Tennessee Landlord Tenant Act PDF: Deposits, Repairs, Eviction

The Tennessee Landlord Tenant Act is the state law, codified at Title 66, Chapter 28 of the Tennessee Code Annotated, that governs residential rentals in the state’s larger counties.¹²³ You can print any section you need from either source.

The chapter is organized into five parts: general provisions, rental agreements, landlord obligations, tenant obligations, and remedies. If you know which topic you’re chasing, you can jump straight to the relevant part instead of reading the whole Act.

Does the Act Apply to Your Rental

The Act does not apply statewide. It governs rentals only in counties whose population exceeded 75,000 in the 2010 federal census.¹ The statute is pegged to that specific census and doesn’t automatically update as newer counts come in, so a county that grew past 75,000 after 2010 isn’t covered unless the legislature amends the threshold.

Counties that clearly qualify include Davidson, Shelby, Knox, Hamilton, Rutherford, Williamson, Montgomery, Sumner, Blount, Bradley, Anderson, Sullivan, and Wilson. If you rent in a smaller county, a different set of landlord-tenant statutes in Title 66, Chapter 7 applies, with different notice periods and eviction procedures. The distinction matters. Timelines and remedies differ between the two frameworks, and assuming the Act protects you when it doesn’t can cost you a case.

Security Deposit Rules

A Tennessee landlord in a URLTA county must place every security deposit in a dedicated account, used only for tenant deposits, at a bank or credit union regulated by state or federal government.⁴ The landlord must tell you where the account is held when you pay the deposit, though not the account number. A landlord who fails to deposit the money properly, or fails to provide a damage list at move-out, forfeits the right to keep any portion of the deposit.

Move-Out Inspection

You have the right to be present when the landlord inspects the unit for damage. The inspection has to happen on your move-out day or within four calendar days after, during normal business hours.⁴ If you and the landlord walk through together, you both sign a list of damages and estimated repair costs. Those signatures count as agreement unless you note in writing which items you dispute. Skip an inspection you scheduled, and if the lease says so, you waive your right to contest the landlord’s damage findings. You also lose inspection rights if you leave without written notice, abandon the unit, or are removed by court order.

Getting the Deposit Back

When you move out without owing rent and a refund is due, the landlord must send notice of the refund amount to your last known or reasonably determinable address. If the landlord doesn’t hear back from you within sixty days after sending that notice, the landlord can keep the deposit free of any claim.⁴ Leave a forwarding address on file. Refunds get lost by default when tenants don’t.

Rent, Grace Period, and Late Fees

Rent gets a five-day grace period. Day one is the due date itself. If the fifth day lands on a Sunday or a legal holiday, you have until the next business day to pay without penalty.⁵

Once the grace period expires, the landlord can charge a late fee, but it cannot exceed 10% of the rent actually past due.⁵ Read that carefully: if you paid part of your rent and only $400 remains overdue, the maximum late fee is $40, not 10% of the full monthly rent. A lease that sets a higher fee is unenforceable on the excess.

Repairs and Habitability

Landlords must comply with building and housing codes that affect health and safety, make repairs needed to keep the unit livable, and maintain common areas in a clean and safe condition.⁶ In buildings with four or more units, they must also provide trash receptacles and removal service for common collection areas.

If the landlord violates the lease or the Act, you can recover damages, get a court order requiring compliance, and collect reasonable attorney’s fees, but you first have to give fourteen days’ written notice identifying the problem.⁷ If the landlord responds by terminating your lease instead of fixing the issue, you’re entitled to the return of all prepaid rent and your security deposit.

When Essential Services Fail

Gas, heat, electricity, and anything else the landlord must provide that materially affects your health and safety are treated as essential services.⁸ When the landlord deliberately or negligently fails to supply them, and you didn’t cause the outage, you have three options after giving written notice:

Arrange the service yourself and deduct the actual, reasonable cost from your next rent payment.
Stay in the unit and sue for damages measured by how much the loss of service reduced its rental value.
Move to substitute housing, stop paying rent for the duration of the outage, and recover the reasonable cost of the substitute housing.

