Does Tennessee's landlord-tenant act apply everywhere in the state?

No. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-102(a) provides that the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies only in counties having a population of more than seventy-five thousand according to the 2010 federal census. Seventeen of Tennessee's ninety-five counties qualify. In the other seventy-eight the whole of chapter 28 is inapplicable, and title 66 chapter 7 together with the forcible entry and detainer chapter at title 29 chapter 18 governs instead.

Which Tennessee counties are covered by the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act?

Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson and Wilson. That list comes from the Census Bureau's own 2010 county file, because 66-28-102(a) fixes the test to the 2010 federal census. Putnam and Greene counties do not qualify even though both have grown since, and Anderson qualifies by one hundred and twenty-nine people.

How long does a Tennessee landlord have to return a security deposit?

There is no deadline. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-301 contains no return deadline of any kind. The thirty days and seven days in 66-28-301(g) limit the landlord's ability to recover for damage discovered after an inspection, and the sixty days in 66-28-301(f) is the period after which an unclaimed refund may be kept by the landlord. Neither is a refund clock, though both are widely reported as one.

How much can a Tennessee landlord charge for a security deposit?

There is no statutory maximum anywhere in Tennessee. What Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-301 regulates instead is procedure: a dedicated account used only for security deposits at an institution regulated by the state or an agency of the United States government, disclosure of the location of that account when the tenant signs and pays, an inspection procedure, and a signed damage listing.

What happens if a Tennessee landlord skips the deposit account or the damage listing?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-301(c) no landlord is entitled to retain any portion of a security deposit if the deposit was not placed in the dedicated account required by subsection (a) and a listing of damages was not provided as subsection (b) requires. It is total forfeiture of the right to retain anything, and Tennessee attaches no multiplier or statutory damages figure on top.

What is the Tennessee move-out inspection procedure?

Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-301(b) lets the landlord give notice of the tenant's right to be present at the inspection, either on requesting the tenant to vacate or within five days of receiving written notice of intent to vacate. The landlord may require the inspection to follow complete surrender of possession, provided it happens on the day the tenant vacates or within four calendar days. Both parties sign the listing and their signatures are conclusive evidence of its accuracy, and a tenant who disagrees must dissent specifically in writing or lose the right to recover.

How much notice must a Tennessee landlord give before entering?

None, by statute. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-403(a) requires only that the tenant not unreasonably withhold consent, and there is no hour count anywhere in the section for ordinary entry. The single notice period is twenty-four hours for showings within the final thirty days under 66-28-403(e)(5), and that right exists only if it is set forth in the rental agreement. Outside the seventeen covered counties there is no entry statute at all.

What is the Tennessee late fee limit and grace period?

In a covered county, Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-201(d) gives a five-day grace period that includes the due date in the count, extends to the next business day where day five falls on a Sunday or legal holiday, and caps any charge for late payment at 10% of the amount of rent past due. The cap is on the amount past due, not on the monthly rent. Outside those counties Tennessee sets neither a grace period nor a cap.

How much notice comes before an eviction for unpaid rent in Tennessee?

Fourteen days in a covered county under Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-505(a)(2), falling to seven days where substantially the same breach recurs within six months. Outside the covered counties Tenn. Code Ann. 66-7-109(a)(1)(A) also gives fourteen days, but only after a demand for the rent, and it sets thirty days for every other kind of default.

Can a Tennessee tenant waive the notice before an eviction filing?

Yes, and it is the most overlooked drafting device in the state. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-505(b) lets the tenant waive the notice so that a detainer warrant may be filed immediately on a failure to pay rent, but the waiver must be set out in twelve point bold font or larger in the rental agreement and it may not reduce the five-day grace period. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-201(c) permits the waiver only where a written rental agreement provides for it.

How much notice ends a Tennessee month-to-month tenancy?

Thirty days before the periodic rental date specified in the notice, under Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-512(b). A week-to-week tenancy takes at least ten days under 66-28-512(a). The thirty days runs to a periodic rental date rather than to any date the terminating party picks.

Can a Tennessee lease make the tenant pay the landlord's attorney fees?

Yes, and Tennessee is unusual in making the clause necessary. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-203 prohibits only confession of judgment and exculpation or indemnity, and says nothing about fees. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-505(d) then provides that the landlord may recover reasonable attorney's fees for breach of contract and nonpayment of rent as provided in the rental agreement, so a lease without the clause leaves the landlord with no contractual fee entitlement on the two commonest claims. The tenant's own statutory fee awards cannot be waived, which is why the clause in this builder runs to the prevailing party.

What disclosures does Tennessee require in a residential lease?

