Tenant rights, by state
Renting law is state law, and most of it is written down in one place your landlord is counting on you never reading. Pick the problem you have. Every figure on these pages was read out of the statute itself.
Security deposits
48 states
How many days your landlord has to return your deposit, what they may legally deduct, and the penalty they owe for missing the deadline — which in many states is double or triple the amount withheld.
Rent late fees
20 states
Whether your state caps late fees, how long the grace period must be, and what to do when the fee on your ledger is larger than the law allows.
Repairs and habitability
31 states
The legal deadline to fix serious problems once you give written notice, what the statute requires your landlord to maintain, and the remedies available when they ignore it.
Landlord entry and privacy
51 states
How much notice your landlord owes you before letting themselves in — 12 hours in Wisconsin, 48 in Delaware, and no notice rule at all in thirteen states. Every jurisdiction has a page; letters where the law supports one.
How these pages are checked
Every deadline, cap, and penalty here was read against the text the state legislature publishes — not a summary, not another website. Deposits were last verified August 12, 2026, repairs August 11, 2026, late fees August 14, 2026, and landlord entry August 21, 2026. Where we found a widely repeated claim the statute does not support, we published the correction rather than quietly matching it — see tenant law corrections.
General information, not legal advice. We are not a law firm and no attorney-client relationship is created. Local ordinances may add requirements your state statute does not mention.