About RenterLaw

Tenant law is public. For most renters it might as well be hidden. It is spread across statutes, regulations, and government PDFs. It is written for lawyers. It is hardest to read at the exact moment you need it.

RenterLaw is a free guide to your rights as a renter. Guides are organized by city and by situation. Every claim links to the law it came from.

One standard holds the whole site together. Every statement cites a primary source: a statute, a regulation, or a government document. You can read what the law says, not what someone said about it.

What is on this site

City guides. Step by step guides for real situations: repairs, deposits, rent increases, eviction notices. Each one is written for a specific city and backed by the law that applies there. Browse by city.

Primary sources. Every statement cites the law it came from. The citation links straight to the source. There is no paywall.

Local help. Some problems need a person, not a page. Where we can, we list the legal aid groups, rent assistance programs, and city offices that help renters in that city.

Editorial guidance. A few statements are practical advice rather than law. Those are labeled. Read how we use that label.

Who we are

We are 2 people, both CMU alumni.

Nazanin built the site and runs it. She is a software engineer, and she designed the data model and the drafting pipeline.

Cameron Monteith is our reviewing editor. He reads every guide before it goes live and checks each statement against the source it cites.

We are not a law firm. We are not a legal aid organization. We are not a nonprofit. We are 2 people who think this information should be easier to find.

Why we use AI

Tenant law covers 50 states, the US territories, and thousands of cities. Most of it is state law. 2 people cannot read and write all of it by hand.

So we use software for the research and the first draft. It finds the law, reads it, and quotes it. The system will not save a quote unless those exact words appear in the source it came from. A made up citation cannot enter the site.

Then a person checks it. Cameron reads every draft and verifies every citation against its source. Nothing is published until he does.

The software reads at a scale we could not reach on our own. It does not decide what is true. A person still does that.

How to trust it

Every guide is built from primary sources: statutes, ordinances, and government publications. Every claim quotes and links the exact section it comes from. You can read the law yourself and check any statement.

Nothing is published without a citation.

We also re-check our sources over time. If a law changes and the words we quoted are gone, the guide is flagged for review.

What this site is not

This is not legal advice. If you are facing eviction, unsafe conditions, or any situation where your housing is at risk, contact a lawyer or your local legal aid organization. We can explain what the law says. We cannot tell you what to do in your situation.

Support the work

This site is free. There are no ads. It is paid for by people who find it useful. If that is you, here is how to help.