Know your rental rights in the US: four valuable facts to keep handy

My apartment was cold last week. So cold that I wore two sweaters to bed and still couldn’t get to sleep. I pulled myself out from under the useless duvet, looked at the temperature (using a shitty thermometer fridge magnet that I bought in a North Carolina airport for reasons that escape me now). It was 58F.

New York City housing law says that temperature is not OK. Between 1 October and 31 May, the temperature in your home must be at least 62F at night (that’s 10pm to 6am) and at least 68F during the day if the weather has fallen below 55F.

The experience got me wondering about housing laws across the US. I found this map from RentCafé showing which states have the best and worst laws for renters but I wondered how they made their calculations. They kindly sent me their full data behind the map (along with a note of caution that these were researched in 2018 – laws might have changed since then).

I’ve mapped four key things that US renters should know below. But their full spreadsheet has links to legal documents and details other rights too. It’s too valuable to keep to myself – I’ve uploaded a version of it here.

Heat is an essential service. I let my landlord know that I wouldn’t be paying rent for the days that I didn’t have heat. And hey presto! The issue was fixed quickly. If you live in New York City and are having landlord trouble, you can call 311.