TL;DR: The refundable damage deposit is a fee type on your listing. Open the listing, go to the Pricing tab, click Add fee under Additional fees, and pick Refundable damage deposit from the fee type dropdown. Enter the amount and save. The amount then appears in your rental agreement and at checkout.

Who this is for: 🏠 Host

There is no separate "security deposit" field on a Radius listing. The deposit lives in the same place as your pet, parking, and utility fees: the Additional fees section of the Pricing tab. When you add a fee and choose the type Refundable damage deposit, Radius treats that row differently from every other fee. It is charged once per booking, it is refundable, and Radius does not take a service fee on it. Radius collects the deposit from the guest with the booking payment and passes it through to you. After the stay, you decide whether to return it or keep part of it. How that return works is covered in Damage deposits and damages.

From your host dashboard, open Listings, choose the listing, and click Edit. Select the Pricing tab in the left-hand menu. Scroll past your nightly rate to the section titled Additional fees.

🏠 Host: If the section reads "No additional fees yet," you have not added any fees on this listing. That is normal for a new listing.

Click Add fee. A new fee row appears with a fee type dropdown. Open the dropdown and choose Refundable damage deposit. The row turns green to show it is a deposit, not a regular fee.

🏠 Host: You can add only one deposit per listing. If the option is not selectable, the listing already has a deposit row.

Type the deposit amount in dollars. The cadence is locked to one-time and the row is marked refundable; you cannot change those settings on a deposit. Click Save changes.

💡 Tip: Have several listings? Use Apply to multiple properties next to the Add fee button to copy the same fees to other listings, or set them once under Listing defaults in the host menu so every new listing starts with them.

Open the Rental agreement tab of the same listing. The preview is built from the listing's real pricing, so the Payments, Fees, and Security Deposit section now shows your deposit amount. If your agreement text uses the {{security_deposit}} merge field, that field fills in automatically. You do not type the amount into the agreement.

🏠 Host: A preview that shows $0.00 for the deposit means the listing has no deposit row yet. Add the fee in step 2 and reload the preview.

At checkout the guest sees the deposit as its own line, separate from rent and fees, and pays it with the booking. Radius passes the deposit through to you with no service fee. After checkout you inspect the property and record the outcome on the booking page: returned to guest or withheld.

👤 Guest: Your deposit is listed before you pay and again in the signed rental agreement. The Host returns it after the stay.

Correct. The deposit is not a rule; it is a fee. It lives on the Pricing tab under Additional fees, one dropdown option among the fee types.

The preview reads the listing's fees. A $0.00 deposit means the listing has no Refundable damage deposit row yet. Add it on the Pricing tab and the preview updates.

Use Apply to multiple properties in the Additional fees section, or set the deposit under Listing defaults in the host menu so new listings start with it.

Does Radius charge a fee on the deposit?

No. The deposit is passed through to you in full. Service fees apply to rent and non-refundable fees only.

Can I make the deposit non-refundable or charge it per night?

No. A damage deposit is always one-time and refundable. For a non-refundable charge, add a different fee type, such as Other (custom).

Do I have to write the deposit amount into my rental agreement?

No. The agreement pulls the amount from the listing. If you write your own terms, use the {{security_deposit}} merge field instead of a typed dollar amount, so the agreement and the listing never disagree.

How do I return the deposit after the stay?

Inspect the property, then record the outcome on the booking page. The full return-and-dispute process is in Damage deposits and damages.

Click the chat icon at the bottom-right of any page on help.bookradius.com, then click Contact Radius Support under "Create a ticket." Full walkthrough in How do I contact Radius?