Tenant's Rights
SmartTenantScreening.com believes that the best tenant landlord relationships are founded on trust and respect. Just as landlords are smart to carefully screen every tenant, tenants are smart to understand their legal rights as well as the legal obligations of their landlord.
Here's a list of rights that every tenant has:
- If your application to rent an apartment is rejected, you have a right to know why.
- It is illegal for a landlord to refuse your rental application for discriminatory reasons. Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or sexual orientation, age, familial or marital status (including not allowing children and discrimination against pregnant women), and physical or mental disability (including alcoholism and past drug addiction).
- A landlord cannot say that an apartment is not available when in fact it is available.
- A landlord cannot treat late rental payments differently depending on the tenant.
- A landlord cannot end a tenancy for a discriminatory reason.
- A landlord cannot harass you.
- A landlord cannot refuse to rent to you because of a "no pets" policy if you have a trained helper animal (such as a seeing-eye dog or a dog that helps you negotiate with a physical or mental disability).
- You have a right to a habitable premise - in other words, a property that is fit to be lived in. Unsafe conditions (such as faulty wiring, treacherous entry and exit ways, unstable ceiling or floor coverings) and vermin infestation (mice, cockroaches, and the like) are situations where renters are entitled to action.
- Under federal law, rental housing can not contain lead-based paint.
- A landlord cannot enter your apartment without prior permission and advanced notice (except in cases of emergency).
Every state and many cities have specific rules and regulations - be sure to review the information for your area.