There are things a landlord cannot do no matter what the lease says or how much rent you owe. A landlord cannot refuse to rent to you because of your race, religion, family status, or disability. A landlord cannot change your locks, shut off your utilities, or physically remove you without a court order. A landlord cannot walk into your unit whenever they please, retaliate against you for complaining about conditions, pocket your security deposit without accounting for it, or let the apartment fall into an unlivable state. Each of these prohibitions comes with real penalties, and most of them let you recover money, attorney’s fees, or both.
Discriminate Against Applicants or Tenants
The Fair Housing Act prohibits landlords from rejecting applicants or offering worse lease terms based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3604 – Discrimination in the Sale or Rental of Housing and Other Prohibited Practices Charging a family with children a higher deposit than a single adult, steering applicants of a particular religion to certain buildings, or saying a unit is unavailable when it’s really open all fall under this ban if the real reason tracks a protected class.
Disability protections go further. Landlords have to allow reasonable modifications at the tenant’s expense and make reasonable accommodations in rules or policies when needed for equal access. A no-pets policy, for example, cannot be used to reject a tenant who needs an assistance animal.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3604 – Discrimination in the Sale or Rental of Housing and Other Prohibited Practices
The Department of Housing and Urban Development investigates fair housing complaints administratively. A first-time violation can draw a civil penalty of up to $26,262. A landlord with one prior violation within five years faces up to $65,653, and one with two or more prior violations within seven years faces up to $131,308.2eCFR. 24 CFR 180.671 – Assessing Civil Penalties for Fair Housing Act Cases Those are administrative penalties alone. A tenant who files suit in federal court can also recover compensatory and punitive damages with no statutory cap.
Source of income is not on the federal list. A landlord who refuses to rent to you because you use a housing voucher is not violating federal law, though a growing number of states and cities have made voucher discrimination illegal locally. Check your jurisdiction before assuming a refusal is legal.
Lock You Out or Shut Off Your Utilities
Every state requires landlords to go through the courts to remove a tenant. There are no shortcuts. A landlord who changes your locks, hauls your belongings to the curb, blocks your access, or cuts off water, heat, or electricity to pressure you out is committing an illegal self-help eviction. These tactics are prohibited even if you owe back rent, even if your lease has expired, and even if a formal eviction case is already underway.
The only legal path to physically removing you is a court-issued writ of possession, served by a sheriff or marshal. Until that happens, you have the right to stay in the unit.
Most states award enhanced damages when a landlord forces a tenant out illegally. The common range is two to three times the actual damages or two to three months’ rent, whichever is greater. Tenants who win these cases often also recover attorney’s fees and court costs, and a landlord who cuts off heat or water in extreme circumstances can face criminal charges for endangering the tenant’s health and safety.
Enter Your Unit Without Notice
Your lease gives you the right to quiet enjoyment of the home, and that right limits when your landlord can come in. In most jurisdictions, a landlord must give written notice before entering, generally 24 to 48 hours in advance depending on the state. The entry has to happen during reasonable daytime hours and for a legitimate purpose, like a scheduled repair, a showing, or a routine inspection.
The exception is a true emergency. A burst pipe flooding the apartment below does not require 24 hours’ notice. Wanting to “check on things” is not an emergency, and a landlord who walks in without a genuine crisis is violating your privacy. If it keeps happening, document each incident in writing with dates. A pattern of unauthorized entries can rise to harassment and may give you grounds to break the lease or seek a court order.
Retaliate When You Complain
Landlords cannot punish you for exercising your legal rights. If you report a building code violation, complain about unsafe conditions, or organize with other tenants, your landlord cannot respond by raising your rent, cutting services, or filing to evict. These anti-retaliation protections exist in nearly every state.
Timing carries most of the weight in a retaliation case. Many state statutes create a rebuttable presumption that any adverse action within a set window after protected activity, often six months, is retaliatory. File a health department complaint in January and get a rent hike or non-renewal in April, and the burden shifts to the landlord to prove the action had an independent reason.
Overcoming that presumption takes real evidence: documented late payments, lease violations recorded before your complaint, or a building-wide rent adjustment that applies to every unit. A vague claim that the increase was “already planned” rarely holds up. Keep copies of your complaint, the landlord’s response, every notice you receive, and the dates attached to each.
