Tennessee tenant rights

Guides for Tennessee renters

Security deposit in Tennessee

Limit

No statewide limit.

Deadline to return it

No fixed number of days. In counties covered by the Act, if you move out owing no rent, the landlord must send a notice of the refund amount to your last known address. If you do not respond within 60 days after that notice is sent, the landlord may keep the money. Give the landlord your new address in writing and answer the refund notice quickly. If you leave owing rent or other money, the landlord may apply the deposit to that debt.

Itemized list

Yes, in counties covered by the Act. You have a right to inspect the home with the landlord after you move out (the landlord may set it on move-out day or within 4 calendar days after). If you ask for a joint inspection, you and the landlord make and sign a list of damage and estimated repair costs; if you refuse to sign, write down exactly which items you dispute. You can lose the inspection right if you leave without written notice, abandon the home, are evicted by the court, don't contact the landlord after the inspection notice, or don't show up to a scheduled inspection. Then the landlord makes the list alone, but must mail you a copy if you ask in writing. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-301(b).

What may be deducted

Unpaid rent and other amounts you owe, and the cost of physical damage you caused (listed after the move-out inspection). Damage found later can be charged only if found within 30 days after you leave or 7 days after a new tenant moves in, whichever is first.

Interest

No statute requires interest.

Separate account

Yes. In counties covered by the Act, the landlord must keep deposits in an account used only for deposits, at a regulated bank, and must tell you where the account is when you sign the lease and pay the deposit.

If the landlord keeps it wrongly

A landlord who neither kept the deposit in the required separate account nor gave the damage listing may not keep any part of the deposit. You can sue in general sessions or circuit court, but only over items you disputed in writing on the damage list. There is no double or triple penalty in the statute. If you end the lease because of the landlord's violation, the landlord must return prepaid rent and the deposit you are owed (§ 66-28-501(b)). Outside covered counties there is no deposit statute; you can sue for the money under your lease.

Law

Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-301 (counties covered by the Act only)

How to get your deposit back

1. Before you move out, clean, take dated photos and video of every room, and return all keys.
2. Give your landlord your new address in writing. In Tennessee: In counties covered by the Act, if you move out owing no rent, the landlord must send a notice of the refund amount to your last known address.
3. Wait for the deadline: No fixed number of days.
4. If the money or an itemized list doesn't come, or the deductions are wrong, send a demand letter (below). Keep proof of mailing.
5. If that doesn't work, sue in small claims court. Limit: Tennessee has no court called small claims; General Sessions Court hears civil cases up to $25,000. Small claims court in Tennessee on Small Claims Map

Full Tennessee security deposit guide

Repairs in Tennessee

The landlord's duty

In counties covered by the Act, the landlord must follow building and housing codes that affect health and safety, make all repairs needed to keep the home fit and habitable, keep common areas clean and safe, and provide garbage containers in buildings with 4 or more units. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-304. Other counties have no state repair statute; local building codes and your lease apply.

How to ask for repairs

Give the landlord written notice describing the problem and keep a copy. For other violations of the lease or the Act, after 14 days' written notice you can sue for damages, a court order and attorney's fees (§ 66-28-501). Since January 1, 2025, leases signed or renewed must give you in writing a phone number or e-mail for maintenance, or an online portal (§ 66-28-302).

Repair and deduct

Only for essential services (gas, heat, electricity and other utilities, and other landlord duties that materially affect your health and safety), in counties covered by the Act. If the landlord deliberately or negligently fails to provide them, after written notice describing the problem you may choose one: get the service yourself and deduct the actual, reasonable cost from rent; or recover damages for the lower rental value while you stay; or move to reasonable substitute housing and owe no rent while the problem lasts (and also recover its reasonable cost). You can also get attorney's fees. You must not have caused the problem. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-502.

Withholding rent

No general right to withhold rent. The only exception is substitute housing under § 66-28-502 (you owe no rent while you live elsewhere because the landlord failed to provide essential services). The older state law that let tenants pay rent to the county clerk when a health or building inspector found the home unfit (Tenn. Code Ann. title 68, chapter 111) was repealed in May 2025. Withholding rent otherwise can lead to eviction.