Three under state law and one under federal law. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-201(a) requires a written advisory that the landlord does not provide fire or casualty insurance for the tenant's personal property. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-302 requires the managing agent, an owner or agent for service of process, and since 1 January 2025 a maintenance telephone number, email address or online portal. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-301(h) requires the location of the deposit account at signing where a deposit is taken. Federal law adds the lead-based paint disclosure for pre-1978 housing.

Is a Tennessee landlord liable for retaliation?

Only within narrow limits, and only in a covered county. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-514 bars retaliating by increasing rent, decreasing services or bringing or threatening an action for possession because the tenant complained to the landlord of a violation under 66-28-301 or used a remedy under the chapter. There is no presumption from timing, no window of months, no civil penalty and no statutory damages figure, and there is no retaliation statute at all in the other seventy-eight counties.

When does a Tennessee tenancy count as abandoned?

Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-405 gives two triggers. An unexplained or extended absence of thirty days or more without payment of rent is prima facie evidence of abandonment. So is nonpayment for fifteen days past the due date together with other circumstances indicating permanent vacation, such as removal of substantially all possessions or voluntary termination of utility service. The second route requires a notice both posted at the premises and mailed, stating four prescribed things and giving the tenant ten days to make contact.

What must a Tennessee landlord do with property left behind?

After an abandonment under Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-405 the landlord must remove and store the possessions for not less than thirty days, may then sell or dispose of them and apply the proceeds to unpaid rent, damages, storage fees, sale costs and attorney's fees, and must hold any balance for six months. That is different from the post-judgment rule in Tenn. Code Ann. 29-18-127(b), which requires property to be placed on the premises clear of the entrance and left undisturbed for forty-eight hours after a writ of possession is executed.

Does Tennessee require smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in rentals?

Smoke alarms yes, carbon monoxide alarms no. Tenn. Code Ann. 68-102-151 requires an approved smoke alarm audible in the sleeping rooms of every one-family or two-family rental unit, a Class A misdemeanor, and Tenn. Code Ann. 68-120-112 does the same for apartment buildings of three or more units as a Class C misdemeanor. Under both the tenant maintains the alarm and the owner must ensure it is operational before reoccupancy. The carbon monoxide alarm requirement in 68-120-112 applies to hotels, not to ordinary rented houses or apartments.

Will Tennessee landlords be able to ban firearms in a lease?

Not from 1 January 2027. Public Chapter 606 of 2026 adds Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-206 and 66-7-113 and provides that a landlord shall not prohibit lawful possession, carrying, transportation or storage of a firearm, firearm parts or ammunition by a residential tenant in the dwelling unit, in a vehicle in the tenant's parking area, or in the locations needed to enter and exit them. The landlord may still require concealment or a carrying container in common areas. It applies to agreements entered into, amended, extended or renewed on and after that date, and a tenant may sue for declaratory and injunctive relief, actual damages, punitive damages and attorney fees.

Does a Tennessee lease have to be in writing or notarized?

A lease for a term longer than one year must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged under Tenn. Code Ann. 29-2-101(a)(4), and a lease for more than three years must additionally be proved and registered under Tenn. Code Ann. 66-7-101 to be valid against anyone other than the lessor. A twelve-month lease may therefore be oral and still enforceable. No residential lease requires witnesses or a notary.

Does a farm dwelling in Tennessee come under the landlord-tenant act?

No. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-102(c)(5) excludes occupancy under a rental agreement covering premises used by the occupant primarily for agricultural purposes, and that exclusion applies even in one of the seventeen covered counties. The same subsection also excludes institutional residence incidental to detention or care, occupancy by a purchaser under a contract of sale, transient hotel and motel occupancy, and occupancy by a condominium owner or a cooperative proprietary lessee.

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Free Tennessee Residential Lease Agreement

Tennessee residential lease agreement walk-through

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A configurable Tennessee residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF — and the only one built on the fact that Tennessee’s landlord-tenant act reaches only seventeen counties. Written to Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-101 to 66-28-523, and to the title 66 chapter 7 law that governs the other seventy-eight.

Tennessee Title 66 Chapter 28 17 Counties Free PDF 2026 Edition

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Scope Tennessee ~16 min read

A Tennessee residential lease agreement has to answer a question that almost no other state forces on a landlord: which body of Tennessee law governs this property? Tennessee enacted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act at Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-101 to 66-28-523, but 66-28-102(a) confines it to “counties having a population of more than seventy-five thousand (75,000), according to the 2010 federal census.” That reference is frozen. Seventeen of Tennessee’s ninety-five counties qualify; in the other seventy-eight the Act’s deposit account, grace period, late-fee ceiling, entry provisions, habitability duty, abandonment procedure and retaliation defence are not law at all, and Tenn. Code Ann. 66-7-109 supplies a different set of notice periods instead. Nine of the ten pages ranking for this query state the Act as though it were statewide, and the one that mentions the split uses the wrong test. This form asks the county question first, and the generated lease branches on the answer.

