Tennessee Landlord-Tenant Laws

Verified July 9, 2026 Correction September 5, 2026

What did not become law. None of the following is law; failed bills are sometimes still described as if enacted:

SB 961 / HB 955 (114th General Assembly) — 'Affordable Housing and Tenant Protection Act' — Would repeal the residential half of the rent-control preemption in T.C.A. § 66-35-102, allowing local rent control adopted by a two-thirds vote with a local rent agency, plus a THDA gap-financing program. Would end the statewide preemption of local residential rent regulation if ever enacted. Status: Not enacted. HB 955 was deferred in the House Cities & Counties Subcommittee to the 'January 2027 calendar' on 2026-03-18 — with the 114th GA adjourned sine die, this is effectively a soft kill; watch for a 115th GA refile. (checked July 9, 2026).

Tennessee at a glance

Rule	Tennessee	Cited to
Max security deposit	No statutory cap	T.C.A. § 66-28-301 +2 more
Deposit return deadline	No statutory deadline	T.C.A. § 66-28-301 +2 more
Rent-increase notice (month-to-month)	No statute — derived from termination notice	T.C.A. § 66-28-512 +2 more
Statewide rent control / rent cap	No	T.C.A. § 66-28-512 +2 more
Late-fee cap	10% of the amount of rent past due (T.C.A. § 66-28-201(d)) — URLTA counties (over 75,000 population, 2010 census) only	T.C.A. § 66-28-201 +2 more
Entry notice	No fixed statutory period	T.C.A. § 66-28-403 +1 more
Eviction notice (nonpayment)	14 days	TCA 66-28-102 +27 more
Application fee cap	No statutory cap	Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-201 +17 more
Interest owed on deposits	No — no statute addresses it	2012 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 887 (HB 2913) — substitutes T.C.A. § 66-28-301(h), the account-location notice +3 more
Repair deadline after tenant notice	14 days	T.C.A. § 66-28-102 (application of the chapter; county population threshold; preemption) +10 more
Repair and deduct	Only for essential-service failures, not general repairs	T.C.A. § 66-28-102 (application of the chapter; county population threshold; preemption) +10 more
Landlord notice to end a month-to-month tenancy	30 days (3 counting rules)	Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-512 +17 more

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Tennessee Landlord-Tenant Laws (verified July 9, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/tennessee/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Tennessee statute it comes from on the linked topic page.

Local rent regulation in Tennessee

Tennessee law bars local governments from adopting any ordinance or resolution that controls the amount of rent charged for private residential or commercial property.

Cited to Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-35-102 (official code access) · Verified August 12, 2026 · Full Tennessee rent-increase rules →

Tennessee landlord-tenant laws by topic

Tennessee security deposits

Tennessee sets no cap on security deposits and — almost uniquely — no fixed deadline for returning them: the statute instead requires the landlord to mail the departing tenant notice of any refund due, and a tenant who fails to respond within 60 days forfeits the entire refund to the landlord.

Tennessee rent increase notice

Tennessee has no statute requiring notice of a rent increase, no limit on how large an increase can be, and no limit on how often rent can rise — the practical floor in the state's 19 large URLTA counties is the month-to-month termination rule, under which either party can end the tenancy on 30 days' written notice before the periodic rental date, so a rent increase works as an offer the tenant can refuse by leaving (week-to-week tenancies: 10 days).

Tennessee late fees

In Tennessee's 19 large URLTA counties, late fees are capped at 10% of the rent actually past due, and no fee may be charged during a five-day grace period — with a counting rule that trips people up: the DUE DATE itself counts as day one, so for rent due on the 1st a fee may be charged on the 6th, not the 7th.

Tennessee entry notice

Tennessee's entry statute — which applies only in the 19 large URLTA counties — requires no advance notice for ordinary entries: tenants simply may not unreasonably withhold consent for inspections, repairs, services, or showings to buyers and contractors.

