1 Healthy Homes - Renters
Jody Chowne edited this page 2025-06-18 08:50:10 +08:00


How is leasing various from own a home? What are my obligations 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 an occupant? 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 an official complaint? What if I reside in federal government assisted housing? Does the USDA assist with occupants in rural areas? Where can I learn more about healthy housing policy? Additional resources

* * * Our Healthy Homes personnel are not medical professionals or legal representatives. The information on our Healthy Homes Website does not supply medical or legal recommendations. This information is not a replacement for visiting your medical professional or for consulting with a legal representative about your particular scenario. * * *
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3 Actions a Concerned Renter Should Do:

1. Put whatever in writing. Take photographs and videos. Save emails, texts, letters, and voicemails. Write a calendar of events.

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

3. Read your lease. Whatever is written in the lease is a legal agreement. Both renter and proprietor have duties.

It is likely unlawful for a property owner to strike back against an occupant who submits a grievance, calls Buiding Codes, or takes legal action. Changing locks, turning off energies, revealing up often, or inappropriately raising rent can be retaliation.

How is leasing various from home ownership?

Renting is different from home ownership in that the occupant should depend on someone else to make repairs. The occupant may not have the ability to make modifications to the home without consent. An occupant has both rights and obligations. Renting can be an excellent option for many individuals to preserve a healthy home environment, both inside your home and outdoors. Whether you rent a house, house, duplex, mobile home or cabin you can keep the 7 healthy homes concepts. Remember that health starts at home.

What are my responsibilities as an occupant?

are accountable for cleanliness and security. You might lease without any official contract, or you may have a lease agreement. The most typical type of tenant in Tennessee is a renter who signs a lease contract to pay lease monthly throughout the year. Renters might be asked to offer a down payment. Lease agreements are legally binding agreements. You are responsible for following the regards to your lease. Some lease arrangements have addendums such as pet policies, pest control contracts or for reporting water damage. You are accountable for: paying your lease on time, paying any late costs, keeping the location clean and safe, not letting anyone else damage it, not breaking the law, disposing of your trash, and following your property owner's guidelines. If you break your lease, then it may end up being a legal concern.

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

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

There are eight fundamental principles to preserving a healthy home.

1. Keep it Dry. - Damp homes supply a great environment for mites, roaches, rodents and molds. 2. Keep it Clean. - Clean homes help lower pest invasions and direct exposure to pollutants. 3. Keep it Pest-Free. - Exposure to mice and cockroaches may increase asthma attacks. Improper pesticide treatments for insect problems can intensify health issues, considering that pesticide residues in homes can pose health risks. 4. Keep it Safe. - The majority of kids's injuries occur in the home. Falls are the most frequent cause of property injuries to kids, followed by injuries from items in the home, burns, and poisonings. 5. Keep it Contaminant-Free. - Avoid direct exposure to lead, radon, carbon monoxide gas, pesticides, asbestos and environmental tobacco smoke. Bear in mind exposure is often greater inside. 6. Keep it Ventilated. - Studies have revealed increasing fresh air in a home enhances respiratory health. 7. Keep it Maintained. - Poorly-maintained homes are at danger of being unhealthy. 8. Keep it Thermally Controlled. - Houses that do not keep appropriate temperatures might position the security of citizens at increased risk from exposure to severe heat or cold.

If you use these principles as a guide, you can preserve a safe and healthy home. If you are having an issue keeping any of these concepts, other parts of this website will know and resources to help 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 duty to repair the issue or it may be your landlord's duty to make repairs. Read your rental lease agreement. Adhere to any requirements for tidiness or safety. Report any required repairs to the property manager as they develop. Putting your concerns in writing is finest. This creates a record of your concerns. Repairs to your rental home need to be made in an affordable amount of time. The amount of time may be noted in your lease.

If your proprietor has not made repair work in an affordable quantity of time, you may require to communicate more straight, such as with extra written problems or an in person meeting. If your property manager continues to neglect your concerns, you might need to pursue legal action.

Disputes between a property owner and an occupant are civil problems. Most property manager and renter issues are beyond the authority of the Health Department. These concerns would be ruled on by a civil court judge translating the law. There are some programs that support tenants.

What are my rights as a tenant?

According to the Legal Aid Society, as an occupant you deserve to a livable place and to live peacefully. Your rights as a renter may differ depending upon which county you live in. The Legal Aid Society has a useful truth sheet to help you comprehend your rights as an occupant. How to get in touch with the Legal Aid Society or the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services is noted below.

If your rental home requires an emergency repair to keep it healthy, such as a repair of the heat, gas, lights, water, sewage, pipes or cooling, you ought to signal your landlord immediately.

