Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

Re: returning security deposit with interest

Here is the body of the statute. It was added in 1972:

68 P.S. � 250.511b. Interest on escrow funds held more than two years

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, all funds over one hundred dollars ($100) deposited with a lessor to secure the execution of a rental agreement on residential property in accordance with section 511.1 [68 P.S. � 250.511a] and pursuant to any lease newly executed or reexecuted after the effective date of this act shall be deposited in an escrow account of an institution regulated by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Comptroller of the Currency, or the Pennsylvania Department of Banking. When any funds are deposited in any escrow account, interest-bearing or noninterest-bearing, the lessor shall thereupon notify in writing each of the tenants making any such deposit, giving the name and address of the banking institution in which such deposits are held, and the amount of such deposits.

(b) Whenever any money is required to be deposited in an interest-bearing escrow savings account, in accordance with section 511.1 [68 P.S. � 250.511a], then the lessor shall be entitled to receive as administrative expenses, a sum equivalent to one per cent per annum upon the security money so deposited, which shall be in lieu of all other administrative and custodial expenses. The balance of the interest paid shall be the money of the tenant making the deposit and will be paid to said tenant annually upon the anniversary date of the commencement of his lease.

(c) The provisions of this section shall apply only after the second anniversary of the deposit of escrow funds.

[Act of April 6, 1951, P.L. 69, art. V, � 511.1, as added by the act of Dec. 29, 1972, P.L. 1698, No. 363, � 1.

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