As a renter, you must be familiar with the top state and federal laws that affect your rights and responsibilities. You can be a better and more informed tenant by knowing these laws. This can assist you to have a great experience and avoid issues with your landlord sooner or later. Here are some of the most important laws you should know about as a renter:
- Warranty of Habitability. Although it goes by different names in different states, usually implied warranty of habitability laws are state laws designed to ensure that your rental unit is livable. In most states, this means that the rental home meets certain minimum standards for things like heat, water, and electricity.
- Choosing a Tenant. State and federal laws grant landlords the right to choose their tenants. However, the laws also demand that a landlord’s decision must be based on creditworthiness, income, or history. They are not permitted to decline to rent to someone just because of their skin color, religion, sexual orientation, familial status, and disability.
- Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act is a federal law that bans landlords from discriminating against tenants based on protected characteristics such as race, religion, gender, national origin, and disability. This law was enacted in 1968 and empowered renters who believe they have been discriminated against because of one or more of these characteristics to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), irrespective of what state they live in.
- Limiting the Number of Children. Under the Fair Housing Act, a landlord cannot refuse to rent to a tenant based on how many children the tenant has. Plus, the law defines that a landlord cannot discourage children from using outdoor or common areas.
- Service Animals. Under federal laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, service animals qualify as a reasonable accommodation, and landlords cannot simply ban them. Nor can they charge an additional pet fee or increase the rent because you have a service animal. However, landlords can require that a service animal is vaccinated, licensed, and registered according to all state and local laws.
- Discriminatory Advertising. HUD’s federal Fair Housing Act also states that landlords cannot use discrimination in their advertisement of a rental property. For instance, publishing an ad stating that the landlord will not rent to single adults, people of a certain age, or won’t allow wheelchairs are all kinds of discriminatory advertising.
- Security Deposits. There are laws about how a Leander property manager should handle your security deposit. In general, the law allows a landlord to collect and then hold your deposit and potentially utilize it to accomplish repairs if you are negligent and damage something while living on the property. There are federal limits set on how much a landlord can charge for a security deposit; state law also governs this.
- Illegal Lockouts. While there is no one federal law that makes locking out a tenant unlawful, laws in every state explain the legal eviction process that makes locking a tenant out of their rental house illegal conduct. Eviction is a legal process that must be followed right, or the landlord risks having the court rule in the tenant’s favor.
If you’re hunting for a Leander rental home and property manager that understand and will abide by all tenant-landlord laws in Texas, Real Property Management All Connect is the company to call. Browse our listings online to discover your next rental home!
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
