2010 Tennessee Code
Title 68 - Health, Safety and Environmental Protection
Chapter 111 - Rented Premises Unfit For Habitation
68-111-104 - Inspection.

68-111-104. Inspection.

(a)  The building inspector or the county public health department to whom the complaint is directed shall, within fourteen (14) days of the filing of a complaint, make an inspection of the rented premises. If it is found that the unit is unfit for human habitation, as defined, the building inspector or county public health department shall notify the landlord of the premises or the landlord's agent of the violation found, in writing, by certified mail, and a copy shall be forwarded to the tenant. The notice, in addition to setting out the condition found, shall give the landlord of the premises thirty (30) days in which to correct the condition.

(b)  If at the expiration of the thirty-day period, as determined by an inspection of the premises by the building inspector or by the county public health department, which inspection shall be made within seven (7) days of the expiration of the period, the landlord of the premises has not corrected the condition, the tenant shall pay to the county clerk of the county in which the premises are located the rental payments that may become due from that date.

(c)  If the landlord of the premises has not corrected the condition at the expiration of six (6) months from the date of the first notice, as determined by an inspection of the premises by the building inspector or county public health department, which inspection shall be made within seven (7) days of the expiration of the period, the rental payments so made by the tenant to the county clerk shall, upon a certificate of noncompliance being filed with the county clerk by the building inspector or the county public health department, which certificate shall be filed within fourteen (14) days of the expiration of the period, a copy of which shall be forwarded by certified mail to the landlord or the landlord's agent, be forfeited by the landlord of the premises to the state for the use of the agency to whom the complaint was directed and the county clerk shall, at the expiration of the thirty-day period from the date the certificate of noncompliance is filed where no appeal has been had by the landlord as provided in this section, pay to the state for the use of the county agency to whom the complaint was directed, less all fees as provided in § 68-111-106, the rental payments so held.

(d)  If an appeal is filed by the landlord, the sums so held by the county clerk shall remain on deposit in the special account pending the final determination of the appeal.

(e)  If the landlord of the premises corrects the condition, as determined by an inspection of the premises by the building inspector or the county public health department, the county clerk shall, upon receiving a certificate of compliance from the building inspector or the county public health department, which certificate shall be filed within fourteen (14) days of the expiration of the period, return the rental payments so held to the landlord of the premises.

[Acts 1973, ch. 139, § 3; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 22, 36; T.C.A., §§ 53-5504, 68-40-104; Acts 2008, ch. 1027, §§ 4, 5.]