Tennessee Department of Health, If You Rent a Place, Know Your Legal Rights and Duties

Things you broke or messed up in
the place
Things you don’t have to pay for
When you move, take all of your belongings and
Were some things broken or messed up before
trash. Leave the apartment “broom clean.” Make
you moved in? You don’t have to pay for those.
sure the kitchen and appliances are clean. Try to
Check the list you and the landlord signed before
fix any small problems you see.
you moved in. It proves what was already broken
or messed up.
Did you pay a deposit? Does your lease say
you get it back if you didn’t break or mess up You don’t have to pay for damage caused by just
anything? When you are ready to move, do a living there. This is called “normal wear and tear.”
walk thru with the landlord. Set a time to do It is things like a leaky
the walk thru. You and the landlord should go faucet, worn rugs or paint
together. Make a list of any thing that is broken wearing off. This happens
or messed up. Take pictures. See if you and the when a place gets older.
landlord can agree on what you must pay for.
You have 5 days to do this. The 5 days start on the
You do have to pay for anything worse than
day you move out.
normal wear and tear. This happens when you
don’t take good care of a place. Examples: broken
The landlord may give you a written notice of a windows, doors pulled off, cigarette
time to do the walk thru. If you go, together you burns in the rug, holes in walls or
make a list of what is broken or messed up. You doors. Did you or someone you let in
decide what you must pay for. tear up things? Then the landlord can
make you pay to have it fixed.
What if you don’t go to the walk thru? Check your
lease. It may say that if you don’t go, the landlord If you get a list of things you must pay to fix,
gets to decide what you must pay for. He can read it