In 2025, certain counties in Tennessee will give renters a bit more authority.
This is because of a new regulation that mandates landlords give tenants the contact details of the property manager, who is in charge of maintaining a rental property, as well as an online communication platform between landlords and tenants.
The rule is crucial because people frequently rent from persons who don’t necessarily reside in the neighborhood where the property is located, according to Darrell Winfree, a staff attorney at Legal Aid of East Tennessee in Maryville.
“It will require landlords to provide information about how they can be contacted as far as needed repairs or service of process,” Winfree stated. “Basically making sure there is that connection between the landlord and tenant, that information can flow both ways.”
As a result of the fact that some property owners are from out of state or living in West Tennessee, Winfree stated that residents in East Tennessee do not always know how to get in touch with them.
“We end up having people that come to us regularly who are unable to get in touch with their landlord, who have these needs,” he stated. “I really do believe that people want to be able to help others, to be able to get these needs addressed and to be able to offer their tenant the best customer experience, but sometimes the people who need to be made aware of those things just don’t have the opportunity to be made away of those things.”
Because a clear service of process address must now be included in a lease agreement between a landlord and a tenant, Winfree says the law makes it easier for a tenant to serve process on a landlord and have them brought into court, if necessary, to have a judge review something like a leasing dispute.
“This helps level the playing field a little bit more, to make sure if there is something happening that’s wrong the tenant has to ability to get into court and make it right,” Winfree stated.
During the legislative session that took place the previous year, Tennessee State Representative Dwayne Thompson, who represents Cordova, expressed his support for the bill.
“The reason for this is to help ensure that tenants have access to necessary contact information to request maintenance services,” Thompson stated. “This won’t affect the majority of landlords, but those absentee landlords, and out-of-state landlords who’ve not furnished this information, or who have not arranged for maintenance services, those are who we’re looking at.”
It is incumbent of landlords, according to Winfree, to maintain a safe and habitable environment for their tenants.
“There’s a lot of things that aren’t included in that, replacement for appliances, or keeping things in a state that might be tasteful, or calm, or pleasing or whatnot, that might not be the same as habitable or safe,” Winfree stated, it’s a lower standard.
Only residents in counties with a population of 75,000 or more are subject to the law. The Uniform Residential Landlord Act of Tennessee applies to these counties.
“It will cover Blount County, but it may not cover Loudon County or some of the more outlying areas,” Winfree stated.
Since many people visit Winfree’s office to resolve problems that could have been resolved by direct discussion between the landlord and tenant, the new law should benefit both parties.
“A lot of times it’s things I’m able to talk to them about that might have been able to be resolved if they had that open line of communication with that landlord,” he stated. “If there was that ability to ask them questions, then we don’t necessarily need to be involved.”
