Every Tenant's Legal Guide

Renters have many legal rights― learn yours and how to protect them!

The only book of its kind, Every Tenant’s Legal Guide gives you the legal and practical information you need (plus dozens of sample letters and forms) to find a great rental and landlord.

Learn your rights regarding pets, guests, deposits, and privacy―and find out how to:

• get repairs and use rent withholding or repair-and-deduct if you have to
• avoid disputes with roommates over rent, deposits, guests, and noise
• fight illegal discrimination, retaliation, or sexual harassment
• navigate state and local rent control laws
• deal with hazards like lead paint, mold, or bed bugs
• break a lease with minimum liability, and
• get your security deposit returned on time.

The 10th edition of Every Tenant’s Legal Guide includes charts with the details on landlord-tenant laws. This edition also includes information on how to research and handle pandemic-related issues such as eviction bans and lease amendments.

With downloadable forms: Includes move-in and move-out forms, and security deposit demand letter―available for download (details inside).

Nolo's Executive Editor, Janet Portman oversees editorial work on all Nolo books, articles, and websites. She specializes in residential and commercial landlord/tenant law, legal issues related to courts, and criminal law. She is the author or a coauthor of Every Landlord's Legal Guide, Every Landlord's Guide to Finding Great Tenants, First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting Out a Single-Family Home, Every Tenant's Legal Guide, Renters' Rights, Leases & Rental Agreements, The California Landlord's Law Book: Rights and Responsibilities, and California Tenants' Rights. Portman received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University and a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. Before joining Nolo in 1994, she practiced law as a public defender.

Ann O’Connell is a legal editor at Nolo specializing in landlord-tenant and real estate law. Before joining Nolo as an editor, Ann was a freelance writer for Nolo and other publications and law firms. She has passed the bar exams in California, Nevada, and Colorado, where she is both an active attorney and a real estate broker. Ann practiced civil litigation in California and Colorado, and had her own firm in Colorado. At her firm, she focused on real estate, landlord-tenant, and small business cases. Ann earned her B.A. from Boston College and her J.D. from UC Berkeley Law.