Renters’ Rights in Alabama: Deposits, Repairs, and Eviction

Renters’ rights in Alabama come primarily from the state’s Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which sets the rules on security deposits, repairs, privacy, retaliation, and eviction for most residential leases signed or renewed after January 1, 2007.¹ The protections are specific, the deadlines are short, and most of them only work if you put things in writing.

Security Deposits

Your landlord cannot charge a security deposit larger than one month’s rent. Pet deposits, charges for alterations you ask for, and extra amounts tied to an increased liability risk sit outside that cap and can be collected on top of it.²

After you move out, the landlord has 60 days to either return the full deposit or send you an itemized list of deductions with whatever balance is left. Deductions can only cover unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear and tear. Miss that deadline and you’re entitled to double your original deposit.²

One step trips up a lot of tenants. You must give the landlord a written forwarding address when you leave. Without one, the refund gets mailed to your last known address, which is often the unit you just vacated. Any deposit that sits unclaimed for 90 days is forfeited. The landlord’s only obligation is to send the check by first-class mail to the address you provided in writing.²

Alabama does not require landlords to put your deposit in an interest-bearing account or formal escrow. The funds must, however, be kept separate from the landlord’s personal money so the refund is available when the tenancy ends.

Habitable Conditions and Repairs

Your landlord must keep the unit in a condition that’s safe to live in. That means functioning electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems; any appliances the landlord supplies, such as a refrigerator or stove, must work; and the structure itself must comply with building and housing codes affecting health or safety.³

Common areas like hallways, stairwells, and shared laundry rooms are the landlord’s responsibility too. Anything accessible to all residents has to be kept clean and safe.³

How to Enforce a Repair

When something breaks that affects your health or safety, put the request in writing and deliver it to the landlord. The notice should state that you intend to terminate the lease if the problem isn’t fixed within 14 days. Emergencies call for faster action.⁴

If the landlord fixes the issue within 14 days, the lease continues. If not, the lease terminates on the date in your notice, your security deposit and unused prepaid rent must be returned, and you can also recover actual damages and reasonable attorney fees. A court can order the repairs through an injunction.⁴

These remedies are off the table if you, a family member, or someone you let onto the property caused the condition in the first place.⁴ A separate provision gives you additional remedies if the landlord cuts off heat, running water, electricity, gas, or another essential service after you’ve reported a breach.⁵

You still have to hold up your end. State law requires tenants to keep the unit reasonably clean, dispose of trash properly, use appliances and fixtures as intended, and avoid damaging the property or letting guests do so. A landlord can recover actual damages and attorney fees from you for breaching those duties.⁶⁷

Privacy and Entry

Your landlord must give you at least two days’ notice before entering for non-emergency reasons like repairs, inspections, or showings. Entry has to happen at reasonable times. A note posted on your front door stating the time and purpose counts as valid notice.⁸

Two exceptions apply. A landlord can hand you a general advance schedule covering routine work like pest control, and visits that fall within that schedule don’t need separate notice if the schedule extends more than two days out. You can also consent to shorter notice. In a genuine emergency such as a fire or burst pipe, the landlord can enter immediately.⁸

Using the right of entry to harass you violates the statute. Repeated entries without justification, or entries at unreasonable hours, give you grounds for a complaint.⁸

Rent and Late Fees

Alabama has no statewide rent control, and the Act prevents cities and counties from passing their own.⁹ Your landlord can set rent at whatever amount the market will bear and raise it when the lease expires or, in a month-to-month arrangement, with proper notice.

State law doesn’t cap late fees either. The statute mentions them only to require that an eviction notice for unpaid rent specify “the amount of rent and any late fees owed.”⁷ Whatever your lease says is generally what you owe, so read that clause before signing.