Law

Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-28-304, 66-28-501, 66-28-502

Full Tennessee repair rights guide

Landlord entry in Tennessee

No general advance-notice rule. In counties covered by the Act, you may not unreasonably refuse entry for inspections, repairs, services or showings, and the landlord may not abuse entry or use it to harass you. The landlord may enter without consent in an emergency, or if utilities were shut off through no fault of the landlord (to check for and repair damage). The landlord may show the home to new renters in the last 30 days of the lease only if the lease allows it and you get at least 24 hours' notice. If the landlord enters unlawfully or harasses you, you can get a court order or end the lease, plus actual damages and attorney's fees. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-28-403, 66-28-513. No entry statute in other counties.

Eviction in Tennessee

Notice for unpaid rent

In counties covered by the Act: a written notice giving you 14 days after you receive it to pay; if you don't, the lease ends. If the same problem happens again within 6 months, the notice can be 7 days. Warning: if your written lease has a notice waiver printed in 12-point bold type or larger, the landlord can file a detainer warrant as soon as you are late, without any notice (but still not before the 5-day grace period ends) (§§ 66-28-201(c), 66-28-505). In other counties: 14 days' notice after the landlord demands the rent; if you pay before the date in the notice, the tenancy does not end (§ 66-7-109).

Notice for a lease violation

Counties covered by the Act: lease breaks that can be fixed by paying money: 14 days to fix (7 days for a repeat within 6 months). Breaks that can't be fixed that way: the lease can end at least 14 days after you receive the notice. Violence, threats or creating real danger to others' health or safety: 3 days after you receive written notice (you may go to court right away for an order stopping it) (§§ 66-28-505, 66-28-517). Other counties: 14 days for damage beyond normal wear and tear (you can fix it before the date), 30 days for other lease breaks, and 3 days for violence, drug-related crime or real danger to others (§ 66-7-109).

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

In counties covered by the Act: written notice at least 30 days before the rent due date for month-to-month; at least 10 days for week-to-week. Either side (§ 66-28-512). No statute sets this for other counties. Since July 1, 2023, tenants 55 or older in federally assisted housing for older persons who are current on rent get 60 days' notice when the landlord ends the tenancy to tear down the building or turn it into market-rate housing (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-7-109(i) and a matching section in chapter 28).

Time to respond to an eviction lawsuit

No deadline to file a written answer is set by statute; eviction cases in General Sessions Court are heard without formal written pleadings. The detainer warrant sets a trial date at least 6 days after you are served; go to court on that date (§ 29-18-117). Either side can ask the judge to postpone the trial, for good reason, up to 7 days (since July 2024; was 15) (§ 29-18-118). The landlord cannot get a writ of possession until 10 days after the judgment; if no appeal is filed in those 10 days, the writ issues automatically (§§ 29-18-126, 27-5-108). To appeal, you must post a bond, cash or letter of credit equal to one year's rent (§§ 29-18-128, 29-18-130).

Lockouts and utility shutoffs

Yes, in counties covered by the Act. A landlord may not take possession by locking you out or by cutting off electricity, gas, water or other essential services, except after abandonment or surrender or as the Act allows (§ 66-28-511). If it happens, you may recover possession or end the lease, and in either case recover actual damages, punitive damages when appropriate, and attorney's fees, plus prepaid rent and deposit if the lease ends (§ 66-28-504). Exception: if your lease requires utilities in your name and you don't switch them within 3 days of moving in, the landlord may have service in the landlord's name shut off (§ 66-28-521). No lockout statute in other counties.

Court self-help

The court's eviction self-help page

Law

Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-28-201, 66-28-504, 66-28-505, 66-28-511, 66-28-512, 66-28-517, 66-28-521; 66-7-109; 29-18-117, 29-18-118, 29-18-126, 29-18-128, 29-18-130; 27-5-108

Full Tennessee eviction guide

Rent increases and rent control in Tennessee

Notice of a rent increase

No statute sets a notice period for rent increases. (A month-to-month tenancy can be ended by either side with 30 days' written notice, § 66-28-512.)

Rent control

No rent control. State law bars cities and counties from controlling rents (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-35-102), and since 2021 counties covered by the Act may not add their own landlord-tenant rules (§ 66-28-102).

Late fees in Tennessee

In counties covered by the Act: no late fee until a 5-day grace period ends (the due date counts as day 1). If day 5 is a Sunday or legal holiday, no fee if you pay the next business day. The late fee can't be more than 10% of the past-due rent. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-201(d). No late-fee statute in other counties.

