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State Landlord-Tenant Laws

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About this dataset:

Landlord-tenant laws lay out basic rights and responsibilities for both landlords and tenants when renting residential property. These laws govern lease agreements, maximum security deposit amounts, property maintenance requirements, and steps landlords and tenants may take if lease agreements are broken, among other elements.

Laws addressing landlord and tenant rights exist mostly at the state level, but this area is also governed by federal and common law. Some states have adopted, or based in part, their landlord-tenant law on the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1972 (URLTA), which is a model law that attempts to clarify and standardize landlord-tenant law across the country. To date, all 51 jurisdictions in the United States have state-level landlord-tenant laws.

The longitudinal data displayed on this map identifies and displays key features of state-level landlord-tenant laws across all 50 states and the District of Columbia in effect from August 1, 2017 through August 1, 2019.

Cited By

The Individual and Joint Effects of State-Level Landlord-Tenant Policy on Mobility among Renters

Georgetown University
The Individual and Joint Effects of State-Level Landlord-Tenant Policy on Mobility among Renters
Brianna Simone Anderson
Off
Anderson

Rental Housing and Affordability in the Southeast: Data from the Sixth District

Community and Economic Development Discussion Paper, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Rental Housing and Affordability in the Southeast: Data from the Sixth District
Ann Carpenter, Douglas White & Mary Hirt
Off
Carpenter

Dataset Created by
Policy Surveillance Program Staff

Dataset Maintained by
Policy Surveillance Program Staff

Dataset Valid From
August 1, 2017

Dataset Updated Through
August 1, 2019

Total Jurisdictions Covered
51