What This Clause Actually Covers
An attorney's fees clause says what happens to legal costs if you and your landlord end up in a lawsuit connected to the lease — an eviction, a security deposit dispute, a habitability claim. In the United States, each side generally pays their own attorney regardless of who wins, unless a specific law or contract clause says otherwise. A lease's attorney's fees clause is that override: it shifts fees to the losing side, or to whichever side the clause names.
The One-Way Version Landlords Often Write
Many leases include a clause that only mentions the landlord's fees: "tenant shall pay landlord's reasonable attorney's fees in any action to enforce this lease." Written that way, it looks like only the landlord can ever collect fees — even in the exact same lawsuit, over the exact same lease. That one-sided version is exactly what it looks like: it makes it more expensive and riskier for a tenant to bring or defend a claim, since a tenant who wins still pays their own lawyer while a landlord who wins gets reimbursed.
Why a One-Sided Clause May Not Stay One-Sided
Some states won't let it stay one-sided. California's civil code says that once a contract provides for attorney's fees to one named party, or to whichever party prevails, the provision is treated as applying to the entire contract for whoever actually wins — regardless of which party the lease names (Cal. Civ. Code § 1717(a)). In practice, a California lease that promises the landlord's fees if the landlord wins is read by courts as also promising the tenant's fees if the tenant wins, even though the lease itself never says that. Washington reaches a similar result for one-sided demands from a different angle: its law bans a rental agreement from making a tenant agree to pay the landlord's attorney's fees except as specifically authorized by statute and actually awarded by a court after judgment, rather than automatically under a lease clause (Wash. Rev. Code § 59.18.230(2)(e)). Not every state treats a one-sided fee clause this way, so whether yours would flip in your favor if you won depends on where you live.
What a Fair Version Looks Like
A fair attorney's fees clause names "the prevailing party," not just the landlord, and generally limits recovery to fees that are "reasonable" for the case rather than an unlimited amount. If your lease's version is one-sided, that isn't necessarily a reason to refuse to sign — in a state like California it may not matter what the lease says on its face — but it's worth knowing before you're in a dispute, not while you're in the middle of one.
A Realistic Example
Say your lease says "tenant shall pay landlord's attorney's fees in any successful action to enforce this lease," and your landlord later sues you over a disputed $1,800 security deposit deduction and loses. In a state that treats the clause as reciprocal, you could potentially recover your own attorney's fees from the landlord despite the clause only naming theirs. In a state that doesn't, you might be left covering your own legal costs even after winning, which is exactly the kind of case where the total cost of "winning" matters as much as the outcome itself — and why it's worth understanding this clause before you're the one deciding whether a dispute is worth pursuing.
What This Means If You're Actually in a Dispute
If you're already headed toward a lawsuit with your landlord — over a deposit, a habitability problem, or an eviction — mention the attorney's fees clause to whatever attorney or legal aid office you talk to. It changes the math on whether pursuing or defending a claim is worth the cost, and a lawyer will know whether your state reads a one-sided clause the way California does. Documentation does a lot of the legwork before a lawyer ever gets involved — see how do I dispute security deposit deductions for what to keep on hand.
Honestkey™ reads an uploaded lease and flags a one-sided attorney's fees clause so you know it's there before a dispute ever starts, not after.