Tennessee landlord rules: deposits, late fees and notices

Security deposit

Maximum deposit

No statewide cap

Return deadline

30 days after the tenancy ends

Penalty for late return

none specified

Interest owed

No

Note

no hard statutory deadline - 30 days is standard practice; verify per county

Work out the return date for a move-out

Source: Tenn. Code §66-28-301 (URLTA counties)

Verify this with the statute or a local attorney before you act on it. The rule changed recently or has known ambiguity.

Late fees

Rule

capped at 10% of overdue amount

Grace period

5 days

No statute cited in our data

Notice periods

Notice to pay or quit

14 days

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

30 days

Notice before entering a unit

Not in our data

Work out the last day of a notice

No statute cited in our data

Screening

Source-of-income protection

Only where a local ordinance adds it.

Note

Memphis-area activity - verify

No statute cited in our data

Verify this with the statute or a local attorney before you act on it. The rule changed recently or has known ambiguity.

Licensing

To manage for others

A real-estate broker license, to manage property for others.

No statute cited in our data

How long an eviction takes

Among the fastest: about 2 to 4 weeks. This is a rough tier from our data, not a court timeline.

Also worth knowing

• URLTA applies only in counties over ~75k population - rules differ between (e.g.) Nashville/Memphis and rural counties (URLTA counties run closer to tier 2)

A federal rule that can override this

Notice for nonpayment on covered properties

30 days

Note

Applies to 'covered properties' (federally backed mortgage or federal housing program). The 30-day notice requirement has no statutory sunset and courts are split - safest practice is a 30-day nonpayment notice on any covered property, regardless of shorter state timelines.

Source: CARES Act §4024