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Housing · Warranty of habitability

Warranty of Habitability in North Dakota

What a landlord in North Dakota must keep livable, and your remedy when they do not: whether you can withhold or escrow rent, or must use another route. This is the landlord duty behind the repair-and-deduct remedy. Cited to the statute.

Confirmedagainst N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1Reviewed by Cholilurrohman · July 2026
Warranty of habitability · North Dakota
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1 lists what a landlord must maintain, including running water, reasonable hot water, and reasonable heat, with an added exception for a public-utility supply failure. After a reasonable time to fix a problem, a tenant may use the repair-and-deduct remedy in § 47-16-13, which the statute does not cap in dollars.
Enumerated duty, repair-and-deduct
Withhold rent?Enumerated duty, repair-and-deduct
North Dakota notice standardReasonable time to cure after notice
StatuteN.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1

What the warranty of habitability covers in North Dakota

What the landlord must maintain, whether you can withhold or escrow rent, and the limits on the remedy.

What the law saysWhat it means
An enumerated statutory dutyN.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1 requires the landlord to comply with building and housing codes affecting health and safety, make all repairs to keep the unit fit and habitable, keep common areas clean and safe, maintain electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems and elevators, provide trash receptacles and arrange removal, and supply running water, reasonable hot water, and reasonable heat.
A public-utility supply-failure exceptionNorth Dakota is alone in this group in excusing the landlord where the water or heat is unavailable due to supply failure by a public utility. That sits alongside the usual carve-outs for buildings not required to be equipped for heat and for units heated by the tenant’s own installation.
Repair-and-deduct is availableN.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13 supplies a repair-and-deduct remedy, and the statute sets no dollar cap on it. It applies after the tenant gives notice and allows a reasonable time for the landlord to fix the problem.
Where it does not applyWhat it means
Reasonable time to cureUnder § 47-16-13.1(2), for a noncompliance with the general-repair and supply duties, a reasonable time shall be allowed to remedy it. There is no fixed day count. Notably, the building-code duty is excluded from the reasonable-time allowance.
Some duties shift for a single-family homeThe trash and the water and heat duties may be shifted to the tenant of a single-family residence only in writing and in good faith. The code-compliance, general-repair, common-areas, and facilities duties cannot be shifted.
Tenant-caused conditionsThe duty is about the landlord’s failure to maintain. It does not cover damage the tenant or a guest caused, and it does not shift the tenant’s own responsibility to use the unit and its systems responsibly.
No federal habitability law
There is no national warranty of habitability. Whether a landlord must keep a rental livable, and what a tenant can do about a breach, is decided state by state. North Dakota settles the duty with the statutory list in N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1.
Heat and cooling
North Dakota requires reasonable heat but sets no temperature and no dates. Air-conditioning is on the maintain-if-supplied list, so a landlord must keep working any cooling equipment supplied, but there is no duty to install or supply cooling.
The remedy is not capped in dollars
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13 does not put a dollar limit on repair-and-deduct, unlike some states that cap it at part of a month’s rent. Follow the notice and reasonable-time steps first. See our repair-and-deduct page for how North Dakota compares.

What you can do right now

Concrete, neutral steps when a rental in North Dakota is not being kept livable. This is legal information, not legal advice.

  1. Put the problem in writing

    Describe the defect in writing to the landlord, date it, and keep a copy. Notice and a reasonable chance to fix the problem are the starting point for the North Dakota remedy.

  2. Document the condition

    Take photos or video, keep any city inspection reports, and save your messages with the landlord. This record shows the breach if you later repair and deduct or go to court.

  3. Use repair-and-deduct after a reasonable time

    If the landlord does not fix the problem in a reasonable time, N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13 lets you arrange a repair and subtract the cost from rent. The statute does not cap the amount, but keep it reasonable and keep receipts.

  4. Get North Dakota tenant help

    If you are unsure whether the wait was long enough or how far you can deduct, a local legal-aid office or Legal Services of North Dakota can walk you through the statute before you act.

Tenant help in North Dakota

Withholding rent the wrong way can risk eviction, so a legal aid office can confirm the exact notice and escrow steps before you stop paying.

→ Legal Services of North Dakota

This is general legal information, not legal advice. The notice, the escrow account, and what counts as uninhabitable all matter, so confirm your situation against the statute before withholding rent.

What renters in North Dakota get wrong about habitability

North Dakota follows the familiar uniform-act pattern in N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1, listing the landlord’s duties from code compliance and a fit and habitable unit to working plumbing, heat, and trash removal. Its distinctive touch is a third exception on the water and heat duty. Where sibling states excuse the landlord only for buildings not required to be equipped for heat, or for units heated by the tenant’s own installation, North Dakota adds a carve-out where the water or heat is unavailable due to supply failure by a public utility. It is the only state in this group to write that in. On the everyday questions, North Dakota requires reasonable heat with no set temperature or dates, and treats air-conditioning as maintain-if-supplied. Enforcement is a reasonable-time-to-cure standard under subsection (2), with no fixed day count, and the building-code duty sits outside that allowance. The remedy is a repair-and-deduct under § 47-16-13 with no dollar cap in the statute. The trash and water and heat duties can be shifted to the tenant of a single-family home in writing and in good faith, but the core duties cannot. The wording here comes from the official North Dakota Century Code.

Common questions

Does North Dakota have a warranty of habitability?

Yes. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1 sets an enumerated duty to keep a rental fit and habitable, with working plumbing, heat, hot water, and other systems. A landlord who does not meet it, after notice and a reasonable time, can face a repair-and-deduct or other remedy.

Can I repair and deduct in North Dakota?

Yes. After notice and a reasonable time to cure, N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13 lets you arrange a repair and subtract the cost from rent. The statute does not set a dollar cap, but keep the cost reasonable and save receipts. See our repair-and-deduct page for more.

What if a utility outage cuts my heat or water in North Dakota?

North Dakota adds an exception for this. Under § 47-16-13.1(1)(f) the landlord is excused where the water or heat is unavailable due to supply failure by a public utility. That does not excuse a problem the landlord could have fixed, only a genuine utility supply failure.

How much notice do I give my North Dakota landlord?

North Dakota uses a reasonable-time standard rather than a fixed number of days for the general-repair and supply duties. Tell the landlord about the defect and allow a reasonable time to fix it. A serious hazard calls for a shorter wait.

Primary source
→ N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1; N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.1 (North Dakota Century Code) · ndlegis.gov
Cholilurrohman
Every figure on this page is checked line-by-line against the current statute. Editorial standards →

Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.

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