Tennessee Lease Rules at a Glance

Security Deposit Cap

None

Deposit Return Deadline

None

Entry Notice

No Statute

Month-to-Month Notice

30 Days*

*The starred figure applies only in the seventeen covered counties. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-102(a) applies chapter 28 only where the 2010 federal census recorded more than seventy-five thousand people: Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson and Wilson. Everywhere else, Tenn. Code Ann. 66-7-109 gives fourteen days for unpaid rent on demand, damage beyond normal wear and tear or a violent act, and thirty days for every other default. The deposit cap and the absence of a return deadline are true in both halves of the state, because outside chapter 28 Tennessee has no deposit statute at all.

The Tennessee Fact Almost Every Template Gets Wrong

Search for Tennessee landlord-tenant law and you will be handed the Act’s rules as flat statements of state law: a five-day grace period, a 10% late fee cap, a dedicated security deposit account, thirty days to end a month-to-month tenancy. Those rules are real, and where they apply they are enforced. But they are not statewide. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-102(a) reads, in full: “This chapter applies only in counties having a population of more than seventy-five thousand (75,000), according to the 2010 federal census.” Two things follow that most pages miss. First, the population test is frozen at the 2010 census, so it is not a question of how many people live in a county today — Putnam County counted 72,321 in 2010 and is outside the Act however much it has grown since, while Anderson County counted 75,129 and is inside it by one hundred and twenty-nine people. Second, chapter 28 is all or nothing: in a non-covered county there is no partial application, and a lease that recites the Act’s deadlines there is telling both parties they have rights and duties they do not have.

How to Fill Out This Tennessee Lease Agreement

The Seven-Step Tennessee Sequence

1. Name the parties, the manager and the maintenance contact

Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-302 was rewritten by 2024 Tenn. Acts ch. 907 effective 1 January 2025 and now requires three things in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy: the managing agent, an owner or agent for service of process, and a telephone number, electronic mail address or online portal for maintenance services.

2. Describe the premises, the county and the unit count

The county line decides which statute governs. The unit count matters too: the waste-receptacle duty in Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-304(a)(4) reaches only multi-unit complexes of four or more units, so a duplex is outside it.

3. Answer the county question

This is the step no other Tennessee template has. Check the county against the seventeen that exceeded seventy-five thousand in the 2010 federal census, then choose covered, not covered, or not yet confirmed. The generated lease states the position on its face and adjusts its own terms.

4. Set the term, the rent and the late charge

In a covered county Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-201(d) gives a five-day grace period that counts the due date itself, extends to the next business day where day five is a Sunday or legal holiday, and caps the charge at 10% of the rent past due. Outside those counties nothing but the lease sets either figure.

5. Set up the deposit account before you take any money

Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-301(a) requires a dedicated account, and 66-28-301(h) requires the tenant to be told the location of it when the tenant signs and pays — though not the account number. Doing it out of order is the most expensive Tennessee mistake, because 66-28-301(c) forfeits the right to retain anything.

6. Decide entry and showings deliberately

Tennessee has no general entry-notice statute, so the notice period in the lease is the only notice the tenant gets. And the right to show the property in the final thirty days exists only if the lease grants it, because Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-403(e)(5) makes the right conditional on being set forth in the rental agreement.

7. Generate, sign and hand over the disclosures

Download the multi-page PDF and sign. Tennessee requires no witnesses and no notary. Give the tenant the written fire and casualty insurance advisory, the owner and manager identification with the maintenance contact, and the location of the deposit account, and keep proof that you did.

Build Your Tennessee Residential Lease Agreement

Complete the fields below to generate a Tennessee residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, and the generated lease cites the controlling Tennessee section at each point — starting with the county question that decides whether those sections bind you at all. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening. Pair the signed lease with a Tennessee move-in / move-out checklist, which in this state does double duty: it is your condition record and, used properly, the comprehensive damage listing that Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-301(b) makes the difference between keeping part of a deposit and keeping none of it.

Tennessee Residential Lease Agreement Builder

1. Parties

Landlord (owner) full legal name

Landlord phone

Landlord address for notices

Tenant 1 full legal name

Tenant 2 full legal name (if any)

Additional tenants (comma-separated)

Authorized occupants who are not tenants (minors, etc.)

2. Premises

Rental property address (street, unit, city, ZIP)

County

Property type

Year built (pre-1978 triggers federal lead disclosure)

Bedrooms / bathrooms

Living units in this structure or complex (4 or more triggers the waste-receptacle duty)

3. Is This County Covered by Tennessee’s Landlord-Tenant Act?

This is the Tennessee question, and almost no other template asks it. Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-102(a) applies the whole Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act only in counties whose population exceeded seventy-five thousand according to the 2010 federal census. The reference is frozen at 2010, so growth since then changes nothing. Seventeen counti