Disclaimer: This post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you or someone you know is facing a landlord-tenant dispute, consult a licensed Tennessee attorney immediately.
Tennessee has a new law that changes what a landlord can and cannot put in a residential lease. Public Chapter 606, which Governor Bill Lee signed on March 26, 2026, bars a landlord from prohibiting a residential tenant from lawfully possessing, carrying, transporting, or storing a firearm on the leased property. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027, and it applies to lease agreements that are entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after that date, so the practical impact will roll out lease by lease as new agreements are signed and old ones come up for renewal.
For landlords who have relied on a standard “no firearms” clause, this is a direct change to how those leases can be written going forward. For tenants who own a firearm and rent their home, it settles a question that used to depend entirely on what a lease happened to say. The law does not answer every situation cleanly, and it carves out real exceptions and real limits that both sides need to understand before the effective date arrives.
Freeman & Fuson
handles landlord-tenant matters for both landlords and tenants across Middle Tennessee, so the goal here is not to argue for one side. It is to explain what the statute actually does. Here is what the law says, what it lets landlords keep controlling, where it does not apply, and what happens if a landlord ignores it.
What Public Chapter 606 actually requires
The new law is codified in two places in the Tennessee Code. One provision, T.C.A. § 66-7-113, sits in the general chapter on leases. A parallel provision, T.C.A. § 66-28-206, sits inside the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which governs residential rentals in the more populated Tennessee counties. The two sections use nearly identical language, and the effect is the same either way.
Under both sections, a landlord cannot prohibit a residential tenant from lawfully possessing, carrying, transporting, or storing a firearm, any part of a firearm, or firearm ammunition in three places. The first is within the tenant’s own dwelling unit or leased residential premises. The second is in a vehicle located in a parking area that the landlord provides for tenants. The third is in other locations the landlord controls, but only to the extent necessary to directly enter or exit the tenant’s residence or the tenant’s vehicle in the provided parking area.
The word “lawfully” is doing important work in that sentence. The law protects possession that is already legal. It does not give a tenant who is otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm, such as a person barred by a prior felony conviction, any new right to have one. It also does not touch other firearm laws that apply everywhere in the state, including the rules on where firearms may be carried and by whom.
What this means if you are a tenant
If you legally own a firearm and you sign or renew a residential lease on or after January 1, 2027, a landlord cannot use the lease to bar you from keeping that firearm in your home, storing it in your vehicle in the tenant parking area, or carrying it through the space you have to pass through to get from your car to your door. A lease clause that tries to prohibit any of that conflicts with the statute. What the landlord can still regulate, described in the next section, is narrow and specific.
What landlords can still require
The law does not strip landlords of all control over how firearms move through shared spaces. It draws a line between banning firearms, which a landlord can no longer do, and setting reasonable rules for how a firearm is carried through common areas, which a landlord can still do.
Specifically, a landlord may require that a tenant transport a firearm between a vehicle and the tenant’s residence only while the firearm is concealed or holstered on the tenant, or stored within a carrying container. A landlord may also require that a tenant keep a firearm concealed, holstered, or stored within a carrying container while in other common areas, including an elevator or a shared hallway. These are rules about how the firearm is carried in shared space, not whether the tenant may possess it at all.
If a landlord adopts those rules and a tenant does not follow them, the statute spells out what the landlord can do. The landlord may request that the conduct stop or be brought into compliance, and the landlord may exercise other remedies that the lease or rental agreement expressly provides. There is one firm limit on those remedies. They cannot be used to prohibit the tenant from lawfully possessing a firearm inside the tenant’s own residence. In other words, a landlord can enforce a concealed-carry-through-the-hallway rule, but cannot turn a violation of that rule into a backdoor ban on the tenant owning a firearm at all.
Where the law does not apply
Public Chapter 606 is limited to residential leases and residential tenants, and it lists several categories of property that fall outside its reach. A landlord in one of these settings is not covered by the new prohibition. The exceptions are:
- Any premises leased to a state agency or department.
- A facility or entity that is licensed, regulated, or contracted with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services or the Department of Children’s Services.
- A hospital licensed under Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2, including the buildings, structures, and grounds that are part of the hospital’s licensed campus.
- A nursing home, home for the aged, adult care home, assisted care living facility, or memory care facility licensed under Title 68, Chapter 11.
- Certain independent living facilities, with respect to a dwelling unit that opens directly into an interior corridor or common area serving as a way in or out of one of the care facilities listed above.
- Educational property that is subject to T.C.A. § 39-17-1309, the statute that governs firearms on school property.
These exceptions matter because they define the outer edge of the law. A tenant in a standard apartment complex or rental house is squarely inside the new protection. A resident of a licensed nursing home or an assisted living facility is not, because the legislature left those settings to the rules that already govern them.
What happens if a landlord violates the law
The statute does more than state a rule. It gives tenants a way to enforce it. A tenant who is adversely affected by a violation may bring a lawsuit against the landlord for declaratory and injunctive relief, actual damages, punitive damages, and recovery of attorney fees.
