages assessed; the court may also order specific performance, plus costs (§ 6-320(c)). Actions exclusively for specific performance are tried within twelve days of filing — these cases move fast — and § 6-320 damages sit within § 6-317's discretionary trebling. What § 6-320 does not give the tenant is a right to terminate the lease or withhold rent: neither remedy appears in the section, and earlier versions of this page erred in listing termination among them. Idaho has no general rent-withholding or repair-and-deduct statute; the single deduct remedy is the smoke-detector rule, next.

Smoke detectors: the one repair-and-deduct rule (§ 6-320(a)(6))

The numbering in the current code is § 6-320(a)(6) — the sixth paragraph of subsection (a). At the commencement of a rental agreement the landlord must verify that approved smoke detectors are installed and in good working order; during the tenancy, the tenant must maintain them. An approved detector is a battery-operated device capable of detecting visible or invisible particles of combustion, bearing identification from an approved testing agency. If the landlord or the landlord's assignee fails to install working smoke detectors, the tenant may send written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested: if detectors are not installed within 72 hours of receipt, the tenant may install them and deduct the cost from the next month's rent. Detectors deducted this way become the landlord's property and may not be removed. A five-minute verification at move-in, initialled by the tenant, eliminates the issue.

Does Idaho law protect tenants from landlord retaliation?

This section replaces a claim this page previously carried — that retaliation costs a fixed penalty of one month's rent plus $500, moving costs, and fees. No such penalty appears in the Idaho Code for ordinary residential tenancies, and this guide could not verify the figure in any statute. The verified position:

• § 6-324 is not a retaliation statute. It is the chapter's attorney-fees provision (prevailing party, except where treble damages are awarded). Any summary citing § 6-324 for retaliation has the wrong section.
• There is no general anti-retaliation statute in Title 6, Chapter 3. Idaho has not codified a URLTA-style retaliation ban for standard residential tenancies; retaliation arguments there are litigated through the § 6-320 framework, lease and common-law defenses in the detainer action, and the guidance below.
• The Attorney General's manual states the practical rule: a landlord may not evict a tenant because the tenant requested that repairs be made or because the tenant joined a tenant association. Treat a repair request followed closely by a termination notice as legally radioactive even without a codified penalty schedule.
• The codified ban lives in the manufactured-home chapter. Under § 55-2015, a manufactured-home community landlord may not terminate a tenancy, refuse to renew, increase rent, decrease services, or threaten repossession of a lot in retaliation for the resident's (1) good-faith code complaint to the enforcing agency, (2) complaint to the landlord about maintenance, conditions, rent, or rules, (3) organizing or joining a resident association, or (4) retaining counsel or an agent. That chapter supplies its own remedies and fees (§§ 55-2014, 55-2017, 55-2018).

No statute sets a fixed time window — no six-month presumption of the kind many states enact — so timing is argued on the evidence. The defense is documentary: an independent, pre-existing, written basis for every increase, nonrenewal, or filing that follows a complaint.

Discrimination and state-specific protections (§ 67-5909)

The federal Fair Housing Act applies in full in Idaho — race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Idaho's own Idaho Human Rights Act sits in Title 67, Chapter 59, and its prohibited-acts section is § 67-5909 — the § 67-6509 citation in earlier versions of this page is a different chapter and is wrong.

For real-estate transactions, § 67-5909(8) prohibits an owner, anyone engaging in a real-estate transaction, or a broker or salesperson from refusing the transaction, discriminating in its terms or services, refusing to transmit a bona fide offer or to negotiate, misrepresenting availability, publishing discriminatory statements or using discriminatory forms, or accepting listings on a discriminatory understanding — and, at (8)(h), from refusing to permit reasonable modifications at the expense of a person with a disability (permission may reasonably be conditioned on restoring the premises at tenancy's end). The bases reaching the real-estate subsection are race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, plus disability, including persons associated with a person with a disability. Two precision points:

• Familial status is not a § 67-5909 real-estate class. Protection against refusing families with children comes from the federal Fair Housing Act — full force, but cite the right law in your policies.
• Sexual orientation and gender identity are not statewide § 67-5909 classes. Some Idaho cities (Boise and other Ada County jurisdictions) prohibit them by local ordinance, which the § 55-306 preemption does not reach. Check the ordinance where the unit sits.

Screen every applicant with identical written criteria and document every decision. Our fair housing guide covers what you can and cannot ask.

