Tennessee Mobile Home Park Rent Control: 2026 Guide

Is mobile home lot rent controlled in Tennessee?

Short answer: no. Tennessee places no cap on mobile-home lot rent. There is no statewide rent-control law, no percentage limit on how much you can raise lot rent, and no city or county in Tennessee is allowed to impose one. As a park operator you set lot rent by contract and market — the statute constrains how you raise it (notice and lease term), not how much.

Tennessee also has no dedicated mobile-home-park tenant statute. Unlike states with a manufactured-housing act, Tennessee governs lot tenancies through the written lease and common law, with the general landlord-tenant act (URLTA) reaching only the state's larger counties. That makes your lease the most important document you own.

The practical takeaway: increases are permitted and unlimited in amount, but they must wait until the current lease term ends (or a lease clause allows them) and must be delivered with proper written notice.

No rent cap and no percentage limit in Tennessee

Tennessee has enacted no ceiling — flat-dollar or percentage — on residential or mobile-home lot rent. Nothing in Tennessee law says an increase of 5%, 10%, or any figure is 'too much.' The amount is a matter of contract between the park and the resident.

Because there is no statutory cap, the enforceable limits on a lot-rent increase are the ones you agreed to: what the signed lease says about mid-term increases, and the notice/termination timing rules that apply when a term is ending or a tenancy is month-to-month. Get those two things right and the dollar amount is yours to set.

There is likewise no state-mandated cap on the frequency of increases. Frequency is again governed by the lease term — you generally cannot raise rent mid-term unless the lease authorizes it, but at renewal the amount is unrestricted.

Local rent control is prohibited — Tenn. Code §66-35-102

Even if a Tennessee city or county wanted to cap lot rent, it cannot. Tenn. Code Ann. §66-35-102(a) states: 'A local governmental unit shall not enact, maintain or enforce an ordinance or resolution that would have the effect of controlling the amount of rent charged for leasing private residential or commercial property.'

This is a statewide preemption. It means no municipality, county, or metro government in Tennessee can lawfully adopt rent control or a lot-rent freeze. A 2024 amendment (Public Chapter 1051) went further, also barring local governments from mandating below-market or 'inclusionary' rental set-asides.

For a multi-park operator, the benefit is uniformity: your rent-setting rules do not change from Nashville to a rural county. You will not encounter a local rent-stabilization ordinance layered on top of state law, because state law forbids one.

No mobile-home-park act; URLTA reaches only larger counties; 30-day notice

Tennessee has no comprehensive mobile-home-park or manufactured-housing tenancy act. The general statute — the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA), Tenn. Code Ann. §66-28-101 et seq. — applies only in the state's larger counties. Per §66-28-102: 'This chapter applies only in counties having a population of more than seventy-five thousand (75,000), according to the 2010 federal census.' In counties under that threshold, URLTA does not apply and the lease plus Tennessee common law govern the tenancy.

Where URLTA does apply, the key rent-adjustment mechanic is notice for a periodic tenancy. Under §66-28-512(b): 'The landlord or the tenant may terminate a month-to-month tenancy by a written notice given to the other at least thirty (30) days prior to the periodic rental date specified in the notice.' To raise rent on a month-to-month resident, the reliable path is to give at least 30 days' written notice tied to the rental date; a resident who does not accept the new rate is on notice the tenancy is ending. This is a notice rule, not a cap — the increase amount itself is unlimited.

Because coverage turns on county population and because non-URLTA counties fall back on the lease, you should treat the written lease as the controlling instrument everywhere in Tennessee and confirm URLTA coverage county-by-county before relying on its notice provisions.

Rent-increase rules at a glance in Tennessee

• Statewide cap
  None. Tennessee imposes no limit on the amount of a mobile-home lot-rent increase.
• Percentage limit
  None. No maximum percentage or dollar figure applies to increases.
• Local rent control
  Prohibited statewide under Tenn. Code §66-35-102(a) — no city or county may cap rent.
• Mobile-home-park act
  None. Tennessee has no dedicated manufactured-housing tenancy statute; the lease and common law govern.
• URLTA coverage
  Applies only in counties over 75,000 population (Tenn. Code §66-28-102); smaller counties fall back on the lease.
• Month-to-month notice
  At least 30 days' written notice to change or end a month-to-month tenancy where URLTA applies (§66-28-512(b)).
• Mid-term increases
  Not allowed unless the signed lease expressly permits them; otherwise wait until renewal.
• Frequency
  No statutory limit on how often rent may rise; controlled only by the lease term.

Operator best practices in Tennessee

• Make the lease do the work
  With no park act to fall back on, spell out renewal terms, increase timing, and notice in the written lease — it is your primary legal protection.
• Confirm URLTA coverage per county
  Check each park's county against the 75,000-population threshold (§66-28-102) so you know whether URLTA's notice rules or common law controls.
• Give clean written notice
  For month-to-month residents in URLTA counties, deliver at least 30 days' written notice tied to the rental date (§66-28-512(b)); document delivery.
• Don't raise rent mid-term
  Unless a lease clause authorizes it, hold increases until the term ends to avoid breach and unenforceable charges.
• Standardize increase notices across parks
  Local rent control is preempted (§66-35-102), so one compliant notice process can be used statewide — build it once and apply it everywhere.
• Keep the amount defensible by process, not ceiling
  There is no cap, so enforceability rests entirely on proper notice and lease authority — get the procedure right every time.
• Build a relationship with a Tennessee MHP attorney
  Because Tennessee has no mobile-home-park statute and URLTA coverage varies by county, retain local counsel to confirm which rules apply to each park.