When the Heat Goes Out: What Tennessee Law Requires of a Shelby County Landlord

What the statute requires of the owner

Tennessee’s Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies only in counties with a population above 75,000 under the 2010 census (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102), a group that includes Shelby County. This article addresses Shelby County, Tennessee. If your rental is in Fayette County, Tennessee, confirm with an attorney whether the act reaches your county before relying on any of it.

Under § 66-28-304, a landlord must comply with building and housing codes that materially affect health and safety, make the repairs needed to keep the unit in fit and habitable condition, and keep common areas clean and safe. Where the code duty is broader than another duty in the section, the code sets the standard. A lease may hand specified repairs to the tenant, but only in writing, in good faith, and not as a way to dodge the landlord’s own obligations.

Heat is an essential service

The section that matters most in January is § 66-28-502. It treats utility services such as gas, heat and electricity, and other duties that materially affect health and safety, as essential services. If the landlord fails to supply them, the tenant gives written notice, and the tenant or someone on the premises with the tenant’s consent did not cause the problem, the tenant may choose one of three remedies: buy the service and deduct the reasonable cost from rent; stay and recover the drop in the unit’s fair rental value; or rent reasonable substitute housing, be excused from rent for that period, and recover the reasonable cost of the substitute. Attorney’s fees are recoverable under any of them, and choosing one bars the tenant from pursuing the others for the same breach.

Local reporting points the same way. FOX13 Memphis reported on June 30, 2026 that Tennessee law requires heat but sets no statewide cooling requirement, though Memphis code requires an owner to maintain air conditioning that already exists in a unit.

A repair request is not a dispute. It becomes one when nobody answers it.

What a dead furnace costs, in numbers

Take the rent first. Apartment List’s Memphis, TN rent report for November 2026, with data through October, puts the citywide median at $1,063, down 0.4% from a year earlier. That is a Memphis city figure across unit types, not a neighborhood or Shelby County-wide rent, but it works as an illustration. Suppose the heat fails in a cold snap and the tenant chooses substitute housing. Five nights at an assumed $110 a night is $550. Five days of excused rent at $1,063 a month is about $177. That is roughly $727 before attorney’s fees, and it ignores the larger cost: a tenant who has just spent a week in a hotel is a tenant who may not renew. Our breakdown of what a move-out really costs shows how fast a lost tenant outruns a service call. The hotel rate is an assumption for the example, not a quote.

The 14-day clock for everything else

Not every defect is an emergency. For a landlord’s failure to comply with the rental agreement or the act, § 66-28-501 lets a tenant who gives 14 days’ written notice seek damages, a court order, and reasonable attorney’s fees. If the agreement is terminated for the landlord’s noncompliance, the landlord must return prepaid rent and any security deposit the tenant can recover. For deposit mechanics, see our post on security deposit rules in Shelby and Fayette counties. The practical lesson is to acknowledge every repair request in writing the same day, give a date, and keep the paper trail.

Do not answer a complaint with a notice

Section 66-28-514 bars a landlord from retaliating by raising rent, reducing services, or filing or threatening a possession action after a tenant complains of a violation or uses a statutory remedy. The exceptions are narrow: damage the tenant mainly caused through lack of reasonable care, unpaid rent, or code work that would keep the tenant out of the unit. A non-renewal or rent increase that lands right after a repair complaint invites a fight, so decide renewal terms on a documented schedule and keep them separate from maintenance history. Our post on flat-rent renewals covers how to price one.

Getting in to fix it

Under § 66-28-403, a tenant may not unreasonably refuse entry for necessary repairs, and a landlord may enter without consent in a true emergency, meaning a sudden, generally unexpected situation that needs immediate action. The landlord may not abuse access or use it to harass. The section as published sets a 24-hour notice rule only for showing the unit at the end of a lease and no general notice period for repairs, so written notice and clear lease language are the safer practice.

When the city gets involved

A tenant who cannot get a response can call the city. Memphis Code Enforcement enforces the International Property Maintenance Code, adopted as Ordinance No. 5708, and handles minimum housing standards for existing dwellings; its page lists no heat among the emergency conditions tenants can report directly to the department. A good-faith complaint to the city is protected conduct under the retaliation rule above. Other Shelby County municipalities run their own code programs, so check which one covers your address.

Why the reserve matters now

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey released October 29, 2026 put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.24%, against 6.17% a year earlier. That is an owner-occupied benchmark, and investor loans price above it. With rents flat and money expensive, a bad repair month will not be rescued by rent growth. Keep a repair reserve and a vendor list for heating before the first freeze, and read our freeze-proofing plan for the rest of the winter checklist.

A winter-readiness checklist

• Service the heat now. Have the furnace or heat pump inspected before the first freeze, and record the date.
• Answer in writing the same day. Acknowledge each request, name a date, and keep the thread.
• Keep renewals separate. Set renewal and rent decisions on a schedule that does not track repair complaints.
• Put access terms in the lease. State how and when you enter, and use written notice anyway.

If you own a rental in Memphis or Germantown, TN and want a team that logs, dispatches and documents maintenance requests, we can walk through how that would work for your property. This is general information about Tennessee law, not legal advice, and the statute text above comes from Justia’s 2025 code, which notes it may not be the most current version. Verify against the official code or ask an attorney before acting.

Sources & further reading: Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102, § 304, § 403, § 501, § 502, § 514 (Justia, 2025 code); City of Memphis — Code Enforcement; FOX13 Memphis, June 30, 2026; Apartment List — Memphis, TN Rent Report, November 2026; Freddie Mac PMMS, released October 29, 2026. The $550 hotel cost is an assumption; the $727 total is Homefront’s illustrative arithmetic.