What Are Your Basic Rights as a Tenant?

As a tenant, you have the right to a home that meets basic health and safety standards, to be treated without discrimination, to privacy with limits on when your landlord can enter, to get your security deposit back minus lawful deductions, and to stay in your home unless a court orders you out. Federal law sets the fair housing and lead paint rules. State and local laws set most of the rest, so repair duties, notice periods, deposit limits, and deadlines depend on where you rent. The examples below come from California, New York, and Texas, and the linked articles cover each right in more depth.

Your right to a safe, livable home

Your landlord must keep the home fit to live in, but the standard differs by state. New York writes a warranty of habitability into every residential lease, written or oral. This legal guarantee means the apartment and the building's public areas must be livable, safe, and sanitary. The New York Attorney General gives failing to provide heat or hot water regularly, or failing to get rid of an insect infestation, as examples of a breach.

Texas sets a narrower duty. Once you give notice to the place where you pay rent, the landlord must make a diligent effort to repair a condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant, but only if you were current on rent when you gave the notice (Texas Property Code section 92.052). Texas does not require the landlord to fix a condition caused by you, your household, or your guests, other than normal wear and tear, and in New York a condition the tenant caused is not a breach of the warranty.

If your building was built before 1978, federal rules require the landlord, before you sign the lease, to give you the EPA pamphlet "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home," tell you about any lead-based paint or lead hazards it knows of, and include a lead warning statement in the lease. The rule does not require the landlord to test for lead, and it does not apply to leases of 100 days or less that cannot be renewed or extended, housing certified lead-free, or zero-bedroom units such as studios unless a child under 6 lives there.

Report problems in writing, keep a copy, and give the landlord time to make the repair. Remedies such as repairing a problem yourself and deducting the cost from rent, or withholding rent, have strict rules that differ by state. In New York, a tenant who withholds rent can be sued for nonpayment and must then raise the habitability problem in that case. Your right to a habitable home explains each remedy and when it applies.

Your right to equal treatment

The federal Fair Housing Act bars a landlord from refusing to rent to you, offering you different terms, rules, or services, advertising a preference, or falsely saying a unit is unavailable because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status (having children in the household), or disability. If you have a disability, the landlord must also make reasonable accommodations, meaning exceptions to its rules, policies, or services that you need in order to use the home. It must allow reasonable modifications to the unit that you pay for, and it can require you to restore the inside of the unit when you leave where that is reasonable.

Federal law exempts some small landlords, such as an owner who lives in a building with four or fewer units, or an individual who owns no more than three single-family homes and rents one without a real estate agent. The ban on discriminatory advertising still applies to them. State and local laws can add protected groups. New York, for example, also bars discrimination based on age, marital status, and lawful source of income, including Section 8 vouchers.

You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) within one year after the discrimination happened or ended. Fair housing protections against rental discrimination lists the protected groups and the steps to file.

Your right to privacy and notice before entry

Your landlord can enter for set reasons, such as repairs or showings, but the notice rules come from state law. California allows entry only for listed reasons, such as an emergency, needed or agreed repairs, or showing the unit to a buyer or new tenant, and not for a general inspection. The landlord must give written notice of the date, approximate time, and purpose, and enter during normal business hours; 24 hours' written notice is treated as reasonable in most situations. No advance written notice is needed in an emergency, when you are home and agree to the entry, or for a repair visit you agreed to orally for a set time within the next week. To show the unit to a buyer, the landlord can give oral notice if it told you in writing within the past 120 days that the property is for sale.

New York lets a landlord enter with reasonable prior notice, at a reasonable time, to make repairs or provide services or as the lease allows, and without notice in an emergency such as a fire or water leak. If you unreasonably refuse entry, the landlord can ask a court for an order. Your privacy rights and landlord entry covers the notice rules in other states and what to do about repeated entry.