What changed in Idaho law, 2023–2026

• Fees must be reasonable (2023). § 55-305 (2023 ch. 67), for agreements entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2023: all tenant fees, including late fees, must be reasonable, may not exceed the agreement, and may not be added without 30 days' written notice.
• Dismissed-eviction shielding (2024). § 6-303A (2024 ch. 269): records of fully dismissed detainer cases filed on or after January 1, 2025 are shielded automatically once three years have passed (or on stipulation), with no appeal pending.
• Code reorganization and broader preemption (2025). Senate Bill 1043 (2025 ch. 65) reorganized Title 55, Chapter 3 without changing most substance: the rent-change section (amended by 2024 ch. 257; its residential 30-day notice dates from 2020 ch. 254) became § 55-304, the fee section § 55-305, fixture removal § 55-307, and a new § 55-306 restated preemption to cover rent, fees, deposits, and forced program participation. Old § 55-307 citations for rent changes or rent control are now stale — § 55-307 today is the tenant-fixtures section.
• Sheriff removal of unauthorized occupants (2025). House Bill 321 (2025 ch. 222), effective July 1, 2025, added § 6-310A and the false-statement and fraudulent-sale-or-lease crimes at §§ 18-3621 and 18-3622.
• What did not change: a 2025 bill (Senate Bill 1042) that would have capped and conditioned rental application fees did not pass — Idaho still has no application-fee statute. No notice-by-email statute was enacted in this period; §§ 6-304 and 6-323 service methods remain personal delivery, leave-and-mail, posting-and-mail, and certified mail as specified.

A 10-step Idaho compliance checklist

1. Draft the lease to carry what the statutes omit: an entry clause (24 hours' notice, hours, purposes, emergencies, reserved showing rights), late-fee amount and trigger, pet terms, notice addresses.

2. Price the deposit freely (no cap), but label honestly: anything held for a purpose other than rent is a § 6-321 deposit, including amounts called fees.

3. Calendar the deposit deadline at surrender: day 21 by default, never past day 30, internal mailing target day 14 (§ 6-321(2)).

4. Return the balance with a signed statement itemizing each amount retained, its purpose, and its expenditures — testing every line against the wear-and-tear definition (§ 6-321(1), (2)).

5. With a third-party manager, confirm in writing that deposits sit in a separate account at a federally insured institution, apart from the operating account, or that a § 6-321(4) exemption genuinely applies.

6. On any sale of an occupied rental, put per-unit deposits on the closing statement: the new owner is liable for the refunds (§ 6-321(3)).

7. Verify working smoke detectors at commencement, initialled in the move-in file (§ 6-320(a)(6)).

8. Give 30 days' written notice for every residential increase or nonrenewal (§ 55-304(2)) and one month's notice to terminate a tenancy at will (§ 55-208); keep every fee reasonable and inside the agreement or add it on 30 days' notice (§ 55-305).

9. Serve § 6-303 notices exactly as § 6-304 allows, state the amount due, include the 72-hour belongings warning and the § 6-324 fees advisement, and count the three days under Rule 6(a).

10. Answer any § 6-320(d) notice inside its 3-day cure window, in writing — that letter is the gateway to a § 6-320 action with discretionary treble damages under § 6-317.

The bottom line

Idaho is a high-freedom, high-precision state: no deposit cap, no numeric late-fee cap, 3-day eviction notices, and no entry statute — but a 21-day deposit clock with a signed-itemization duty, a 30-day increase and nonrenewal notice, a reasonableness rule on every fee, and a pre-suit cure letter that can turn a missed deposit deadline into treble actual damages. The traps are in the details summaries skip: the trebling statute is § 6-317, not § 6-321; the day-counting rule is Rule 6(a), not § 6-303; the internet's retaliation dollar penalty is not in the code; and the discrimination cite is § 67-5909, not § 67-6509. Write the definitive lease once — entry clause, deposit terms, late fees, showing rights, notice methods — then run the playbook: serve 3-day notices by the Rule 6(a) clock, calendar the deposit deadline at surrender, and answer § 6-320(d) letters inside three days.

Idaho has no deposit cap, no late-fee cap, and no entry statute — but a 21-day deposit deadline with triple damages. The 50-State Landlord Law Dataset (CSV + JSON) ($29) puts all 50 states' deposit caps, return deadlines, damage multipliers, and entry-notice rules in one searchable spreadsheet so you can compare and comply without re-reading statutes.

Primary sources

• Section 6-321, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — security deposits: definition, wear and tear, 21/30-day return, signed itemization, transfer on sale, manager accounts (2021 ch. 197).
• Section 6-320, Idaho Code (Justia) — tenant actions for damages and specific performance: six grounds, the (d) 3-day pre-suit notice, smoke detectors at (a)(6).
• Section 6-303, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — unlawful detainer defined: the five grounds and the (2) notice contents, including the 72-hour belongings warning.
• Section 6-317, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — treble damages: judgment may be three times the actual damages assessed, including in § 6-320 actions.
• Section 55-208, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — termination of a tenancy at will on not less than one month's written notice.
• Section 55-304, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — lease-term changes: the residential 30-day notice for increases and nonrenewals at subsection (2).
• Section 55-305, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — tenant-fee limits: reasonableness, the agreement ceiling, 30-day notice for added fees (2023 ch. 67).
• Section 55-306, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — local government may not regulate rent, fees, or deposits or force participation in optional federal housing programs (2025 ch. 65).
• Section 6-310A, Idaho Code (Justia) — the 2025 sheriff-removal remedy: eight conditions and wrongful-removal damages.
• Section 67-5909, Idaho Code (Idaho Legislature) — Human Rights Act prohibited acts, including real-estate transactions at subsection (8).

