MBE Rules · Real Property
Retaliatory eviction
The rule
Most jurisdictions prohibit a landlord from evicting, refusing to renew, or raising rent on a residential tenant in retaliation for the tenant's good-faith exercise of legal rights (e.g., reporting code violations, joining a tenants' union, asserting habitability claims). A rebuttable presumption of retaliation typically arises when adverse action follows the protected activity within a statutory window (often 90–180 days).
In plain English
Even when the landlord could otherwise terminate a periodic tenancy at will, the law forbids doing so as punishment for a tenant who complained to authorities or exercised habitability rights.
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