In a rental, the landlord pays for anything that keeps the home safe and livable—structure, plumbing, electrical, heat, and serious health hazards—while the tenant pays for damage they or their guests cause and for small upkeep like light bulbs and filters. Everything else, from lawn care to appliance repairs, is whatever the lease says it is. That’s the short answer to who pays for rental property maintenance, and most disputes come from the edges of those three categories rather than the categories themselves.
What the Landlord Has To Pay For
Every state imposes some version of the implied warranty of habitability. It forces landlords to keep rental properties fit for human occupancy, and it overrides any lease language that tries to push those duties onto the tenant.
The warranty covers the building’s bones. Roofs, walls, windows, floors, and foundations must be structurally sound and weatherproof. Plumbing, electrical, gas, heating, and in most jurisdictions air conditioning have to work. When a furnace dies in January or a sewer line backs up, the landlord pays. Replacing a central HVAC system can run from $5,000 to well over $12,000, and a major plumbing overhaul can rival that, but cost doesn’t change the obligation.
The standard also reaches health and safety. Landlords must keep the property free of serious hazards like toxic mold, vermin, and lead-based paint contamination. They have to provide running hot and cold water, maintain sanitary common areas in multi-unit buildings, and make sure smoke detectors and locks work. For units built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to disclose any known lead-based paint hazards before the lease is signed, give the tenant the EPA’s lead safety pamphlet, and attach a signed Lead Warning Statement to the lease.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
Landlords who ignore these duties face code-enforcement inspections, fines, and lawsuits in which courts can award tenants damages or allow rent reductions.
What the Tenant Has To Pay For
Tenants are responsible for keeping the interior clean, using fixtures for their intended purposes, and not trashing the place. That means taking out garbage, not pouring grease down drains, and keeping bathroom surfaces dry enough to discourage mold. If someone flushes something they shouldn’t and the toilet clogs, the tenant pays the plumber. The same goes for damage caused by guests or pets: a window broken during a party, a door frame chewed by a dog, carpet stained past cleaning.
Most leases also hand small maintenance tasks to the tenant. Replacing burned-out bulbs. Swapping smoke detector batteries. Changing HVAC filters on the manufacturer’s schedule, typically every one to three months depending on the filter and the household. These items are cheap, and they prevent bigger problems. A clogged filter forces the system to work harder and can trigger a breakdown the landlord ends up paying for, so staying on top of them helps both sides.
Normal Wear and Tear vs. Tenant Damage
This is where most arguments at move-out come from, so it’s worth being clear. Normal wear and tear is the gradual deterioration from ordinary living: faded paint, minor scuffs on hardwood, carpet worn thin along a hallway, a slightly loose door hinge. No one gets charged for those. Tenant damage goes further—holes punched in drywall, broken cabinet doors, burn marks on countertops, blinds ripped off the window. The practical test is whether a reasonable person would expect the condition after normal use for the length of the tenancy.
Assistance Animals
Under the Fair Housing Act, a landlord can’t charge pet deposits or pet fees for assistance animals, including emotional support animals.2HUD.gov. Assistance Animals That protection doesn’t cover property damage. If an assistance animal scratches hardwood or tears up carpet, the tenant is financially responsible the same way any tenant would be. The landlord simply can’t collect the money upfront as a deposit tied to the animal.
Who Pays for Pest Control
Pest control is one of the messier gray areas, and the answer usually depends on who brought the problem in. Most courts treat a unit infested with roaches, bed bugs, or rodents as uninhabitable, which puts extermination costs on the landlord, especially in multi-unit buildings where you can’t pinpoint which tenant is the source. In single-family rentals, landlords are more likely to hold the tenant responsible, particularly if the unit was pest-free at move-in.
Some states require tenants to report infestations within 24 to 48 hours of discovery. Reporting late can shift liability onto the tenant even in states where the landlord would otherwise pay. If a qualified exterminator ties the problem to the tenant’s habits, like stored food attracting rodents, the tenant pays regardless of property type. When the lease doesn’t address pest control, the habitability standard fills the gap, generally in the tenant’s favor.
What the Lease Decides
Anything that doesn’t affect basic habitability is negotiable, and the lease is where those negotiations land. Lawn mowing, snow removal, gutter cleaning, pool maintenance, and cosmetic upkeep can fall on either side. One landlord might hire a landscaping service to keep the yard pristine. Another might assign yard work to the tenant in exchange for slightly lower rent. If the lease is silent on a task, expect confusion—and in most cases, courts default to the landlord since the landlord owns the asset.
