Your rights as a tenant

Tenant law is state and city law, so the detail varies enormously. A handful of protections, however, apply almost everywhere in the United States, and knowing them is what stops a bad situation becoming an expensive one.

Cannot be signed away

The duty to keep the home habitable

Eviction

Requires a court order, always — never just a locksmith

Discrimination

National origin and accent are protected grounds

Before acting

Check your own state — the differences are large

What applies almost everywhere

A habitable home. A landlord must keep the property fit to live in: working heat, hot and cold water, safe electrics, no serious leaks, and no infestation. This obligation cannot be signed away in a lease.

Notice before entry. A landlord may not enter whenever they like. Most states require 24 hours' notice except in a genuine emergency.

No self-help eviction. A landlord may not change the locks, remove your possessions, or cut off the water, electricity or heat to force you out. Eviction requires a court order, always. Doing otherwise is illegal in every state and usually entitles you to damages.

No discrimination. Federal law prohibits refusing to rent to someone because of race, colour, national origin, religion, sex, disability or family status. National origin includes your accent and where you were born. Many states and cities add further protected categories, including immigration status and source of income.

No retaliation. Where you have complained to a housing inspector or asserted a legal right, most states forbid the landlord from responding with an eviction, a rent rise or the withdrawal of a service — and several presume that anything happening within a few months of the complaint was retaliatory.

Deposit rules. Deposits must be returned within a set period after you leave, with an itemised list of any deductions.

A reasonable accommodation for disability, which includes allowing an assistance animal in a building that otherwise bans pets, and permitting reasonable modifications.

Where the rules genuinely differ

• Notice to end a tenancy — 30, 60 or 90 days, depending on the state and how long you have lived there
• Rent increases — capped in some cities and states, unlimited in others
• Whether you may withhold rent for unrepaired defects — allowed in some states, and a fast route to eviction in others
• Repair and deduct, where you fix a problem yourself and subtract the cost from the rent, which has strict conditions where it exists at all
• Eviction timelines, which range from a few weeks to several months
• Lock-out and utility shut-off penalties, which some states make very expensive for the landlord

Check your own state before acting on any of these. The link box below goes to your state's tenant information.

If something is wrong

1. Ask in writing. Email or text, so there is a record and a date. A phone call you cannot prove did not happen.
2. Keep everything — photographs, messages, receipts, a dated note of each conversation.
3. Contact the city code enforcement or health department if the landlord ignores a habitability problem. An inspection creates an official record, and it costs nothing.
4. Get legal help before you move out or stop paying. Both can turn a strong case into a weak one.

If you receive an eviction notice

Do not ignore it, and do not simply leave. An eviction notice is the start of a process, not the end of one, and most jurisdictions offer free tenant advice and sometimes free representation — see emergency numbers and free legal help.

Missing the hearing means losing automatically. Attend even if you have no defence and no lawyer: courts routinely grant more time to move, and a negotiated departure avoids a judgment.

That matters because an eviction judgment is public and follows you into every future rental application, often for seven years — which is a far larger cost than the dispute that produced it. Where a case is settled or dismissed, ask whether the record can be sealed; several states now allow it.