Find a Tenant Attorney or Free Legal Aid

Most of what RenterPlaybook covers is genuinely do-it-yourself: a demand letter, a properly served notice, a small claims filing. But some situations are not, and the honest signal that you have reached one is usually a court date, a lockout, or an amount of money large enough that being wrong is expensive.

Start with free legal aid, not with a paid attorney. Renter disputes are one of the areas where free civil legal services are strongest, and the organisations below handle evictions and deposit claims as their core work. If you have a court deadline, contact them today rather than reading further — deadlines in eviction cases run in days, not weeks.

When it is worth getting a lawyer

• You have been served with an eviction case. Answer deadlines are short — seven days in Georgia, and Arizona's special detainer moves faster still. This is the clearest case for same-day help.
• You have been locked out or had utilities cut off. Self-help removal is unlawful nearly everywhere, and the claims that follow are worth real money.
• Retaliation or discrimination. These turn on evidence and timing, and the statutes often shift attorney's fees to the losing landlord — which makes representation affordable.
• The sum exceeds your small claims ceiling. Below it, small claims is designed for you to handle alone. Above it, the calculus changes.
• Injury or serious habitability harm. Mould exposure, carbon monoxide, lead — these are personal-injury matters, not landlord-tenant ones, and are not DIY.

National resources

• Legal Services Corporation — Find Legal Aid ↗ free

  The federal starting point. Enter your location and it lists the LSC-funded legal aid office covering your county.

• ABA Free Legal Answers ↗ free

  Post a civil legal question and a volunteer attorney in your state answers it. Income limits apply; no charge.

By state

These are the states RenterPlaybook currently publishes guides for. If yours is not listed, use the Legal Services Corporation locator above — it covers every county in the country.

Before you call

Whoever you speak to will ask for the same things, and having them ready is the difference between a useful first call and a second appointment. Bring your lease, every written communication with the landlord, your payment record, dated photographs, and any court papers you have been served with — including the envelope, because the date of service often matters as much as the document.

Disclosure: some listings on this site may earn a referral fee if you hire an attorney through them. Every organisation on this page is a free legal aid provider or a bar association referral service, and none of them pays us anything. Listing here is not a recommendation of any individual lawyer, and nothing on this page creates an attorney–client relationship.