Tennessee Landlord Tenant Laws: 2026 Guide

Tennessee landlord tenant laws don't work the same way in every county, and that single fact trips up more landlords than any individual statute does. Whether you have a state security deposit statute to follow, a late fee cap, or a required notice period for nonpayment depends on whether your property sits in one of 17 specific counties or anywhere else in the state. Get that distinction wrong and you'll either follow rules that don't apply to you or miss ones that do.

Tennessee Landlord Tenant Laws at a Glance

Most of Tennessee's residential landlord-tenant law lives in the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA), codified at Tenn. Code Ann. Title 66, Chapter 28. The catch is that URLTA doesn't apply statewide. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102, the chapter applies only in counties with a population over 75,000 as of the 2010 federal census, and in those counties it fully occupies and preempts the field — local governments can't add to or conflict with it. Outside those counties, there is no equivalent state statute for most of what URLTA covers. Landlords there operate under common law and whatever the lease says.

The counties where URLTA applies are Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson, and Wilson — a list that covers Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and most of their surrounding suburbs. If you own a rental in one of those counties, you have statutory rules on deposits, late fees, notice, and habitability. If you own one just outside them, in a place like Rutherford's rural neighbors or the Tri-Cities' smaller counties, you're relying on your lease and general common law instead.

One thing that doesn't change based on county: Tennessee banned local rent control statewide back in 1981. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-35-102, no city or county can enact an ordinance that controls what you charge for rent, so you won't run into a Nashville or Memphis rent-cap ordinance the way you might in a coastal market.

URLTA vs. Non-URLTA: Check Your County Before You Do Anything Else

Before you write a lease clause about deposits or late fees, confirm which set of rules applies to your property. The 2010-census population threshold in § 66-28-102 is fixed to that census, so a county's current population doesn't move it in or out of URLTA — the list of 17 counties above is the list, and it hasn't grown since.

This matters because a lot of landlord advice written for Tennessee, including some competitor guides, describes URLTA's rules as if they apply to the whole state. If your rental is in a non-URLTA county, a "statutory" deposit rule or late fee cap you read about somewhere else may simply not exist for your property, and your lease terms will control instead. That cuts both ways: it can mean more flexibility on some terms, but it also means fewer statutory protections if you get a deposit or notice dispute wrong.

Security Deposits: Where the Money Has to Go and When It's Due Back

In URLTA counties, Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-301 requires you to hold every tenant's security deposit in a separate account, at a bank or lending institution regulated by the state or federal government, used only for holding deposits. You have to tell the tenant where that account is located, though you don't have to disclose the account number. Miss this step and the penalty is severe: if you didn't hold the deposit in a separate account, you forfeit the right to keep any portion of it at all, even if the tenant genuinely caused damage you could otherwise document and deduct for.

The return deadline in URLTA counties is 30 days after the tenancy ends. If a tenant leaves owing rent or other amounts, you can apply deposit funds against that debt, but you still need to account for it. There's no statewide cap on how much you can charge as a deposit under URLTA — the statute governs handling, not the amount.

Non-URLTA counties have no equivalent deposit statute. Your lease is the controlling document for how much you collect, how you hold it, and when you return it, and disputes fall back to general contract and common law principles rather than a specific Tennessee Code section. That makes a clearly written deposit clause more important in a non-URLTA county than in one where the statute fills the gaps for you.

Whichever county you're in, document the unit's condition at move-in and move-out with photos, and keep any deductions limited to real damage rather than ordinary use — our guide on normal wear and tear vs. damage covers how to draw that line and defend your deductions if a tenant pushes back. Because the 30-day URLTA clock starts running the moment the tenancy ends rather than when you get around to inspecting the unit, a system that flags that date automatically works better than a note you set for yourself and forget — tools like Vantric are built to track deposit deadlines and itemized deductions in one place.

Late Fees: The 10% Cap and Where It Doesn't Apply

URLTA counties cap late fees at 10% of the rent actually past due, calculated on the outstanding balance rather than the full month's rent, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-201. You also have to give tenants a five-day grace period before a late fee applies at all, and if the fifth day falls on a Sunday or legal holiday, you can't charge the fee as long as the tenant pays by the next business day.

That cap and grace period are part of URLTA, so they apply only in the 17 counties where the chapter is in force. In a non-URLTA county, there's no statutory late fee cap — what you can charge is whatever your lease specifies, subject to the general legal requirement that a fee be reasonable rather than a disguised penalty. If you own rentals in both an URLTA and a non-URLTA county, don't assume the same late fee clause is compliant in both — check the county before you set the number. Our full breakdown of what you can charge as a late fee for rent covers how to structure a compliant clause and collect when a tenant disputes it.

