If you’re planning to rent an apartment, you might think the deck is stacked against you. The truth is that, under both state and federal law, every tenant has legal rights, and every landlord has legal responsibilities. Before you sign on the dotted line, it’s important you take the time to review your rights, including the following 7:
1. Landlords Can’t Refuse to Rent Based on Discrimination
Federal and state laws prohibit landlords from discriminating against individuals on the basis of several protected categories. For example, a landlord can’t refuse to rent an apartment to you because of your:
- Sex;
- Age;
- Race;
- Color;
- National origin;
- The fact that you have children;
- The fact that you’re pregnant;
- A physical disability; or
- A mental disability
In addition, individual states and some cities have their own anti-discrimination laws. Most of these add to the above categories prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation or marital status.
State and federal anti-discrimination laws extend to behaviors other than refusing to rent to someone based on their membership in a protected category. For example, it’s illegal for landlords to create advertisements which contain discriminatory language (for example, they can’t post ads with phrases like “not handicap-accessible” or “no children allowed”). They can’t say that an apartment isn’t available when it is, or use different rules based on discrimination. The also can’t require larger security deposits, evict someone or harass a tenant for discriminatory reasons.
2. Landlords Can’t Disallow Service Pets
Many apartments don’t allow pets, but the Americans with Disabilities Act says this doesn’t extend to those pets used as service animals—this because doing so is effectively discriminating against people with physical or mental disabilities. If you are visually impaired and need a seeing-eye dog, for example, a landlord can’t refuse to rent to you based on his “no pets” policy.
3. Landlords Must Tell You If Refusal to Rent Is Based on Credit
If a landlord won’t rent to you because you have bad credit, and he obtained that information from a source other than your credit report, he is required to tell you so under the terms of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. He must also inform you within 60 days that you have the right to send a written request for him to disclose whatever negative credit information he found. Finally, once he receives that request, the landlord is required to tell you in a reasonable time period precisely what information he found, and where he found it.
4. Landlords May Not Rent Premises Which Are Not Habitable
Landlords who rent properties infested with cockroaches or mice sometimes include language in the lease in which the renter waives his right to a habitable apartment. You need to know that such “waivers” are not legally binding.
Landlords do not have the right, under any conditions, and regardless of the amount of rent, to put people in apartments which have unsafe conditions, like mold, lead-based paint, inadequate electrical wiring, rickety stairs, holes in the floor or plaster which is falling. They also can’t rent apartments infested with any kind of pest or vermin.
5. Landlords Can’t Rent Units with Lead-Based Paint
Paint that contains lead is dangerous, especially for children, who sometimes eat toxic paint chips. Ingesting lead can cause a variety of serious health problems, including damage to the brain, kidneys, nerves and blood, as well as a host of behavioral problems, including learning disabilities, fatigue and irritability. For this reason, federal law stipulates that rental properties must be free of lead-based paint.
6. Landlords Can’t Violate Your Right to Privacy
If after you’ve rented an apartment, your landlord starts barging in without having given you prior permission, and he tells you he has the right to do so whenever he wants, he’s in violation of landlord-tenant laws. The only exception to this law is a circumstance in which there’s an emergency, such as a fire or a flood.
If the landlord has a legitimate reason to come into your apartment (for example, if he needs to make needed repairs or show the unit to a future tenant), he must always give you prior notice that he intends to do so. In some states, there are also laws which dictate how much notice the landlord must provide.
7. Landlords Must Respect State and Federal Laws Regarding Security Deposits
Landlords can’t simply charge whatever they want for a security deposit. Several states have established upper limits for what landlords can charge, and landlords are required to respect these.
Although many states allow different security deposit amounts based on the tenant’s age, as well as whether they’re moving in with a pet, those amounts are still controlled by state law. In other words, if you and a neighbor are the same age, and move in under the same circumstances, the landlord cannot charge the two of you a different amount for your security deposit.
In most states, landlords are required to return your security deposit to you at the end of your lease, usually within 30 days. If a landlord withholds some part of the security deposit—for example to pay for needed repairs from damage caused by the tenant—he must provide an itemized list of what that money was used for, and how much each repair cost. Those repairs typically do not include “normal wear and tear.” For example, landlords are expected to periodically repaint apartments and provide new carpeting—they can’t normally pass those costs on to the tenant.
Conclusion
As a renter, like in many other situations in adult life, it’s important to at least be aware of the rights you’re entitled to. Chances are, you won’t ever have to act on this knowledge, considering that most landlords are up-to-date on the conditions they must provide for you and work hard to ensure that they’re met.
If you ever do encounter an issue, though, or feel like one of your tenant rights is being violated, consider seeing the help of a professional in order to properly fight your case.
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