Tennessee eviction process

Tennessee runs two eviction rulebooks, and which one applies depends on the county: the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA) governs only counties with more than 75,000 people in the 2010 federal census — Memphis's Shelby County, Nashville's Davidson, Knoxville's Knox, Chattanooga's Hamilton, and the state's other large counties — while every other county follows the older general landlord-tenant statutes.

Tennessee application & screening fees

Tennessee does not regulate what a landlord charges someone to apply for a home: there is no cap on an application fee, no limit tying it to the cost of a credit or background report, no receipt or refund duty, no disclosure an applicant must be given before paying, and no state denial-notice duty beyond federal law.

Tennessee deposit interest

Tennessee does not require landlords to pay tenants interest on a security deposit, and every modern rewrite of the deposit section is silent on the subject.

Tennessee habitability & repairs

Tennessee's habitability law reaches only part of the state, because the landlord-tenant act applies solely in counties with a population of more than 75,000 by the 2010 federal census.

Tennessee lease termination

In Tennessee the answer depends on the county, because the residential landlord and tenant act applies only where the 2010 federal census counted more than 75,000 people.

Tennessee mobile home park laws

Tennessee has no manufactured-home community law: no statute sets lot rent, the lease, the notice before a closure or a resident's right to buy the community, and the general residential landlord and tenant act applies only in counties with a population over 75,000 under the 2010 federal census.

Tennessee Fair Market Rents (FY 2027) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Tennessee metro area and county.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (July 9, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official state sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

Correction, September 5, 2026 — Corrections from official reads: Tennessee's Jones v. VCPHCS I premises were office space, not a clinic; South Dakota's 2024 SB 90 was signed March 26, 2024 (three places said March 14) and § 16-2-58.2 was amended, not added, by 2026 ch. 93; Massachusetts' fee-in-lieu-of-deposit proviso came from St. 2024, c. 150, § 50, not St. 2025, c. 9 (which extended the move-in limit to the landlord's agent); Georgia's Alexander v. Steining holds that a rent-increase notice is itself the 60-day termination notice, so the higher rent cannot begin until the period has run; Missouri's § 441.043(2) preemption list is now stated in full.
Updated, August 12, 2026 — Tennessee's eviction page now records Public Chapter No. 657 (2026), which adds a section to T.C.A. tit. 29, ch. 18: a private participant in an eviction process may not publish or broadcast video of the service or execution of eviction process in real time or near real time without the individual's express written permission, subject to legal-documentation and court-order exceptions, with statutory damages of at least $25,000 per intentional violation. Law enforcement officers acting in official duties are excluded, and no notice, hearing, writ, or appeal period changes.

How this record was verified: Tennessee's official code is published via LexisNexis without stable deep links (GA-class sourcing situation), so verification pairs current code mirrors with official session-law PDFs from the Tennessee Secretary of State: T.C.A. §§ 66-28-102, 66-28-201, 66-28-301, 66-28-403, 66-28-512, and 66-35-102 read verbatim on the Justia 2024-edition and FindLaw (current through 2024-01-02) mirrors — §§ 66-28-102, 66-28-201, and 66-28-403 each read twice independently, with the reads matching — with every recent amendment traced to the official act text: 2011 Pub. Ch. 272 (inspection scheme, late-fee rule, entry rewrite), 2012 Pub. Chs. 847 and 887, 2013 Pub. Ch. 206, and 2021 Pub. Ch. 182 (census freeze + county preemption), all read from publications.tnsosfiles.com PDFs. Bill statuses (SB 961/HB 955 et al.) checked on official capitol.tn.gov pages 2026-07-09. September 5, 2026 addendum: the decisive figures touched by the 2025-2026 enactments reviewed that day were re-read on the official host — § 66-35-102 as amended by 2024 Public Chapter 1051 and § 66-28-302 as amended by 2024 Public Chapter 907, from the enrolled acts on publications.tnsosfiles.com; the earlier reads stand as recorded.