Statute text was checked against the publications above. Title 55, Chapter 3 section numbers reflect the 2025 reorganization (2025 ch. 65); pre-2025 summaries may describe the same rules under old numbers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the maximum security deposit in Idaho?

There is none. Section 6-321 never caps the amount. Anything deposited for a purpose other than rent counts as a security deposit under § 6-321(1), whatever the lease calls it, and local governments cannot impose a cap either — § 55-306 preempts local regulation of deposits.

How long does an Idaho landlord have to return a deposit?

Within 21 days after surrender if the agreement fixes no time, and in any event within 30 days after surrender (§ 6-321(2)). A lease may set a shorter or longer period, but 30 days is the ceiling. Any partial refund must come with a signed statement itemizing the amounts retained, the purposes, and a detailed list of expenditures.

What is the penalty for keeping an Idaho deposit too long?

Section 6-321 has no penalty clause of its own. The tenant first gives a 3-day written notice listing the failure and demanding cure under § 6-320(d); if it is not cured, the tenant may sue under § 6-320(a)(4), and § 6-317 permits judgment for three times the actual damages assessed. Attorney's fees go to the prevailing party under § 6-324 except where treble damages are awarded.

How many days' notice does Idaho require for nonpayment of rent?

Three days' written notice under § 6-303(2), stating the amount due, served on the tenant and any subtenant in actual occupation; it must also warn a residential tenant that after judgment they will have 72 hours to remove their belongings. The days are counted under Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure 6(a) — service day excluded, intermediate weekends and holidays excluded in a period under seven days — so a notice served Friday, March 6, 2026 runs through Wednesday, March 11, with the earliest filing date Thursday, March 12.

Is there really a 24-hour eviction notice for drug activity in Idaho?

No 24-hour period appears in the statute. Section 6-303(5) makes unlawful delivery, production, or use of a controlled substance on the premises an unlawful-detainer ground and states no pre-filing notice period; the 24-hour figure circulates in secondary summaries and Attorney General manual practice. Document the factual basis thoroughly and use the expedited court process rather than printing a 24-hour statutory deadline on a notice.

How much notice is required for a rent increase or nonrenewal in Idaho?

At least 30 days' written notice for residential leases under § 55-304(2), before the increase takes effect or the nonrenewal date. There is no cap on the increase and no state or local rent control (§ 55-306). Terminating a tenancy at will separately requires not less than one month's written notice under § 55-208.

Are late fees capped in Idaho?

Not by a number. There is no dollar or percentage cap and no mandatory grace period, but since July 1, 2023, § 55-305 requires every fee charged to a residential tenant — expressly including late fees — to be reasonable, forbids charging more than the agreement allows, and forbids adding a fee the agreement does not contain without 30 days' written notice.

How much notice must an Idaho landlord give before entering the unit?

Idaho has no entry-notice statute. Attorney General guidance is that the lease should specify when and how the landlord may enter; 24 hours' reasonable notice is accepted practice for inspections, repairs, and showings, and emergencies permit immediate entry. Without a lease clause reserving showing rights, access to show an occupied unit must be negotiated with the tenant.

Can an Idaho tenant repair and deduct, or withhold rent?

There is no general repair-and-deduct or rent-withholding statute in Idaho. The one exception is smoke detectors: under § 6-320(a)(6), if the landlord fails to install working detectors, the tenant may give notice by certified mail, and if detectors are not installed within 72 hours of receipt, install them and deduct the cost from the next month's rent. For other conditions, the remedy is the § 6-320(d) 3-day notice followed by an action for damages and specific performance.

Does Idaho law set a penalty for landlord retaliation?

Not for ordinary residential tenancies. Section 6-324 — sometimes miscited for retaliation — is the attorney-fees section, and no codified dollar penalty (such as one month's rent plus $500) appears in the Idaho Code. The Attorney General's manual states that a landlord may not evict a tenant for requesting repairs or joining a tenant association, and a codified ban with four protected triggers exists for manufactured-home communities at § 55-2015.

More landlord-tenant law guides

• Landlord-tenant law by state
• Hawaii landlord-tenant law
• Illinois landlord-tenant law
• Georgia landlord-tenant law
• Indiana landlord-tenant law

This is general information, not legal advice. Consult an Idaho landlord-tenant attorney for specific situations.