How is renting different from own a home? What are my duties as a tenant? What can I do to keep my rental home a healthy home? What if I have an unhealthy condition in my rental home? What are my rights as a tenant? Fact sheets for renters and occupants throughout COVID-19 What about Residential Or Commercial Property Maintenance Codes? What is URLTA? What are the minimum requirements for rental housing? Can I make a protest? What if I reside in government assisted housing? Does the USDA assist with tenants in backwoods? Where can I find out more about healthy housing policy? Additional resources

* * * Our Healthy Homes personnel are not doctors or attorneys. The details on our Healthy Homes Website does not provide medical or legal advice. This details is not an alternative to visiting your doctor or for seeking advice from an attorney about your particular circumstance. * * *

3 Actions a Concerned Renter Should Do:

1. Put everything in composing. Take pictures and videos. Save e-mails, texts, letters, and voicemails. Write a calendar of occasions.

2. Do not stop paying lease. It would likely be against the lease or the law. Keep your lease invoices as evidence you paid.

3. Read your lease. Whatever is composed in the lease is a legal contract. Both tenant and proprietor have responsibilities.

It is likely unlawful for a proprietor to retaliate versus a renter who files a complaint, calls Buiding Codes, or takes legal action. Changing locks, shutting off utilities, appearing often, or wrongly raising rent can be retaliation.

How is leasing various from home ownership?

Renting is different from home ownership because the tenant need to rely on another person to make repair work. The tenant may not have the ability to make modifications to the home without consent. A renter has both rights and duties. Renting can be a good choice for many people to maintain a healthy home environment, both inside your home and outdoors. Whether you rent a home, apartment or condo, duplex, mobile home or cabin you can keep the 7 healthy homes principles. Bear in mind that health starts in your home.

What are my duties as a tenant?

Renters are accountable for tidiness and safety. You may lease with no formal arrangement, or you may have a lease contract. The most typical kind of occupant in Tennessee is a tenant who signs a lease agreement to pay rent every month throughout the year. Renters might be asked to supply a security deposit. Lease agreements are lawfully binding agreements. You are responsible for following the terms of your lease. Some lease agreements have addendums such as pet policies, bug control agreements or for reporting water damage. You are responsible for: paying your rent on time, paying any late costs, keeping the location tidy and safe, not letting anyone else damage it, not breaking the law, disposing of your trash, and following your property owner's rules. If you break your lease, then it might end up being a legal concern.

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance shared Tips for First-Time Renters along with Tips on How to Spot Rental and Moving Scammers.

What can I do to keep my rental home a healthy home?

There are 8 fundamental principles to preserving a healthy home.

1. Keep it Dry. - Damp homes offer a good environment for mites, roaches, rodents and molds.

1. Keep it Clean. - Clean homes help decrease pest problems and direct exposure to pollutants.
2. Keep it Pest-Free. - Exposure to mice and cockroaches might increase asthma attacks. Improper pesticide treatments for pest invasions can aggravate illness, since pesticide residues in homes can posture health threats.
3. Keep it Safe. - Most of kids's injuries happen in the home. Falls are the most frequent cause of property injuries to kids, followed by injuries from things in the home, burns, and poisonings.
4. Keep it Contaminant-Free. - Avoid exposure to lead, radon, carbon monoxide, pesticides, asbestos and ecological tobacco smoke. Remember direct exposure is typically higher inside your home.
5. Keep it Ventilated. - Studies have actually revealed increasing fresh air in a home enhances respiratory health.
6. Keep it Maintained. - Poorly-maintained homes are at risk of being unhealthy.
7. Keep it Thermally Controlled. - Houses that do not keep appropriate temperatures might put the security of citizens at increased threat from direct exposure to extreme heat or cold.
   
   If you use these concepts as a guide, you can preserve a safe and healthy home. If you are having an issue maintaining any of these concepts, other parts of this site will have details and resources to assist you.
   
   What if I have an unhealthy condition in my rental home?
   
   If you have an unhealthy condition in your rental home, then it might be your responsibility to repair the problem or it may be your proprietor's responsibility to make repairs. Read your rental lease arrangement. Abide by any requirements for tidiness or safety. Report any needed repair work to the proprietor as they arise. Putting your concerns in writing is best. This creates a record of your concerns. Repairs to your rental home should be made in a sensible quantity of time. The quantity of time might be noted in your lease.
   
