Top Things to Know About Your Legal Rights as a Tenant

Everyone who rents a property should understand their legal rights under the law. This is the way you can protect yourself in the event of a problem. You also have to understand that with those rights comes with responsibility to which you must uphold. We will cover some of the top things you need to know about your legal rights as a tenant.

1. There are laws governing discrimination, so a landlord cannot refuse to rent you property because of your race, gender, religion or national origin. 


2. A landlord is not exempt from checking your credit standing when you apply for housing. Understand that they have to protect their interest and need assurance that you are a tenant that will pay your rent on time. However, the landlord must obtain your permission if they want to run a credit check.


3. Your landlord can request pre-payment of the rent initially in most states. However, they can only request the first and last month rent and cannot request that you pre-pay the entire rent for the entire time of the lease.


4. Your landlord must notify you within 24 hours of their intent to enter your rental unit, if it is not an emergency situation.


5. You must receive written warning and notification if your landlord wants to evict you from the premises. The landlord must have legitimate reasons to evict you from the property such as failure to pay your rent, property damage, criminal act or excessive noise. The landlord will file an order with the court if they intend to evict you from the property.


6. You have the right to make any necessary repair on the premises and withhold rent payment if the landlord fails to make repairs after you requested this service. However, you cannot decide to redo the bathroom and expect to withhold your rent because you hate the color of the tile.


7. The laws in your state dictates how long the landlord will hold your security deposit before releasing it to you after you terminate the lease. Most states require that the landlord return the deposit within 30 days minus any property damage cost.