In general, a landlord in North Carolina has to repair any issues at a rental property that could affect a tenant’s health or safety. The landlord must repair issues within a “reasonable time” of getting written notice from the tenant about the needed repairs.
North Carolina Landlord Responsibilities for Repairs
North Carolina landlords are responsible for keeping all of the following in good working condition:
- Plumbing and sanitary facilities.
- Required utilities.
- Heating.
- Potable water.
- Properly closing and locking outside doors and ground-level windows.
- Flooring, steps, ceilings, roofs, chimneys, and flues.
- Required smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors.
- Provided appliances.
- Common areas.
- Features that affect health, safety, or habitability.
If any of the above stops working properly, and the tenant isn’t at fault for the damage, the landlord is the one responsible for making the repairs necessary to fix it.
What Repairs Are Tenants Responsible for in North Carolina?
North Carolina tenants are responsible for repairing any damage they cause to the property which affects health and safety.
Once the rental agreement is underway, the landlord and tenant can negotiate an agreement for the tenant to make specific repairs on the landlord’s behalf. The tenant must be compensated for any repairs done, and it can’t be a requirement of continuing the rental.
Requesting Repairs in North Carolina
North Carolina tenants must usually request repairs by providing the landlord notice about the issue that needs repair. Issues that affect utilities or appliances require written notice, unless there’s an emergency. Other issues only require the landlord’s actual knowledge, but written notice is often important for proving actual knowledge.
How Long Does a Landlord Have To Make Repairs in North Carolina?
North Carolina landlords have a “reasonable time” to make repairs after getting notice about an issue from the tenant. What’s reasonable is judged by all applicable circumstances.
Can the Landlord Refuse To Make Repairs in North Carolina?
North Carolina landlords cannot refuse to make repairs that are their responsibility. However, refusal to repair does not excuse the renter failing to keep the terms of the rental agreement. For example, a landlord who fails to repair can still evict for the tenant’s failure to pay rent.
Do Landlords Have To Pay for Alternative Accommodation During Repairs in North Carolina?
North Carolina landlords are not required to pay for alternative accommodation while they conduct repairs. However, a situation that requires the tenant to move out for repairs may be a constructive eviction that lets the tenant end the lease and stop paying rent after moving out.
Tenant’s Rights if Repairs Aren’t Made in North Carolina
North Carolina tenants can sue for a rent abatement or get an injunction to force repairs. In severe cases that substantially prevent the intended use of the rental property, the tenant can claim constructive eviction, move out, and end the lease.
Can the Tenant Withhold Rent in North Carolina?
North Carolina tenants are not allowed to unilaterally withhold rent. The tenant must have a court order to withhold payments. Getting back a portion of rent paid by suing the landlord, called rent abatement, is the primary remedy for North Carolina tenants when the landlord doesn’t do timely repairs.
Can the Tenant Repair and Deduct in North Carolina?
North Carolina tenants are not allowed to arrange for repairs and deduct from the rent.
Can the Tenant Break Their Lease in North Carolina?
North Carolina tenants can break their lease in cases of constructive eviction by moving out after a severe interference that substantially prevents the intended use of the rental property.
Tenants can also stop further rent payments and move out immediately when the property suffers more than one year’s rent worth of damage, provided they meet all the following conditions:
- The lease doesn’t prohibit the use of this remedy.
- The lease doesn’t specify what to do about repairs in the case of this type of damage.
- The damage wasn’t the tenant’s fault.
- The tenant pays all rent owed up to the date of damage.
- The tenant gives the landlord written notice of the intention to move out, within 10 days of the damage occurring.
Can the Tenant Sue in North Carolina?
North Carolina tenants can sue to force repairs or recover a rent abatement (refund), when the landlord doesn’t make timely repairs after proper notice.
Can the Tenant Report the Landlord in North Carolina?
North Carolina tenants can report landlords for code violations that affect health or safety. Tenants should usually report to the local inspections or code enforcement department. If an inspecting officer finds a violation, the tenant could sue to force repairs or recover a rent abatement (refund).
Landlord Retaliation in North Carolina
It’s illegal for North Carolina landlords to retaliate by attempting eviction against tenants. Tenants get protection when they’ve taken one of the following actions (or benefited from the government giving a citation against the landlord) in the past 12 months:
- Good-faith complaints to the landlord or the government about failure to keep the property up to required standards.
- Participating in a tenant organization.
- Pursuing rights or remedies given by the law or lease.
The law allows exceptions for landlords who have a good-faith reason to evict that isn’t retaliatory. For example, if the landlord shows that the tenant stopped paying rent without legal permission, the landlord can still evict.
Sources
- 1 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(a)(8) (2022)
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“The landlord shall… Within a reasonable period of time based upon the severity of the condition, repair or remedy any imminently dangerous condition on the premises after acquiring actual knowledge or receiving notice of the condition. Notwithstanding the landlord’s repair or remedy of any imminently dangerous condition, the landlord may recover from the tenant the actual and reasonable costs of repairs that are the fault of the tenant.”
