Deposit as last month's rent

Do not use your deposit to cover your last month's rent. This is only allowed if your lease says you can. If you use your deposit this way without your lease allowing it, Kansas law says you lose the entire deposit. Your landlord can still collect the rent you owe, as if you had never used the deposit for it.

Do not skip your last month's rent because you plan to use your deposit to cover it. This is against Minnesota law, unless you have a month-to-month lease and neither side has given notice to end it. A few other rare situations do not follow this rule either. If you skip your rent anyway, the law assumes you were using your deposit as rent, unless you can show otherwise. Your landlord must first send you a written demand and notice about this rule. If you still skip rent after that, your landlord can demand a penalty on top of the rent you skipped. Your landlord can also charge interest on your whole deposit.

Minnesota's rule against skipping your last month's rent does not apply in a couple of other rare situations. One is the last month before a contract for deed on your home is canceled. Another is during a mortgage foreclosure (the bank taking the home). It is the last month of the time you have left to catch up and keep the home.

Missouri law does not let you use your deposit to cover rent instead of paying it. It applies at any time during your lease, not only near the end. If you skip a rent payment expecting your deposit to cover it, your landlord could start the legal process to evict you. Pay your rent as usual, and deal with your deposit separately after you move out.

Do not skip your last month's rent and tell your landlord to use the deposit instead. Texas law bans this. If you do it, a court can order you to pay 3 times the rent you held back plus your landlord's lawyer fees. If you hold back $1,000 in rent, that is $3,000.

West Virginia's deposit section does not give you the right to an immediate credit. That means your deposit does not count at once against rent you owe when your rental ends.