Notice to Enter and Habitability: What You Actually Owe Tenants

Tennessee's entry statute is narrower than most landlords expect. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-403, which applies in URLTA counties, there's no general statutory minimum notice period for routine landlord entry. The one specific rule is that within the final 30 days of a tenancy, if your lease grants you the right to show the unit to prospective tenants, you have to give at least 24 hours' notice before doing so.

Outside that specific scenario, the statute simply says a tenant can't unreasonably withhold consent to entry, and you can enter without notice in a genuine emergency. Non-URLTA counties have even less statutory guidance, so a written notice-to-enter clause in your lease is doing most of the work either way. Our guide to landlord notice to enter rules covers how other states handle this and what a defensible entry policy looks like even where Tennessee's statute stays quiet.

Habitability works on a similar split. In URLTA counties, the duty to maintain a fit and habitable rental — working plumbing, heat, electrical systems, and structural safety — is written directly into the statute, along with remedies like repair-and-deduct or termination for a landlord's failure to fix a serious problem. In non-URLTA counties, courts still recognize a landlord's obligation to provide habitable housing through common law and the doctrine of constructive eviction, but tenants don't have the same statutory toolkit URLTA gives them, so how a habitability dispute plays out depends more heavily on the facts and the lease than on a specific code section.

One rule holds everywhere in the state regardless of county: self-help eviction is illegal. You can't change the locks, shut off utilities, or remove a tenant's belongings to force them out, even if they're months behind on rent. Every removal has to go through the court process below, and skipping it exposes you to actual damages, potential punitive damages, and the tenant's attorney fees if they sue over it.

The Eviction Process Step by Step

The notice period you need depends on the ground for eviction and, again, on whether URLTA applies to your county.

Serve the correct notice. In URLTA counties, nonpayment of rent requires a five-day grace period followed by a 14-day notice to pay or quit under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-505. If the tenant pays late a second time within six months, you can issue a 7-day notice to quit that isn't curable by paying — they have to move out. For a lease violation the tenant can fix, the same 14-day structure generally applies with a right to cure; for one that can't be cured, you can terminate on 14 days' notice without offering a cure period. Non-URLTA counties don't have the mandatory five-day grace period, and 14 days' notice is generally treated as sufficient for nonpayment.
File a detainer warrant. Tennessee residential evictions are filed as a detainer warrant in General Sessions Court in the county where the property is located, under Title 29, Chapter 18 of the Tennessee Code. According to Tennessee's Administrative Office of the Courts, the court date is set at least six days after the tenant is served, and the warrant itself is only valid for 30 days from issuance.
Attend the hearing. If the tenant doesn't show up or doesn't have a valid defense, the court enters judgment for possession. If they contest the case — over a habitability claim, a dispute about whether notice was served correctly, or a claim that rent was actually paid — the hearing decides it.
Wait out the appeal window. A tenant generally has 10 days after judgment to appeal, which can delay the case further if they file one.
Get the writ executed. Once the appeal window closes, the court issues a writ of possession, which has to be served within 20 days. Only the sheriff can carry out the physical removal — you can't do it yourself even with a judgment in hand.

Budget four to eight weeks for an uncontested case, longer if the tenant appeals or the county's court docket is backed up. If a case turns contested over a habitability defense or a disputed notice, bringing in help early is usually cheaper than losing a case you tried to handle alone — our guide on when you need an attorney for landlord-tenant issues covers what that costs and when it's worth it.

Rent Increases and Ending a Tenancy

Because Tennessee bans local rent control outright, there's no percentage cap on how much you can raise rent between lease terms anywhere in the state. What you do need to get right is notice: raising rent effectively changes the terms of a month-to-month tenancy, so it requires the same 30 days' written notice as ending one, timed to take effect on the next periodic rental date and codified for URLTA counties at Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-512 — a rule that also functions as the practical standard in non-URLTA counties even though no statute requires it there. If you use a fixed-term lease, the increase simply takes effect at renewal and doesn't require separate statutory notice, though a clear renewal letter still avoids disputes.

Before you set a renewal number, check what comparable units in your market actually rent for — Vantric's rental calculator gives you a market-based figure to start from rather than guessing. If you're increasing rent mid-cycle or prorating a move-out month around a rent change, the prorated rent calculator handles the math. And if you want the conversation script for delivering an increase without losing a tenant you'd rather keep, our guide on how to raise rent walks through both the numbers and the wording.

Tennessee's landlord-tenant rules aren't complicated once you know which set applies to your property, but getting the county wrong is an easy way to follow the wrong deposit deadline or late fee cap. Start a free trial of Vantric to track deposit deadlines, lease terms, and notice windows across your Tennessee rentals in one place, or explore the full set of free landlord tools to see what fits your portfolio today.