Appliances cause a lot of fights. When a lease includes a dishwasher, washer and dryer, or microwave, the landlord generally has to keep them working. Some leases, though, include an “as-is” clause for specific non-essential appliances, meaning the landlord provides them as a convenience with no obligation to repair or replace. This is more common in single-family rentals, and some states only allow it in that context. Read the lease before assuming the landlord will fix a broken garbage disposal; the answer may be in the appliance addendum.
How To Report a Maintenance Problem
The single most useful thing a tenant can do is put every maintenance request in writing. Phone calls and hallway conversations are fine as a heads-up, but they’re nearly useless as evidence if the situation escalates. If the landlord or property manager uses an online portal, submit there, because those systems timestamp everything automatically. For private landlords without a portal, email or text works. Whatever the method, describe the problem specifically (“water leaking from the ceiling in the bedroom near the light fixture” beats “there’s a leak”), include the date, and save a copy.
How quickly the landlord has to respond depends on severity. Emergencies that threaten safety or make the unit uninhabitable—burst pipes, gas leaks, total loss of heat in winter, sewage backups—generally require action within 24 to 48 hours. Non-emergency repairs like a dripping faucet or a sticky door get a longer window, typically 14 to 30 days depending on the jurisdiction. Give the landlord a fair chance within those timelines, because jumping to a legal remedy without proper notice can undermine the tenant’s position later.
What Tenants Can Do When Landlords Won’t Repair
Reporting a problem and hearing nothing back is frustrating, and tenants have legal tools beyond complaining louder. The specifics vary by state, and misusing any of these remedies can backfire, so it’s worth understanding the rules before acting.
Repair and Deduct
Roughly half of U.S. states let a tenant hire a professional, fix the problem, and deduct the cost from the next rent payment. The usual conditions: the defect must be serious enough to affect habitability, the tenant must give written notice, and the landlord must fail to act within the statutory waiting period (usually 14 to 30 days, shorter for emergencies). Most states cap the deduction at one month’s rent per incident, and some limit how often the remedy can be used, with twice per year being a common ceiling. Keep every receipt and a copy of the written notice. A missed procedural step can turn a valid repair-and-deduct into an eviction case for nonpayment of rent.
Rent Withholding and Escrow
Another set of states lets tenants withhold rent entirely when conditions are seriously uninhabitable: no heat, no running water, major structural hazards. The process typically requires written notice to the landlord describing the violation, and many jurisdictions require the tenant to deposit withheld rent into a separate bank account or court-supervised escrow rather than spending it. If the landlord sues for nonpayment, the tenant raises the habitability violation as a defense. Tenants in government-subsidized housing should contact their housing authority first, since program rules sometimes add requirements.
Anti-Retaliation Protections
Tenants sometimes hesitate to report problems because they fear payback: a sudden rent increase, a refused renewal, or an eviction filing. Every state with habitability protections also prohibits landlord retaliation against tenants who exercise their rights in good faith. The protection window varies, with six months from the date of the complaint being a common benchmark. The protection isn’t absolute. A landlord can still pursue eviction for legitimate reasons like nonpayment or lease violations, even during the protected period.
Security Deposits at Move-Out
Maintenance responsibilities come home to roost at the end of a lease, when the deposit comes back—or doesn’t. Landlords can deduct for damage beyond normal wear and tear, unpaid rent, and cleaning costs when the tenant leaves the unit significantly worse than move-in. They cannot deduct for routine wear: repainting walls that faded over a three-year tenancy, replacing carpet that’s simply worn out, or fixing an appliance that broke from age. Deductions must cover damage repair and restoration, not upgrades.
Nearly every state requires an itemized statement listing each deduction, the amount, and the reason. Return deadlines range from 14 to 60 days after the tenant moves out, with 21 to 30 days most common. Most states start the clock only after the tenant provides a forwarding address. A landlord who misses the deadline or fails to itemize may forfeit the right to keep any part of the deposit, and in some states owes the tenant penalties on top of the refund.
The best protection for both sides is a written move-in inspection. Walk the unit together before the tenant takes possession, photograph every room, and note existing damage on a signed checklist. That document is the baseline for measuring what, if anything, the tenant damaged during the tenancy. Without it, deposit disputes come down to conflicting memories, and those tend to favor whichever side has better documentation.