ABA Family Legal Guide

Renting Residential Property

Maintaining Rental Property

Does the landlord have the obligation to maintain the premises and to make repairs if defects occur?

Yes. Both court rulings and state and local laws impose the duty to maintain rental property on the landlord. If a government agency is enforcing a housing maintenance code, the agency will cite the landlord for a defective condition regardless of who actually caused the defective condition to exist. (The landlord might have legal recourse against the tenant if the tenant damaged the property, but the landlord must still repair the property.)