   If your landlord has actually not made repair work in a sensible quantity of time, you may need to communicate more directly, such as with additional composed grievances or an in person conference. If your property manager continues to disregard your concerns, you might need to pursue legal action.
   
   Disputes between a proprietor and an occupant are civil issues. Most property owner and tenant concerns are outside of the authority of the Health Department. These concerns would be ruled on by a civil court judge analyzing the law. There are some programs that support renters.
   
   What are my rights as a renter?
   
   According to the Legal Aid Society, as an occupant you can a livable location and to live in harmony. Your rights as a renter might vary depending upon which county you reside in. The Legal Aid Society has a useful reality sheet to assist you comprehend your rights as a renter. How to call the Legal Aid Society or the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services is listed below.
   
   If your rental home requires an emergency repair work to keep it healthy, such as a repair work of the heat, gas, lights, water, sewage, plumbing or cooling, you need to notify your landlord immediately.
   
   If the need for repair in not an emergency, then 14 days is usually thought about as a reasonable quantity of time for the landlord to make repairs. Hopefully, many repair work will be made much quicker after a proprietor is made aware. Use your routine method of reporting needs for repair work such as a website, call, text, or workplace check out. Put something into composing to record when you made the property owner familiar with the need for repair.
   
   In some counties you can use a few of your rent cash to make these immediate repair work. If the issue was your fault, you may have to assist pay for the repair work.
   
   You can not be required out of your rental home. You can not be kicked out without notice. The property manager can not alter the locks or shut off your utilities to make you leave. Most of the time, a property manager requires to go to court before evicting you. If you did something hazardous or threatening, the landlord just needs to give you three (3) days to leave. If you did not pay rent or broke your lease arrangement, you might be offered a thirty (30) day observe to move out. If you have legal concerns about housing, you must consult with an attorney or legal services.
   
   The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Serices has a HELP4TN site, chatbot, and telephone to help people who require aid with their legal concerns. If you do not have your own lawyer, this is a good website to start.
   
   If you certify based upon income or support status, the Legal Aid Society might have the ability to help. Keep in mind, Legal Aid has a client waiting list and rarely will cases happen quickly. Contact the office near you to learn more.
   
   Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands - 1-800-238-1443 Offices in Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Oak Ridge, and Tullahoma
   
   Legal Aid Society of East Tennessee - 1-865-637-0484 Offices in Knoxville, Johnson City, Chattanooga, and Cleveland
   
   West Tennessee Legal Services - 1-800-372-8346 Offices in Jackson, Dyersburg, Huntingdon, and Selmer
   
   Memphis Area Legal Services - 1-888-207-6386 Offices in Memphis and Covington
   
   The Legal Aid Society developed these truth sheets to help you comprehend your rights and tasks as an occupant. Click the left image for counties of 75,000 or more population and the right image for smaller sized counties.
   
   Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson, or Wilson
   
   Bedford, Benton, Bledsoe, Campbell, Cannon, Carroll, Carter, Cheatham, Chester, Claiborne, Clay, Cocke, Coffee, Crockett, Cumberland, Decatur, DeKalb, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Fentress, Franklin, Gibson, Giles, Grainger, Greene, Grundy, Hamblen, Hancock, Hardeman, Hardin, Hawkins, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Lake, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Loudon, McMinn, McNairy, Macon, Marion, Marshall, Meigs, Monroe, Moore, Morgan, Obion, Overton, Perry, Pickett, Polk, Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Robertson, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Smith, Stewart, Tipton, Trousdale, Unicoi, Union, Van Buren, Warren, Wayne, Weakley, or White
   
   What about Residential Or Commercial Property Maintenance Codes?
   
   Residential Or Commercial Property Maintenance Codes or Building and Safety Codes are minimum residential or commercial property upkeep requirements. Codes can apply to domestic or non-residential residential or commercial properties or both. Codes inspections can occur at any time, though they are most common with brand-new building and construction or remodelling. Building Codes assist to make sure security within a building. It is very important to have structures up to code. Landlords are responsible for fulfilling Codes.
   
