Defending Retaliatory Evictions After Filing Tenant Complaints

The Statutory Presumption of Retaliation

Landlords are legally forbidden from using the court system as an instrument of punishment against tenants who exercise lawful rights. Under statutory tenant acts in over 40 states, an eviction filed within 90 to 180 days of protected activity is presumed by law to be retaliatory.

Protected Tenant Activities

• Filing a complaint with a municipal building, health, or fire inspection agency;
• Organizing or participating in a recognized tenant rights union or association;
• Exercising statutory repair-and-deduct or rent withholding rights;
• Requesting reasonable accommodations under the federal Fair Housing Act.

Once you establish that you engaged in protected activity and the landlord filed suit shortly thereafter, the legal burden shifts to the landlord to prove by clear and convincing evidence that they had a non-retaliatory motive.