If the requirement for repair work in not an emergency situation, then 2 week is generally thought about as a sensible quantity of time for the property manager to make repairs. Hopefully, most repairs will be made rather after a proprietor is warned. Use your regular approach of reporting needs for repair work such as a website, phone call, text, or workplace visit. Put something into composing to document when you made the property manager aware of the need for repair.

In some counties you can utilize some of your lease cash to make these instant repairs. If the problem was your fault, you might have to assist pay for the repairs.

You can not be required out of your rental home. You can not be kicked out without notice. The property owner can not alter the locks or shut down your energies to make you leave. Most of the time, a proprietor requires to go to court before evicting you. If you did something dangerous or threatening, the property owner only requires to provide you three (3) days to leave. If you did not pay rent or broke your lease contract, you may be given a thirty (30) day see to move out. If you have legal concerns about housing, you must seek advice from an attorney or legal services.

The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Serices has a HELP4TN website, chatbot, and telephone to assist people who need aid with their legal concerns. If you do not have your own legal representative, this is an excellent website to start.

If you qualify based on earnings or support status, the Legal Aid Society may have the ability to assist. Bear in mind, Legal Aid has a customer waiting list and hardly ever will cases take place quickly. Contact the workplace near you for more information.

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 assist you comprehend your rights and responsibilities as an occupant. Click the left image for counties of 75,000 or more population and the right image for smaller 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 maintenance standards. Codes can use to domestic or non-residential residential or commercial properties or both. Codes assessments can occur at any time, though they are most common with new building or restoration. Building Codes help to make sure safety within a structure. It is necessary to have buildings up to code. Landlords are accountable for satisfying Codes.

All cities in Tennessee have their own codes departments to enforce Residential or commercial property Maintenance Codes. Many large county or city governments have codes departments. Though, numerous villages and backwoods do not have any standardized minimum residential or commercial property upkeep codes. Several codes departments throughout the state have actually adopted the International Residential or commercial property Maintenance Code. Codes inspectors might inspect electrical, plumbing, gas, zoning, and other physical aspects of a home. Contact your local codes department for information specific to your place.

Often Building regulations will ask if a tenant has actually currently notified their property owner about the need for repair work and offered the property manager reasonable time to make the repair. Afterward, Buiding Codes might carry out an assessment. If there is an examination, be sure to request a copy of any notes or citations. Remember that Building Codes can just check out homes where the occupant has legal right to permit their see.

What is URLTA?

Tennessee Code Annotated § 66-28 is the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. URLTA only 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 defenses to rental contracts consisting of responsibilities for upkeep by the landlord to comply with requirements of appropriate 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 guidelines for minimum health standards for rental housing. These guidelines belong to Tennessee Code Annotated § 53-5502 reorganized as § 68-111 in Chapter 1200-1-2. The rules cover fundamental equipment and facilities, light and ventilation, temperature, and sanitation.

Can I make an official complaint?

If a rental residential or commercial property breaks minimum health standards it might be unsuited for habitation. According to Tennessee Code Annotated § 68-111-101, tenants whose lease is $200 or less per week may file a grievance with their regional building inspector or county public health department. Complaints need to be filed in writing with your county health department and a copy should be forwarded by qualified mail to the proprietor. A qualifying grievance can lead to a home examination. This part of the law does not apply to occupants who pay their lease monthly or for a term higher than month-to-month. For non-qualifying problems, other building codes or ordinances that the structure inspector is authorized to implement, may be suitable to house rented at greater rates.

What if I reside in federal government assisted housing?

The federal government helps low-income families, the senior, and the disabled to pay for good, safe, and sanitary housing in the personal market. Participants discover their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses, and apartment or condos. There is a yearly Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspection treatment to guarantee that homes are tidy and safe. Renters with assisted housing, such as Section 8, should start by talking with the workplace that released their rental Housing Choice Voucher (HCV).

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency performs contract administration for Section 8 residential problems in 76 counties. If the residential or commercial property owner or agent is not fulfilling their obligations, TDHA may intervene. For more details, call THDA at 1-800-228-THDA (8432) throughout normal company hours or go to the THDA web page anytime. Local public housing firms (PHAs) supply services in the other counties. A few of the local workplaces are the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, Murfreesboro Housing Authority, Memphis Housing Authority, and Knox County Housing Authority.

Renters who receive assistance can contact their local U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office. A lot of HUD's programs have specific requirements for housing quality. If your housing is not up to standards, then HUD may step in to have the property owner make repair work as necessary. Tennessee's HUD workplace 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 occupants in rural areas?

Yes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a rural advancement program. USDA helps with some 360 multi-family residential or commercial properties in Tennessee. If you have a question about living in USDA-assisted rural housing you can call your rural development local workplace.
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Where can I discover more about healthy housing policy?

Our Healthy Places webpage provides more details about the locations we live, work and play. Click on this link to read more about healthy housing policies.