Utah Rental Lease Agreements

The Utah rental agreements are real estate contracts between the landlord who oversees the property and a tenant who wants to use it in exchange for regular rent payments. These documents contain other terms and conditions associated with the use of the property and must follow Utah’s landlord-tenant law.

Utah Required Lease Disclosures

• Landlord’s Name & Address (required for all) – Utah requires landlords to provide their contact information (or the contact for an authorized agent) in the lease so demands and notices can be properly delivered.
• Move-In Checklist (required for all) – Utah landlords are required to provide a move-in checklist that outlines the current condition of the home so that the security deposit may be recovered appropriately upon move-out.
• Methamphetamine Contamination Disclosure (required for some) – If the Utah landlord has any knowledge of potential methamphetamine contamination, they must disclose this information and withhold from leasing the unit until remediation occurs to protect tenants from exposure.
• Lead Based Paint Disclosure (required for some) – If the rental unit resides in a building built prior to 1978, the landlord must provide a lead based paint disclosure in the Utah lease agreement alongside an informational pamphlet and disclosure of any known hazards to limit the chances of lead paint toxicity affecting a new tenant.

To learn more about required disclosures in Utah, click here.

Utah Landlord Tenant Laws

• Warranty of Habitability – Utah landlords are required to provide the following to all tenants: in-unit heating/cooling, plumbing, electric outlets, clean common areas, and more. They must also provide essential and non-essential repairs within 3 and 10 days, respectively. If these duties are not met, an effected tenant may abate rent or seek a repair and deduct action.
• Evictions – A Utah tenant is entitled to a 3-day notice if they are being evicted for non-payment of rent, violating a lease term, or committing a crime. As such, most evictions in Utah are completed in just a couple of days.
• Security Deposits – Utah does not maintain a standard limit for security deposits. It does maintain a standard for returning security deposits, however (30 days after lease termination).
• Lease Termination – Month-to-month renters in Utah only need to provide 15 days of notice to legally break off their lease. Meanwhile, fixed-term renters will need to supply proof of one of the following exceptions to terminate their lease prematurely: active military duty, landlord harassment, unit uninhabitability, or domestic violence.
• Rent Increases & Fees – In Utah, a landlord may raise their tenants’ rent rates at will and by as much as they see fit. They are additionally not required to provide notice of these increases. This same type of freedom extends to most service fees, which are not caped by the state. Only returned check fees are limited in this way ($30).
• Landlord Entry – By default, all Utah landlords must provide 24 hours of notice when they intend to enter a tenant’s unit. This standard may not apply when the landlord is showing the unit or is entering to warn of an emergency situation.
• Settling Legal Disputes – Utah’s small claims courts accept a fair number of cases arising between landlords and tenants. While this does not include eviction cases, it does include most other disputes valued at up to $10,000.

To learn more about landlord tenant laws in Utah, click here.