Source Link - 2 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(a)(1) - (a)(4) (2022)
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“The landlord shall: (1) Comply with the current applicable building and housing codes, whether enacted before or after October 1, 1977, to the extent required by the operation of such codes; no new requirement is imposed by this subdivision (a)(1) if a structure is exempt from a current building code. (1a) Comply with all applicable elevator safety requirements in G.S. 143-143.7. (2) Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition. (3) Keep all common areas of the premises in safe condition. (4) Maintain in good and safe working order and promptly repair all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and other facilities and appliances supplied or required to be supplied by the landlord provided that notification of needed repairs is made to the landlord in writing by the tenant, except in emergency situations.”
Source Link - 3 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(a)(8)(a) - (a)(8)(l) (2022)
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“For purposes of this subdivision, the term ‘imminently dangerous condition’ means any of the following: a. Unsafe wiring. b. Unsafe flooring or steps. c. Unsafe ceilings or roofs. d. Unsafe chimneys or flues. e. Lack of potable water. f. Lack of operable locks on all doors leading to the outside. g. Broken windows or lack of operable locks on all windows on the ground level. h. Lack of operable heating facilities capable of heating living areas to 65 degrees Fahrenheit when it is 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside from November 1 through March 31. i. Lack of an operable toilet. j. Lack of an operable bathtub or shower. k. Rat infestation as a result of defects in the structure that make the premises not impervious to rodents. l. Excessive standing water, sewage, or flooding problems caused by plumbing leaks or inadequate drainage that contribute to mosquito infestation or mold.”
Source Link - 4 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(a)(5) (2022)
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“The landlord shall… Provide operable smoke alarms, either battery-operated or electrical, having an Underwriters’ Laboratories, Inc., listing or other equivalent national testing laboratory approval, and install the smoke alarms in accordance with either the standards of the National Fire Protection Association or the minimum protection designated in the manufacturer’s instructions, which the landlord shall retain or provide as proof of compliance. The landlord shall replace or repair the smoke alarms within 15 days of receipt of notification if the landlord is notified of needed replacement or repairs in writing by the tenant. The landlord shall ensure that a smoke alarm is operable and in good repair at the beginning of each tenancy. Unless the landlord and the tenant have a written agreement to the contrary, the landlord shall place new batteries in a battery-operated smoke alarm at the beginning of a tenancy and the tenant shall replace the batteries as needed during the tenancy, except where the smoke alarm is a tamper-resistant, 10-year lithium battery smoke alarm as required by subdivision (5a) of this subsection. Failure of the tenant to replace the batteries as needed shall not be considered as negligence on the part of the tenant or the landlord.”
Source Link - 5 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(a)(7) (2022)
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“The landlord shall… Provide a minimum of one operable carbon monoxide alarm per rental unit per level, either battery-operated or electrical, that is listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory… and install the carbon monoxide alarms in accordance with either the standards of the National Fire Protection Association or the minimum protection designated in the manufacturer’s instructions, which the landlord shall retain or provide as proof of compliance. A landlord that installs one carbon monoxide alarm per rental unit per level shall be deemed to be in compliance with standards under this subdivision covering the location and number of alarms. The landlord shall replace or repair the carbon monoxide alarms within 15 days of receipt of notification if the landlord is notified of needed replacement or repairs in writing by the tenant. The landlord shall ensure that a carbon monoxide alarm is operable and in good repair at the beginning of each tenancy. Unless the landlord and the tenant have a written agreement to the contrary, the landlord shall place new batteries in a battery-operated carbon monoxide alarm at the beginning of a tenancy, and the tenant shall replace the batteries as needed during the tenancy. Failure of the tenant to replace the batteries as needed shall not be considered as negligence on the part of the tenant or the landlord…”
Source Link - 6 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-43(a)(1) - (a)(5) (2022)
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“The tenant shall: (1) Keep that part of the premises that the tenant occupies and uses as clean and safe as the conditions of the premises permit and cause no unsafe or unsanitary conditions in the common areas and remainder of the premises that the tenant uses. (2) Dispose of all ashes, rubbish, garbage, and other waste in a clean and safe manner. (3) Keep all plumbing fixtures in the dwelling unit or used by the tenant as clean as their condition permits. (4) Not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, or remove any part of the premises, nor render inoperable the smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm provided by the landlord, or knowingly permit any person to do so. (5) Comply with any and all obligations imposed upon the tenant by current applicable building and housing codes.”
Source Link - 7 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(b) (2022)
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“Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, the landlord and tenant are not prohibited from making a subsequent written contract wherein the tenant agrees to perform specified work on the premises, provided that said contract is supported by adequate consideration other than the letting of the premises and is not made with the purpose or effect of evading the landlord’s obligations under this Article.”
