Landlord and Tenant Law - United States Compared to North America

United States: Landlord and tenant laws

The amount of control the landlord has over his property, measured on a five-point rating scale:

• Strongly Pro-landlord = 2
• Pro-landlord = 1
• Neutral = 0
• Pro-tenant = -1
• Strongly Pro-tenant= -2

We look at factors such as the following:

• Can rents be freely agreed between landlord and tenant?
• Can the landlord collect security and rental deposits, and are the amounts limited?
• Must contracts be for specified periods? Can either landlord or tenant terminate early, and what are the penalties for early termination? Does the tenant have a right to extend?
• Does the court system work? How long can it take to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent?

For fuller details see the Data FAQ. The resulting rating is the Global Property Guide's view, and not necessarily that of the contributing law firm (in cases where we have asked law firms for contributions and input).

Source: Global Property Guide Research, Contributing Law Firms

USA has excellent house price statistics. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) produces quarterly and monthly house price indices for all 51 states. Standard and Poor's also provides a monthly home price index, composite of 10 cities. Quarterly median prices, affordability index, house sales and construction activities are from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Rent statistics are from the US Census Bureau.

Excellent economics statistics are from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of Labor Statistics.