Keep Your Security Deposit Improperly
Security deposit rules are among the most commonly violated landlord-tenant laws. About half the states cap how much a landlord can collect, with limits ranging from one to three months’ rent. The rest set no statutory ceiling, though a wildly high deposit can still be challenged.
When your lease ends, the landlord has to return the deposit within a state-mandated deadline, usually 14 to 45 days, along with an itemized statement of any deductions. Landlords who skip the itemization or miss the deadline often forfeit the right to keep any portion of the deposit and may owe you penalty damages on top.
What Counts as a Legitimate Deduction
Legitimate deductions cover unpaid rent and damage beyond normal wear and tear. Normal wear and tear is the gradual deterioration of everyday living: minor scuffs on floors, small nail holes in walls, faded paint, carpet worn thin from foot traffic. Those are costs of owning rental property, not costs the landlord can push onto you.
Tenant negligence is different. A hole punched through drywall, a burn mark on the counter, a broken window that wasn’t a maintenance failure, all of those qualify as deductible damage. When tenants and landlords disagree, small claims court is the usual venue, and judges expect the landlord to produce receipts, photos, and a clear accounting of every dollar withheld.
Some states also require landlords to hold the deposit in a separate escrow account and pay interest on it. If your state has that requirement and your landlord ignores it, that alone can trigger penalty provisions. Ask for the bank name and account number in writing when you pay.
Let the Unit Fall Below Habitability Standards
The implied warranty of habitability is recognized in all 50 states. It requires landlords to keep rental units safe and fit to live in, whether or not the lease mentions it, and any clause trying to waive it is unenforceable. The warranty covers working plumbing, reliable heat, a weathertight roof and exterior, functioning electrical systems, and freedom from serious pest infestations or hazards like toxic mold.
When something breaks that affects your health or safety, the landlord has to fix it within a reasonable time after receiving notice. For emergencies like a total loss of heat in winter or a gas leak, that can mean 24 hours or less. For less urgent problems, states typically allow a few days to a couple of weeks. Ignoring the request is not an option.
What You Can Do If Repairs Don’t Happen
Most states give tenants several remedies when a landlord fails to act after proper written notice:
- Repair and deduct. You hire someone to fix the problem and subtract the cost from your next rent payment. Most states cap the deductible amount and require written notice first.
- Rent withholding. You stop paying, or pay a reduced amount, until the problem is addressed. Many jurisdictions require the withheld rent to be deposited into escrow to show good faith.
- Lease termination. If the conditions are severe enough that the unit is essentially unlivable, you may be able to move out and end the lease without penalty. This is sometimes called constructive eviction.
- Code enforcement complaint. You report the conditions to the local building or health department, which can inspect and order repairs. This also triggers anti-retaliation protections.
Before using any of these, document the problem with photos and written communication. Send the repair request in writing and keep proof the landlord received it. If the dispute lands in court, that paper trail is what the judge will look at.
Hide Known Hazards Like Lead Paint
Landlords are not free to stay silent about known dangers. For any housing built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to tell you about any known lead paint or lead hazards before you sign, hand over copies of any testing reports, and give you the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home.”3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property The lease has to include a lead warning statement, and the landlord has to keep signed copies of all disclosures for at least three years.4EPA. Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule Fact Sheet
The rule does not require landlords to test for lead. It only requires them to share what they already know. A landlord with no actual knowledge of lead hazards can say so on the form, but hiding known information or skipping the disclosure can draw penalties. Short-term leases of 100 days or fewer are generally exempt unless a child under six lives in the unit.
Many states layer on additional disclosure duties covering flood zone status, past bed bug infestations, mold, and certain environmental contamination. These vary widely, so ask directly about known problems and get the answers in writing.
Punish Domestic Violence Survivors
Under the Violence Against Women Act, landlords participating in federally assisted housing programs cannot evict a tenant or deny an applicant because the person is a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 12491 – Housing Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking An incident of violence against the tenant cannot be treated as a lease violation by the victim, and it cannot be used to terminate the victim’s housing assistance.
Many states extend similar protections to the private rental market, and some give survivors the right to break a lease early or request a lock change without penalty. The point of these laws is simple: your housing is not supposed to be held hostage to someone else’s behavior.