Each of those remedies does something different. Declaratory and injunctive relief is a court order that establishes the tenant’s rights and, where appropriate, orders the landlord to stop the offending conduct. Actual damages compensate the tenant for a real loss caused by the violation. Punitive damages are an additional award that a court can impose to punish conduct it finds egregious, above and beyond the tenant’s actual loss. The recovery of attorney fees is significant on its own, because the prospect of paying the tenant’s legal bill changes the math for a landlord deciding whether to keep an unlawful clause in place.
The law also protects landlords who follow it. It states that civil liability does not arise for a landlord solely from complying with this section. A landlord who removes a firearm ban to comply with the statute is not exposed to a lawsuit simply for having done so.
What this means if you are a landlord
If you own or manage residential rental property in Tennessee, the leases you use will need a look before the January 1, 2027 effective date. A blanket “no firearms” clause is no longer enforceable against a covered tenant once the law applies to that lease, and leaving one in a lease that is signed or renewed after the effective date creates exposure to the exact remedies described above, including the tenant’s attorney fees. The workable path is to remove the prohibition and, if you want to manage firearms in common areas, replace it with the concealed-carry and carrying-container rules the statute expressly permits.
The timing, and why it matters now
The effective date is January 1, 2027, and the law applies to agreements entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after that date, along with rules or regulations adopted or amended on or after that date. That structure means the change does not reach backward to void every existing lease on day one. It attaches to each lease as that lease is newly signed, amended, extended, or renewed once the law is in effect.
For most landlords and property managers, that makes the second half of 2026 the window to update lease templates, house rules, and any handbook language so that the versions going out for 2027 renewals are already compliant. For tenants, it means that the protection becomes real for your household at the point you sign or renew a lease on or after the effective date.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tennessee’s Landlord Firearm Law
Can a landlord in Tennessee ban guns in a lease?
Starting January 1, 2027, a landlord cannot use a residential lease to prohibit a tenant from lawfully possessing, carrying, transporting, or storing a firearm in the tenant’s home, in a vehicle in the tenant parking area, or in the space needed to enter and exit those locations, under T.C.A. § 66-7-113 and § 66-28-206. The law applies to leases entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after that date.
Does the new law apply to leases signed before 2027?
The law applies to agreements entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027. A lease that predates the effective date and is not amended, extended, or renewed is not automatically rewritten by the statute, but a covered “no firearms” clause becomes unenforceable once that lease is signed or renewed under the new law. Landlords generally use the run-up to the effective date to update their templates so that new and renewing leases comply.
Can a landlord still make rules about carrying a firearm in hallways or elevators?
Yes. The statute allows a landlord to require that a tenant transport a firearm between a vehicle and the residence only while it is concealed, holstered, or stored in a carrying container, and to require the same while a tenant is in common areas such as elevators and shared hallways. What a landlord cannot do is use a violation of those rules to prohibit the tenant from possessing a firearm inside the tenant’s own residence.
What kinds of properties are exempt from the law?
The law does not apply to premises leased to a state agency or department, facilities licensed or contracted with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services or the Department of Children’s Services, hospitals licensed under Title 68, certain nursing homes and assisted living and memory care facilities, certain independent living facilities, and educational property subject to T.C.A. § 39-17-1309.
What can a tenant do if a landlord violates the law?
A tenant who is adversely affected by a violation may sue the landlord for declaratory and injunctive relief, actual damages, punitive damages, and recovery of attorney fees under T.C.A. § 66-7-113(d) and § 66-28-206(d). The availability of attorney fees means a tenant may be able to pursue the claim without absorbing the full cost of the litigation.
Does the law let anyone keep a gun in a rental regardless of their record?
No. The law protects lawful possession only. A tenant who is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm, such as a person barred by a prior felony conviction under Tennessee or federal law, gains no new right under this statute. It also does not override other Tennessee and federal firearm laws that apply everywhere.
The Stakes for Both Sides Are Real
For a landlord, a lease clause that used to be routine can become a liability once this law is in effect, and the presence of attorney fees in the statute means a single overlooked “no firearms” provision can turn into a claim that costs far more than the clause was ever worth. For a tenant, the law creates a concrete right and a concrete way to enforce it, but the exceptions and the common-area rules mean the answer in a specific building is not always obvious from the headline. Whether you are drafting leases for a portfolio of rental units or you are a tenant who believes a landlord is violating your rights, the details of your lease and your property type will drive the outcome, and those details are worth reviewing with an attorney before the effective date rather than after a dispute has started.
Mark T. Freeman and
Nick Schulenberg are attorneys at Freeman & Fuson in Nashville, Tennessee, handling
landlord-tenant and lease disputes for both landlords and tenants across Middle Tennessee. If you need to review or update a lease before the new firearm law takes effect, or you believe your rights under it have been violated, call our office at (615) 298-7272.
This article is intended for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Every situation is different. Please consult an attorney regarding your specific circumstances.