Your lease, rent increases, and fees

A lease is a contract, and its terms cannot change while it is in effect unless you and the landlord both agree. A landlord generally cannot raise the rent during a fixed-term lease unless the lease allows it. When it raises the rent at renewal or on a month-to-month tenancy, it must give advance notice:

• New York: renewing with an increase of 5% or more, or not renewing, takes at least 30, 60, or 90 days' notice, based on the longer of how long you have lived there or your lease term (under one year, one to two years, or two years or more). Rent-stabilized apartments follow separate renewal rules.
• California: 30 days' written notice for an increase of 10% or less, and 90 days for a larger one, counting all increases in the past 12 months against the lowest rent you paid in that period. Add 5 days if the landlord mails the notice from within California. At properties covered by the state's Tenant Protection Act (some property types are exempt), rent cannot rise more than 5% plus the inflation rate, or 10%, whichever is lower, in any 12 months. Some cities set stricter local limits.

Late fees have limits too. In New York, rent is not late until 5 days after it is due, and the late fee can be no more than $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less. In Texas, a late fee must be in a written lease and be reasonable, and can be charged only after rent is two full days late; a fee of up to 12% of the monthly rent in a building with four or fewer units, or 10% in a larger building, counts as reasonable. New York also requires a signed receipt when you pay rent in cash, by money order, or any way other than a personal check, and every month once you ask in writing if you pay by personal check.

Some lease clauses that take away rights the law gives you are void. New York voids any clause that waives the warranty of habitability, and Texas bars waiving a landlord's duties on security deposits, security devices, and utility cutoffs. Illegal lease clauses lists the terms courts commonly refuse to enforce and whether the rest of your lease still applies.

Your security deposit

State law sets how much a landlord can collect and how fast it must return the deposit after you move out. A landlord can keep money for unpaid rent and for damage beyond normal wear and tear, and must give you an itemized list of what it keeps.

Pay your last month's rent even if the deposit could cover it. In Texas, a tenant who withholds the last month's rent on that theory is presumed to act in bad faith and can owe three times the rent withheld. State security deposit laws compares caps and deadlines in other states.

Protection from retaliation and illegal eviction

In California, New York, and Texas, a landlord cannot punish you for asserting your rights, such as complaining in good faith to the landlord or a housing code agency, or joining a tenant organization. The protection works differently in each state:

• New York: if within one year after your good-faith complaint the landlord starts an eviction case, refuses to renew, or offers a new lease with an unreasonable increase, the law presumes retaliation, and the landlord must prove a different motive. Owner-occupied buildings with fewer than four units are excluded.
• Texas: for six months after you request repairs, complain to a code agency, or join a tenant group, the landlord cannot retaliate by filing an eviction, cutting services, raising your rent, or ending your lease. An eviction for unpaid rent, serious lease violations, or threats to others' safety is still allowed.
• California: if the landlord tries to evict you within six months after you complained about the unit's condition to the landlord, or to a code agency after telling the landlord, used or announced repair and deduct, sued over conditions, or prompted an inspection, the law presumes retaliation as long as your rent is current and you have not used this defense more than once in 12 months. Retaliation for organizing or exercising other rights is also illegal, but you must prove it.

California and New York bar a landlord from locking you out, removing your belongings, or shutting off utilities such as water or heat to force you to leave; the landlord must win an eviction case in court instead. A California landlord that does this can owe your actual damages, such as hotel costs, plus up to $100 for each day, and a New York tenant put out unlawfully can recover triple damages. Texas allows one exception: if your lease permits it and you are behind on rent, the landlord can change your door lock after written notice (mailed at least 5 days ahead, or hand-delivered or posted inside your door at least 3 days ahead), but it must give you a new key at any hour, whether or not you pay. Retaliation protections for tenants explains how to raise retaliation as a defense.

What to do when your landlord breaks the rules

1. Put it in writing. Send a dated letter or email that describes the problem and what you want done, and keep copies, photos, and rent receipts.
2. Report unsafe conditions to your local housing code or health department.
3. For discrimination, file with HUD within one year, or with your state or city civil rights agency.
4. For a deposit dispute, send a written demand that cites your state's deadline, then sue if the landlord does not pay. In California and Texas, the landlord must prove its deductions were reasonable, and New York tenants can also file a complaint with the state attorney general.
5. Respond to eviction papers on time. In California, you have 10 court days after you are served to file a written response.
6. Get free legal help. The Legal Services Corporation's locator at lsc.gov lists the nearest legal aid organization it funds for low-income residents.