Alabama

Alabama Landlord-Tenant Key Rules

Official Alabama Forms:

• Residential Lease Agreement

• Eviction Notice

• Rental Application

• Lease Termination Letter (for month-to-month lease)

• Rent Receipt

• Roommate Agreement

• Sublease Agreement

• Simple (Basic) Lease

• Short-Term (Vacation) Lease

• Lease Renewal Agreement

• Rent Increase Notice

• Lease Extension

• Lease Addendum

• Rent Invoice

Security Deposit:

• Security Deposit Maximum: 

• Security Deposit Interest: 

• Separate Security Deposit Bank Account: 

• Pet Deposits: 

• Non-Refundable Fees:

• Deadline for Returning Security Deposit: 

• Permitted Uses of the Deposit: 

• Require Written Description/Itemized List of Damages and Charges: 

• Record Keeping of Deposit Withholdings: 

• Receipt of Deposit: 

• Failure to Comply: 

Lease, Rent & Fees:

• Rent Is Due: 

• Rent Increase Notice: 

• Rent Grace Period: 

• Late Fees: 

• Prepaid Rent: 

• Returned Check Fees: 

• Tenant Allowed to Withhold Rent for Failure to Provide Essential Services (Water, Heat, etc.): 

• Tenant Allowed to Repair and Deduct Rent: 

• Landlord Allowed to Recover Court and Attorney Fees: 

• Landlord Must Make a Reasonable Attempt to Mitigate Damages to Lessee, including an Attempt to Rerent: 

• Abandonment/Early Termination Fee: 

Notices and Entry:

• Notice to Terminate Tenancy – Fixed End Date in Lease: 

• Notice to Terminate Tenancy – Month-to-Month Lease: 

• Notice to Terminate Tenancy – Week-to-Week Lease: 1

• Termination of Tenancy with 24 Hours Notice:

• Termination of Tenancy for Nonpayment of Utilities: 

• Notice of Date/Time of Move-Out Inspection: 

• Termination for Lease Violation: 

• Required Notice before Entry: 

• Entry Allowed with Notice for Maintenance and Repairs (non-emergency): 

• Entry Allowed with Notice for Showings: 

• Emergency Entry Allowed without Notice: 

• Entry Allowed During Tenant’s Extended Absence: 

• Notice to Tenants for Pesticide Use:  

• Lockouts Allowed: 

• Utility Shut-offs Allowed: 

Disclosures and Miscellaneous Notes:

• Name and Addresses: 

• Copy of the Lease: 

• Domestic Violence Situations: 

• Landlord’s Duties:

• • Repairs: Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition;
  • Common Areas: Keep all common areas of the unit clean and safe;
  • Maintenance: Maintain in good and safe working order all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning utilities, as well as other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied; and
  • Heat: Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times and reasonable heat between October 1 and May 1. Exceptions are cases in which the building that includes the dwelling unit is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose, or the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant.
  • Locks: If requested by tenant, provide and maintain locks and furnish keys adequate to ensure the safety of the tenant’s person and property.
  • Smoke Detectors: Provide smoke detection devices and carbon monoxide detection devices as required under §§ 18.70.095.
• Tenant’s Duties: 
  • Cleanliness: Keep the premises that the tenant lives in and uses as clean and safe as the condition of the unit permit;
  • Trash: Dispose of all garbage and other waste in a clean and safe manner;
  • Plumbing: Keep all plumbing fixtures in the unit or used by the tenant as clean as their condition permits;
  • Appliances: Use in a reasonable manner all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning utilities, as well as other facilities and appliances, including elevators in the premises;
  • Damage: Not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair, or remove a part of the unit or knowingly permit another person to do so;
  • Quiet Enjoyment: Conduct oneself and require other persons on the premises with tenant consent to conduct themselves in a manner that will not disturb neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment of the premises;
  • Smoke Detectors: Maintain smoke detection devices and carbon monoxide detection devices as required under {{Statute}}
  • Locks: Tenants cannot change the locks on the doors of a rental unit without obtaining an agreement from the landlord, in writing, first. The only exception is if there is and emergency and the landlord cannot be contacted; in that case, the tenant must notify the landlord that the locks were changed within five days. Immediately after changing the locks, the tenant must provide a set of keys to all the doors with changed locks to the doors to the landlord.
  • Municipal Fees for Police Response: The tenant may not engage in unreasonable conduct, or permit others on the premises to engage in similar conduct, that results in the imposition of a fee under a municipal ordinance adopted under: {{Statute}}
• Subleasing: Not allowed, unless otherwise agreed to in writing. {{Statute}}
• Retaliation: The landlord must not terminate or refuse to renew a lease to a tenant who has filed an official complaint to a Government Authority, or has been involved in a tenant’s organization. Other actions are prohibited. Read {{Statute}}for more information.
• Lead Disclosure: Landlords must disclose all known lead paint hazards. Landlords must also provide tenants, as an attachment to a written lease, with an information pamphlet on lead-based paint hazards.