   All cities in Tennessee have their own codes departments to enforce Residential or commercial property Maintenance Codes. Many big county or local government have codes departments. Though, many towns and rural areas do not have any standardized minimum residential or commercial property maintenance codes. Several codes departments throughout the state have actually adopted the International Residential or commercial property Maintenance Code. Codes inspectors may check electrical, plumbing, gas, zoning, and other physical aspects of a home. Contact your regional codes department for details specific to your location.
   
   Often Building Codes will ask if a tenant has already notified their landlord about the need for repair and offered the property manager affordable time to make the repair. Afterward, Buiding Codes might carry out an evaluation. If there is an examination, make certain to ask for a copy of any notes or citations. Keep in mind that Building Codes can just check out homes where the renter has legal right to permit their see.
   
   What is URLTA?
   
   Tennessee Code Annotated § 66-28 is the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. URLTA just applies in counties of greater than 75,000 population since the 2010 U.S. Census. For these more populated counties, there are written requirements and securities to rental contracts including obligations for maintenance by the landlord to comply with requirements of applicable structure and housing codes materially impacting healthy and security, as listed in 66-28-304.( a).
   
   What are the minimum requirements for rental housing?
   
   The Tennessee Department of Health is accountable for promoting rules for minimum health standards for rental housing. These guidelines belong to Tennessee Code Annotated § 53-5502 rearranged as § 68-111 in Chapter 1200-1-2. The guidelines cover fundamental devices and facilities, light and ventilation, temperature, and sanitation.
   
   Can I make a protest?
   
   If a rental residential or commercial property violates minimum health requirements it may be unfit for habitation. According to Tennessee Code Annotated § 68-111-101, occupants whose rent is $200 or less each week might file a grievance with their local building inspector or county public health department. Complaints need to be filed in composing with your county health department and a copy should be forwarded by licensed mail to the property manager. A certifying problem can result in a home examination. This part of the law does not apply to renters who pay their lease monthly or for a term greater than monthly. For non-qualifying complaints, other building regulations or regulations that the structure inspector is licensed to implement, might be suitable to house leased at higher rates.
   
   What if I reside in government assisted housing?
   
   The federal government assists low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and hygienic housing in the private market. Participants discover their own housing, consisting of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments. There is a yearly Housing Quality Standards (HQS) examination treatment to guarantee that homes are tidy and safe. Renters with assisted housing, such as Section 8, should start by talking with the office that issued their rental Housing Choice Voucher (HCV).
   
   The Tennessee Housing Development Agency performs agreement administration for Section 8 property concerns in 76 counties. If the residential or commercial property owner or agent is not fulfilling their duties, TDHA may intervene. To find out more, call THDA at 1-800-228-THDA (8432) during typical company hours or go to the THDA web page anytime. Local public housing firms (PHAs) offer services in the other counties. Some of the local offices are the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, Murfreesboro Housing Authority, Memphis Housing Authority, and Knox County Housing Authority.
   
   Renters who get help can contact their local U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office. A number of HUD's programs have specific requirements for housing quality. If your is not up to standards, then HUD may intervene to have the proprietor make repairs as needed. Tennessee's HUD office contact numbers are:
   
   HUD Knoxville Field Office - (865) 545-4370 Jurisdiction: Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Cumberland, Fentress, Grainger, Greene, Grundy, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Marion, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Pickett, Polk, Roane, Rhea, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi, Union, Washington
   
   HUD Memphis Field Office - (901) 544-3367 Jurisdiction: Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Shelby, Tipton, Weakley
   
   HUD Nashville Field Office - (615) 736-5600 Jurisdiction: Bedford, Cannon, Cheatham, Clay, Coffee, Davidson, De Kalb, Dickson, Franklin, Giles, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Macon, Marshall, Maury, Montgomery, Moore, Overton, Perry, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Smith, Stewart, Sumner, Trousdale, Van Buren, Warren, Wayne, White, Williamson, Wilson
   
   Does the USDA help with renters in backwoods?
   
   Yes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a rural development program. USDA assists with some 360 multi-family residential or commercial properties in Tennessee. If you have a concern about residing in USDA-assisted rural housing you can contact your rural advancement regional workplace.
   
   Where can I find out more about healthy housing policy?
   
   Our Healthy Places website supplies more info about the places we live, work and play. Click here to find out more about healthy housing policies.
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