Retaliation in Tennessee

In counties covered by the Act, a landlord may not raise rent, cut services, or file or threaten an eviction because you complained to the landlord of a violation (the statute's wording refers to § 66-28-301) or used your rights under the Act. The landlord may still evict if you are behind on rent, you or your household caused the code violation, or repairs require the home to be emptied. No presumption period is set. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-514. No retaliation statute in other counties (the old protection for complaining to a building inspector, § 68-111-105, was repealed in May 2025).

Small claims court in Tennessee

Deposit disputes usually go to small claims court, where you don't need a lawyer.

Limit: Tennessee has no court called small claims; General Sessions Court hears civil cases up to $25,000.

Where to get free help in Tennessee

• Help4TN (Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services): renters' rights booklets, forms, legal help finder; the phone line is the free senior legal helpline (age 60+) · 844-435-7486
• Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands · 800-238-1443
• Legal Aid of East Tennessee (Knoxville office) · 865-637-0484
• Memphis Area Legal Services · 901-523-8822
• West Tennessee Legal Services · 800-372-8346

Good to know in Tennessee

• The main tenant law (URLTA) covers only the 17 counties that had more than 75,000 people in the 2010 census: Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson and Wilson. A 2021 law froze that list, so other counties (such as Putnam) will not come under it even if they grow. In the other 78 counties, only § 66-7-109 notice rules, your lease and general law apply: no deposit, repair, late-fee or retaliation statute.
• Check your lease for a notice waiver in 12-point bold print: it lets the landlord file for eviction right after the 5-day grace period without the usual 14-day notice.
• A victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking (you or a household member) may end a lease signed or renewed after July 1, 2021 with written notice, a release date within 30 days, and an order of protection or police-report documentation dated within 60 days. You still owe rent for the month you leave (statewide; Public Chapter 293 of 2021).

Recent law changes

2024 (Public Chapter 755, effective July 1, 2024): an eviction trial can be postponed only up to 7 days (was 15), and an appeal is not allowed unless the tenant posts a bond or security equal to one year's rent (the one-year bond has applied to all eviction appeals since Public Chapter 817 of 2022). 2024 (Public Chapter 754, July 1, 2024): certificates bought from websites are not reliable documentation for a service or support animal. 2024 (Public Chapter 907, January 1, 2025): for leases signed or renewed from then on, landlords must give tenants in writing the manager's and owner's names and addresses plus a phone number or e-mail for maintenance, or an online portal (§ 66-28-302). 2024 (Public Chapter 1009, July 1, 2024): owners can ask the sheriff to remove squatters quickly; this does not apply to current or former tenants (§ 29-18-135). 2025 (Public Chapter 400, May 2025): repealed title 68, chapter 111 (paying rent to the county clerk for homes an inspector found unfit, and its anti-retaliation rule). 2026 (Public Chapter 657, effective April 1, 2026): private process servers and others serving eviction papers (not police) may not post live or near-live video of the service publicly without your written permission; you can sue for at least $25,000 per intentional violation. 2026 (Public Chapter 606, takes effect January 1, 2027, for leases signed or renewed from then on): landlords may not ban tenants from lawfully having firearms in their home or car. Earlier: 2021 (Public Chapter 182) froze which counties the URLTA covers and barred extra county rules; 2023 (Public Chapter 400) 60-day notice for some tenants 55+; 2023 (Public Chapter 295) writ of possession issues automatically if no appeal in 10 days.

Free tools for Tennessee renters

Pre-set for Tennessee. They run in your browser and send nothing.

Deposit return calculator for Tennessee

Find your state's deadline for returning a security deposit, whether your landlord is late and what you may be owed. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere.

Security deposit demand letter for Tennessee

A short, firm and polite letter asking your landlord to return your deposit by a date. It cites your state's deposit law. Many landlords pay at this step, and the letter is proof that you asked. Fill this in, download the letter as PDF or Word (or copy it), sign it, keep a copy and send it in a way you can prove, such as certified mail with a return receipt.

Repair request letter for Tennessee

Ask your landlord in writing to fix the problem by a date. A written, dated request is the first step in almost every state, and it is proof that the landlord knew. Check the problems, add dates, then download the letter as PDF or Word (or copy it). Sign it, keep a copy and photos, and send it in a way you can prove.

Eviction notice timeline for Tennessee

Got a notice from your landlord? Enter the kind of notice and the day you got it to see the dates that follow from your state's rule, what your landlord may not do, and where to get free help fast.

Questions about renters' rights in Tennessee

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