Source Link - 8 Cotton v. Stanley, 86 N.C. App. 534, 537 (N.C. Ct. App. 1987) (internal citations omitted)
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“Tenants may bring an action for breach of the implied warranty of habitability, seeking rent abatement, based on their landlord’s noncompliance with N.C.G.S. Sec. 42-42(a). The rent abatement is calculated as the difference between the fair rental value of the premises if as warranted (i.e., in full compliance with N.C.G.S. 42-42(a)) and the fair rental value of the premises in their unfit condition (‘as is’) plus any special and consequential damages alleged and proved.” Cotton v. Stanley, 86 N.C. App. 534, 537 (N.C. Ct. App. 1987) (internal citations omitted) See also Miller v. C. W. Myers Trading Post, Inc., 85 N.C. App. 362, 368 (N.C. Ct. App. 1987) (“[T]enants are prohibited from unilaterally withholding rent prior to a ‘judicial determination’ of the right to do so, G.S. Sec. 42-44 (c). We construe these provisions to provide an affirmative cause of action to a tenant for recovery of rent paid based on the landlord’s noncompliance with G.S. 42-42 (a).”)
Source Link - 9 Marina Food Assoc. v. Marina Restaurant, Inc., 100 N.C. App. 82, 92 (N.C. Ct. App. 1990) (internal citations omitted)
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“An act of a landlord which deprives his tenant of that beneficial enjoyment of the premises to which he is entitled under his lease, causing the tenant to abandon them, amounts to a constructive eviction. Put another way, when a landlord breaches a duty under the lease which renders the premises untenable, such conduct constitutes constructive eviction. Furthermore, a lease includes the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment. Where a lessee has been constructively evicted, the covenant of quiet enjoyment has also been breached.”
Source Link - 10 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-44(a) (2022)
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“Any right or obligation declared by this Chapter is enforceable by civil action, in addition to other remedies of law and in equity.”
Source Link - 11 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-12 (2022)
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“If a demised house, or other building, is destroyed during the term, or so much damaged that it cannot be made reasonably fit for the purpose for which it was hired, except at an expense exceeding one year’s rent of the premises, and the damage or destruction occur without negligence on the part of the lessee or his agents or servants, and there is no agreement in the lease respecting repairs, or providing for such a case, and the use of the house damaged or destroyed was the main inducement to the hiring, the lessee may surrender his estate in the demised premises by a writing to that effect delivered or tendered to the landlord within 10 days from the damage or destruction, and by paying or tendering at the same time all rent in arrear, and a part of the rent growing due at the time of the damage or destruction, proportionate to the time between the last period of payment and the occurrence of the damage or destruction, and the lessee shall be thenceforth discharged from all rent accruing afterwards; but not from any other agreement in the lease. This section shall not apply if a contrary intention appear from the lease.”
Source Link - 12 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.1(a) (2022)
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“It is the public policy of the State of North Carolina to protect tenants and other persons whose residence in the household is explicitly or implicitly known to the landlord, who seek to exercise their rights to decent, safe, and sanitary housing. Therefore, the following activities of such persons are protected by law: (1) A good faith complaint or request for repairs to the landlord, his employee, or his agent about conditions or defects in the premises that the landlord is obligated to repair under G.S. 42-42; (2) A good faith complaint to a government agency about a landlord’s alleged violation of any health or safety law, or any regulation, code, ordinance, or State or federal law that regulates premises used for dwelling purposes; (3) A government authority’s issuance of a formal complaint to a landlord concerning premises rented by a tenant; (4) A good faith attempt to exercise, secure or enforce any rights existing under a valid lease or rental agreement or under State or federal law; or (5) A good faith attempt to organize, join, or become otherwise involved with, any organization promoting or enforcing tenants’ rights.”
Source Link - 13 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.1(b) (2022)
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“In an action for summary ejectment pursuant to G.S. 42-26, a tenant may raise the affirmative defense of retaliatory eviction and may present evidence that the landlord’s action is substantially in response to the occurrence within 12 months of the filing of such action of one or more of the protected acts described in subsection (a) of this section.”
Source Link - 14 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.1(c) (2022)
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“Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b) of this section, a landlord may prevail in an action for summary ejectment if: (1) The tenant breached the covenant to pay rent or any other substantial covenant of the lease for which the tenant may be evicted, and such breach is the reason for the eviction; or (2) In a case of a tenancy for a definite period of time where the tenant has no option to renew the lease, the tenant holds over after expiration of the term; or (3) The violation of G.S. 42-42 complained of was caused primarily by the willful or negligent conduct of the tenant, member of the tenant’s household, or their guests or invitees; or (4) Compliance with the applicable building or housing code requires demolition or major alteration or remodeling that cannot be accomplished without completely displacing the tenant’s household; or (5) The landlord seeks to recover possession on the basis of a good faith notice to quit the premises, which notice was delivered prior to the occurrence of any of the activities protected by subsections (a) and (b) of this section; or (6) The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession at the end of the tenant’s term for use as the landlord’s own abode, to demolish or make major alterations or remodeling of the dwelling unit in a manner that requires the complete displacement of the tenant’s household, or to terminate for at least six months the use of the property as a rental dwelling unit.”
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