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Tennessee residential lease agreement

Answer the questions, download the lease. Free, no account, and it holds your figures to what Tennessee allows.

Tennessee's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act does not reach the whole state. T.C.A. 66-28-102 applies it only in counties above a population threshold, which the legislature has raised over the years, so a landlord in a small county is outside the Act and the figures on this page do not apply. Check your county before relying on them.

What Tennessee law does to your lease

These are the figures the builder holds you to. Each one is the statute's, not ours, and the citation is there so you can read it yourself.

RuleTennesseeWhere it says so
Most a landlord may take as a depositNo statutory limitNo ceiling, but the deposit has to sit in an account used for nothing else, at a bank or lending institution regulated by Tennessee or the federal government.T.C.A. 66-28-301(a)
Earliest a late fee may be charged5 days after rent is dueT.C.A. 66-28-201(d)
Most a late fee may be10% of the rentThe day rent was due counts as the first of the five. If the fifth day falls on a Sunday or a legal holiday, no fee at all if the rent arrives the next business day.T.C.A. 66-28-201(d)
Notice before the landlord may enterNone required by statuteTennessee sets no general notice period: the tenant simply may not unreasonably withhold consent. It names 24 hours in two places only, entry after a utility has been off three days or more, and showing the unit in the last 30 days of the lease where the lease provides for it.T.C.A. 66-28-403
Notice to end a month-to-month tenancy30 daysThe notice runs to the periodic rental date named in it.T.C.A. 66-28-512(b)

The clause most landlords get wrong

Rent stated as a base figure with mandatory fees bolted on beside it. If a fee is not optional, it is rent, and several states now say so outright: the lease has to carry one total figure that the landlord may not charge above. The builder asks for the total and then asks how much of it is fees, which is the same information in the order the law wants it.

The second is the assistance animal. A no-pets clause that does not carve one out is a fair-housing problem, not a pet problem, and no pet rent or pet deposit may be charged for one. Your lease says so whether or not you allow pets.

After it is signed

Download the PDF and it is yours, account or not. If you want the tenant to sign it without printing anything, a free Kouzr account sends it for signature, files the executed copy against the tenancy, and keeps it beside the listing, the rent record and the deposit accounting, so the paperwork for that home is in one place when the tenancy ends.

Is this Tennessee lease legally binding?

A written lease signed by the landlord and every adult tenant is a contract, and this one is built to say what Tennessee requires a residential lease to say. What it is not is legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it. It is a form you complete yourself, the same category as the fill-in-the-blank lease sold in an office supply shop, and it is worth having a lawyer in your state read it before you rely on it, especially on a property you will hold for years.

How much can a landlord charge as a security deposit in Tennessee?

Tennessee sets no statutory ceiling (T.C.A. 66-28-301(a)), so the figure is yours to choose. One month is the usual ask and two is the most a tenant will normally accept; every dollar above that is money you have to hold, account for line by line at move-out, and return on the state's clock.

Can a landlord charge a late fee in Tennessee?

Yes, but not without limit. Tennessee allows no late fee until 5 days after rent is due, and caps it at 10% of the rent (T.C.A. 66-28-201(d)). A fee charged earlier or larger than that is not enforceable, and the rest of the lease still stands. The day rent was due counts as the first of the five. If the fifth day falls on a Sunday or a legal holiday, no fee at all if the rent arrives the next business day.

How much notice does a landlord have to give before entering in Tennessee?

Tennessee sets no statutory notice period (T.C.A. 66-28-403), so whatever the lease says is what governs. The builder writes 24 hours in by default, which is what most states require and what a court reading an implied covenant of quiet enjoyment is likely to call reasonable. Emergencies need no notice anywhere.

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

30 days of written notice from either side (T.C.A. 66-28-512(b)). The builder writes that figure into the term clause. A lease may agree on longer notice than the statute; one that gives less is unenforceable to that extent, and the statutory period governs instead. The notice runs to the periodic rental date named in it.

Do I have to include a lead-based paint disclosure?

Only if the home was built before 1978, and then yes, everywhere in the country. Federal law requires the landlord to disclose known lead-based paint, hand over any report they have, and give the tenant the EPA pamphlet before the tenant is committed to the lease (42 U.S.C. 4852d). Enter the year built and the builder attaches it for you.

Can I have the tenant sign it online?

Yes. Download the PDF and sign it however you like, or make a free Kouzr account and send it to the tenant for signature from here: they get a link, sign on a phone, and the executed copy files itself against the tenancy alongside rent and the deposit record. The PDF is free either way and does not require an account.

Kouzr is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. The builder produces a form you complete yourself, and no lawyer has reviewed the document it assembles. Have one admitted in Tennessee read it before you rely on it.