Landlord–tenant law in Tennessee

What is distinctive about Tennessee

• Deposits: no deadline at all, which makes Tennessee unusual — the obligation is to account for the deposit, not to do it by a date.
• Late fees: capped at 10% of the amount of rent past due. A 5-day grace period is mandatory.
• Rent increases: 30 days, borrowed from the termination rule because Tennessee has no rent-increase statute.

The mistake that costs the most here

Because Tennessee sets no deposit deadline, landlords sometimes treat the deposit as settled indefinitely. The obligation to account for it does not expire with the clock, and a tenant who asks later is still entitled to an answer.

Where these figures come from

Each rule above was read against the section it cites and the statutory wording is quoted on the dedicated page, so you can check it rather than take our word for it. That matters more than it sounds on this subject: when we read all 51 jurisdictions we found several widely-published figures to be wrong, including a Kentucky deposit deadline that does not exist, a South Dakota one reported as 14 days when the statute says 21, and late-fee caps for nine states that actually come from their self-storage statutes.

Local ordinances can add requirements the state does not, and statutes move — Washington, Connecticut, Nevada, Rhode Island and Maryland have all changed in the last three years. Each figure carries the date we read it.