Protection From Retaliation

A landlord cannot raise your rent, cut services, or threaten eviction because you complained to a government agency about code violations, reported a maintenance problem, or joined a tenant organization.¹⁰

If your landlord retaliates, you can raise it as a defense in an eviction and pursue other legal remedies. The protection has limits, though. A landlord can still evict during that window if you’re behind on rent, caused the code violation yourself, materially violated the lease, or if the building needs major work that would prevent you from living there.¹⁰

Ending Your Lease

For a month-to-month tenancy, either side must give at least 30 days’ written notice before the next rent due date. For a week-to-week tenancy, seven days’ notice is required before the termination date in the notice.¹¹

Fixed-term leases end on their stated date without any notice. If you stay past the end date without signing a new lease, you typically roll into a month-to-month arrangement and the 30-day rule starts to apply. Skipping proper notice can leave you liable for additional rent.

Early Termination for Military Service

Active-duty service members can break a lease under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. You can terminate at any point after entering military service, receiving permanent change-of-station orders, or receiving deployment orders of 90 days or more. If dependents are on the lease with you, terminating ends their obligation too.¹²

Deliver written notice of your intent to terminate along with a copy of your orders. You can hand-deliver, use a private carrier, or mail by return receipt. The lease terminates 30 days after the next rent due date following delivery, and the landlord cannot charge an early termination fee.¹²

The Eviction Process

Your landlord cannot lock you out, shut off your utilities, or remove your belongings to force you to leave. Eviction has to go through the courts, and it almost always starts with a written notice giving you a chance to fix the problem.

Notice and Cure

If you materially violate the lease or fail to maintain the unit in a way that affects health and safety, the landlord’s written notice has to describe the breach and give you seven business days to cure it. Fix the problem in that window and the lease stays intact. Unpaid rent follows the same seven-business-day timeline, and the notice has to state the exact amount owed, including any late fees. When both a lease violation and unpaid rent exist, the nonpayment timeline controls.⁷

Court Filing

If you don’t cure or move, the landlord files an unlawful detainer action in district court. Once served, you have seven calendar days to file an answer defending your right to stay.¹³

If the court rules against you, a writ of possession can be issued seven days after the judgment, and the landlord then contacts the sheriff to carry out the physical removal if you haven’t left.¹⁴

Appeals and the Bond Requirement

You have seven calendar days from the final order to appeal to the circuit court. Filing the appeal alone does not stop the eviction. To stay in the unit while the appeal is pending, you have to post an appeal bond set by the district court judge based on past-due rent and rent that will come due during the appeal. Financial hardship does not waive the bond. Once appealed, the circuit court has to schedule the case within 60 days.¹³

Property Left Behind

If you leave belongings in the unit more than 14 days after the lease terminates, the landlord has no duty to store or protect them and can dispose of everything at their discretion.¹⁵

Fair Housing

Alabama has its own Fair Housing Law under Title 24, Chapter 8 of the state code, which operates alongside the federal Fair Housing Act.¹⁶ A landlord cannot refuse to rent to you, set different terms, or harass you because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability. Discrimination in advertising, screening, and the terms of your lease all violate the law.

If you believe you were discriminated against, you can file a complaint with the Alabama Human Relations Commission or with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Move quickly, because federal complaints must typically be filed within one year of the discriminatory act.

1
Alabama Department of Public Health. Alabama Residential Landlord Tenant Act Fact Sheet
2
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-201 – Security Deposits; Prepaid Rent
3
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-204 – Landlord to Maintain Premises
4
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-401 – Noncompliance by the Landlord
5
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-404 – Wrongful Failure to Make Available Heat, Water, Hot Water, or Essential Services
6
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-301 – Tenant to Maintain Dwelling Unit
7
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-421 – Noncompliance with Rental Agreement; Failure to Pay Rent
8
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-303 – Access
9
Alabama Judicial System. Alabama Code 35-9A – Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act
10
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-501 – Retaliatory Conduct Prohibited
11
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-441 – Periodic Tenancy; Holdover Remedies
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3955 – Termination of Residential or Motor Vehicle Leases
13
Jackson County – Thirty-Eighth Circuit Court of Alabama. Unlawful Detainer / Complaint Procedures
14
Chambers County – Fifth Circuit Court of Alabama. Unlawful Detainers
15
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-423
16
Justia. Alabama Code Title 24 Chapter 8 – Alabama Fair Housing Law