Tennessee Month-to-Month Lease: 30 Days Before the Rent Date

By Steve Levine · Updated November 3, 2026

Short answer: In the 17 Tennessee counties covered by the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, a Tennessee month to month lease ends with written notice given at least 30 days before the periodic rental date named in the notice, by either side, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-512(b) as enacted in 2011’s HB 1760. Week-to-week tenancies need 10 days, and the rest of the state follows different rules.

Tennessee is split in two. Chapter 66-28, the state’s version of the uniform act, applies only in counties above a population threshold, so a renter in Nashville and a renter in a rural county can have very different rights on the same facts. The first question for any Tennessee month-to-month tenant is which side of that line you live on.

Tennessee month to month lease rules at a glance

Rule	Tennessee (URLTA counties)	Statute
Where the URLTA applies	Counties over 68,000 population (1970 or later census)	§ 66-28-102(a)
End a month-to-month tenancy	Written notice at least 30 days before the periodic rental date	§ 66-28-512(b)
End a week-to-week tenancy	Written notice at least 10 days before the termination date	§ 66-28-512(a)
Holdover	Possession, back rent, attorney’s fees; actual damages if willful	§ 66-28-512(c)
Rent increase, no lease	One month’s advance notice if you pay monthly (state booklet)	tn.gov URLTA booklet
Retaliatory rent increase or eviction	Prohibited after a repair complaint or use of URLTA remedies	§ 66-28-514(a)

A note on sources: the official Tennessee Code is published through a commercial host. The statute quotes here come from the legislature’s own text of HB 1760, which became Public Chapter 272 of 2011 and rewrote chapter 66-28, cross-checked against the state’s tenant booklets.

Does the URLTA cover your county?

Section 66-28-102(a) says the chapter “applies only in counties having a population of more than sixty-eight thousand (68,000), according to the 1970 federal census or any subsequent federal census.” The state’s renter booklet for those areas, published on tn.gov, lists 17 counties: Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson and Wilson.

If you rent anywhere else, the uniform act does not govern your tenancy. A separate state booklet for the other counties covers those rules and says a landlord must tell you ahead of time, in writing, before raising the rent. The rest of this guide focuses on the 17 URLTA counties.

How a month-to-month tenancy begins

Under the act’s definitions in § 66-28-104, a rental agreement includes “all agreements, written or oral,” so a handshake arrangement with monthly rent qualifies. Rent is payable at the start of each month unless otherwise agreed, under § 66-28-201(c), and that same subsection says rent is apportioned day to day only “upon agreement.”

When a lease ends and the landlord lets you stay, § 66-28-512(c) points to § 66-28-201(c) for the terms of continued occupancy. In practice, a landlord who keeps taking your monthly rent after the lease expires has usually created a monthly tenancy, but read your lease for an automatic renewal clause first. Our month-to-month vs fixed-term lease guide compares the two.

The 30-day notice and the rental date

Section 66-28-512(b) provides that “The landlord or the tenant may terminate a month-to-month tenancy by a written notice given to the other at least thirty (30) days prior to the periodic rental date specified in the notice.” Unlike states that let you pick any date, Tennessee’s URLTA ties the end of a monthly tenancy to a rental date, normally the day rent is due.

The notice must be written, and the period is the same for landlord and tenant. Chapter 66-28 does not lengthen it for long-term tenants or require the landlord to give a reason. The state booklet adds that a landlord cannot make you move for reasons that violate fair housing laws.

Week-to-week tenancies

If you pay weekly, § 66-28-512(a) requires written notice at least 10 days before the termination date specified in the notice. That is more than a full rent period, so a weekly tenant should expect at least a week and a half of warning.

Worked example: a Chattanooga apartment

Luis rents a one-bedroom in Chattanooga, in Hamilton County, for $1,200 a month, due on the 1st. He has been month-to-month since his lease ended in 2025. He wants to move to Memphis, with May 1, 2027 as the rental date his tenancy ends.

Under § 66-28-512(b), his written notice must be given at least 30 days before that rental date. Counting back from May 1, 2027 lands on April 1, 2027. Luis emails a signed letter and also hands a printed copy to the leasing office on March 29, keeping a photo. He owes April rent and nothing for May.

If the landlord wanted Luis out on May 1, the landlord would face the same April 1 deadline. A notice given April 10 would push the earliest end date to the next rental date, June 1. If Luis stayed past a valid end date without consent, § 66-28-512(c) would let the landlord sue for possession, back rent and reasonable attorney’s fees, plus any other damages the lease provides. Check your count with the notice deadline calculator.

Rent increases on a Tennessee month-to-month

Chapter 66-28, as rewritten by HB 1760, contains no section setting a rent increase notice period or a cap. The state’s URLTA booklet explains the practical rule: if you have no lease, the landlord can raise the rent but must tell you ahead of time, and if you pay by the month, “you must be told a month ahead of time.” If you have a lease, the booklet says the landlord cannot raise the rent until the lease ends.

That one-month warning lines up with the 30-day termination rule. A landlord who could end your tenancy at a rental date on 30 days’ notice can offer to continue it at a new rent from that date. You can accept, negotiate, or give your own 30-day notice. Try the rent increase checker on any notice you receive.

Retaliation limits

Under § 66-28-514(a), a landlord may not retaliate “by increasing rent or decreasing services or by bringing or threatening to bring an action for possession” because you complained to the landlord “of a violation under § 66-28-301” or because you “made use of remedies provided under this chapter.” Subsection (b) still allows an eviction if you caused the code violation, are behind on rent, or if compliance requires work that would keep you out of the unit. Our landlord retaliation guide explains how to build a timeline.

Holding over

Tennessee’s URLTA sets no rent multiplier for holdovers. Under § 66-28-512(c), the landlord’s baseline remedy is possession, back rent and reasonable attorney’s fees, plus lease damages. Only if the holdover “is willful and not in good faith” may the landlord also recover actual damages, such as a lost incoming tenant. At $1,200 a month, even a few extra weeks add up once fees are included.

Frequently Asked Questions

I rent in a small Tennessee county. Does the 30-day rule apply to me?

Section 66-28-512 is part of the URLTA, which § 66-28-102(a) limits to counties above the population threshold. If your county is not among the 17 listed in the state booklet, read the state’s booklet for other counties and contact legal aid about your notice period.

Can my Nashville landlord end my month-to-month tenancy mid-month?

Davidson County is covered by the URLTA, and § 66-28-512(b) runs the 30 days to “the periodic rental date specified in the notice.” A notice naming a mid-month date that is not a rental date does not fit the statute’s wording. See our Nashville tenant rights guide.

Does a weekly renter in Memphis get 7 days or 10?

Ten. Shelby County is a URLTA county, and § 66-28-512(a) requires written notice at least 10 days before the termination date in the notice.

Can I be charged double rent for staying a few days late?

The statute does not provide double rent. You can owe back rent for the time you stay, attorney’s fees, damages the lease provides, and actual damages if the holdover was willful and in bad faith.

What about my deposit?

Ending a monthly tenancy does not change the deposit rules. See our Tennessee security deposit law guide.

Your next step: confirm your county against the URLTA list, then circle the next rent due date that is at least 30 days away and deliver a dated written notice before the cutoff. For other states, see month-to-month lease laws by state. This guide is general information, not legal advice; for free help, use LSC’s get legal help page or HELP4TN.

Sources

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