Any of these can also include reasonable attorney’s fees. You cannot pursue essential-services remedies and general noncompliance remedies at the same time for the same problem.

When the Landlord Can Enter

You cannot unreasonably refuse the landlord entry for inspections, repairs, agreed services, or showings to prospective buyers or contractors.⁹ In an emergency, the landlord can enter without your consent, and the same is true if utilities have been shut off through no fault of the landlord.

Outside of those cases, access rights are limited. The landlord cannot use them to harass you. During the last thirty days of your lease, the landlord can show the unit to prospective tenants, but only if that right is written into the lease and you get at least twenty-four hours’ notice.

Ending a Month-to-Month Tenancy

Either side can end a month-to-month tenancy with thirty days’ written notice given before the next rental due date. Week-to-week arrangements take ten days’ written notice.¹⁰ The landlord doesn’t need a specific reason, only proper notice, and cannot be retaliating against you for exercising rights under the Act.

Eviction Notice Timelines

A landlord in a URLTA county cannot change the locks or set your belongings on the curb. The process starts with written notice describing what you did wrong.

Fixable Violations

If you owe rent or the violation can be cured by paying money or making repairs, the landlord must give you fourteen days’ written notice. Fix it within those fourteen days and the lease continues.¹¹ Any repairs you make must be requested and authorized in writing by the landlord before you start the work.

Repeat Violations

Commit substantially the same violation again within six months of the first notice, and the landlord can terminate the lease with just seven days’ written notice and no chance to fix it.¹¹ That first warning carries weight for six months, which is where a lot of tenants get caught off guard.

Violations That Can’t Be Fixed

When the breach cannot be remedied by payment or repairs, the landlord gives fourteen days’ notice that the lease will end, with no cure period.¹¹

Waiving Notice for Nonpayment

A lease can include a clause waiving your right to a notice period for nonpayment, letting the landlord file suit immediately after you miss rent. To be enforceable, the waiver has to appear in twelve-point bold font or larger, and it doesn’t shorten your five-day grace period.¹¹

After the Notice Period

If you haven’t fixed the problem or moved out when the notice expires, the landlord files a detainer warrant, which is a summons ordering you to appear in court. Miss the hearing and the court enters default judgment. Lose at trial and the judgment doesn’t become final for ten days, during which you cannot be removed. After ten days without an appeal, the landlord gets a writ of possession, and the sheriff carries out the physical removal.

Protection Against Retaliation

A landlord cannot raise your rent, cut services, or threaten eviction because you complained about a security-deposit violation or used a remedy the Act provides.¹² The protection has limits. The landlord can still pursue eviction if you caused the code violation through your own negligence, if you’re behind on rent, or if fixing the code issue would require gutting or demolishing the unit.

Lease Terms That Don’t Hold Up

Some lease provisions are void no matter what you signed. You cannot waive rights under the Act, and any clause trying to do so is unenforceable.¹³ Two specific prohibitions matter most: confession-of-judgment clauses, which let someone enter a court judgment against you without a hearing, and provisions that limit the landlord’s liability for their own negligence or force you to indemnify them. If a court finds one of these clauses, it strikes that provision and leaves the rest of the lease in place.

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-102 – Application – Preemption
2
Tennessee Courts. Tennessee Code – Lexis Law Link
3
Justia. Tennessee Code Title 66, Chapter 28 – Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act
4
Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-301 – Security Deposits
5
Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-201 – Terms and Conditions
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Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-304 – Maintenance by Landlord
7
Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-501 – Noncompliance With Rental Agreement by Landlord
8
Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-502 – Failure to Supply Essential Services
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Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-403 – Access by Landlord
10
Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-512 – Termination of Periodic Tenancies
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Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-505 – Noncompliance by Tenant
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Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-514 – Retaliatory Conduct Prohibited
13
Justia. Tennessee Code 66-28-203 – Prohibited Provisions