Eviction (Unlawful Detainer)

The court process a landlord must use to make a tenant leave - and in most states, the only lawful way to do it.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

Eviction is a lawsuit. That single fact is the one most often misunderstood, and it cuts in the tenant's favor: in most states a landlord cannot lawfully remove a tenant by changing the locks, removing doors, putting belongings on the street, or shutting off heat, water or power. Those are "self-help" evictions and they are prohibited in most states, sometimes with penalties payable to the tenant. The lawful route runs through a court, and the case usually has a name like unlawful detainer, forcible entry and detainer, or summary process.

The process generally runs in three stages: a written notice with a stated reason and a period to fix the problem or leave; a court case filed if the tenant does not; and, only if the landlord wins, a court order carried out by a sheriff or marshal. A judgment for the landlord is not itself the removal - the removal is a separate step by a law enforcement officer.

These cases move much faster than ordinary civil litigation, which is the practical difficulty. They are designed for speed, hearings can come within days or weeks rather than months, and a tenant who does not appear will usually lose automatically. Defenses that do exist - improper notice, a landlord's failure to maintain the property, retaliation, discrimination, payment already made - generally have to be raised at that hearing rather than afterwards.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

Speed is the reason to get help immediately rather than after the hearing. An eviction judgment is not only the loss of the home: it commonly appears in tenant screening reports and can make the next tenancy much harder to obtain, which is a consequence that outlasts the case by years. This is also the single most common civil legal aid matter in the country, so a tenant who cannot afford a lawyer is in exactly the situation the legal aid programs were built for - and the outcome for represented tenants differs enough from unrepresented ones that it is worth one phone call before the hearing date.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state to see Landlord-Tenant law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z. A state marked “Real Estate” has no Landlord-Tenant listing yet and opens the broader page.

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  • and 7 more with fewer listed firms
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• West Virginia (Charleston)
• Wisconsin (Madison)
  +1 other city

  • Milwaukee
• Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• Adverse PossessionThe doctrine by which a person who occupies land they do not own, openly and continuously for the period the state sets, becomes its owner - the elements, the "color of title" and tax-payment variations, and why it decides fence and driveway disputes far more often than it transfers whole parcels.
• Deed Types: Warranty, Special Warranty and QuitclaimWhat the different forms of deed promise about the title they convey - the general warranty deed's guarantee against every defect, the special warranty deed's narrower one, and the quitclaim deed's none - and what each is used for.
• EasementA legal right to use someone else's land for a defined purpose, without owning it.
• Foreclosure (Judicial and Non-Judicial)The process by which a mortgage lender takes and sells a home after default - the court-supervised route some states require and the trustee's sale others permit, the federal servicing rules that must be followed first, the loss-mitigation alternatives, and what the borrower can still owe or reclaim after the sale.
• HOA Covenants and Assessment LiensThe recorded restrictions that bind every owner in a planned community or condominium, the association that enforces them, and the assessment lien that lets it foreclose on a home for unpaid dues - what the documents control, how they are amended and enforced, and the limits the states have placed on association power.
• Homeowners Insurance ClaimHow a property loss claim actually works - what the policy covers, the duties it imposes on you, and where claims most often fail.
• Implied Warranty of HabitabilityA landlord's obligation to keep a rented home fit to live in - one the lease usually cannot sign away.
• Mechanic's Lien (Construction Lien)The statutory lien a contractor, subcontractor, supplier or laborer may record against a property for unpaid work or materials - the preliminary notices and filing deadlines that make or break it, why an owner who paid the general contractor can still face a subcontractor's lien, and how the lien is enforced or released.
• Purchase Contract ContingenciesThe conditions in a home-purchase agreement that let a buyer walk away with the deposit - inspection, financing, appraisal, sale of the buyer's current home, title - how each is exercised and waived, and what happens to the earnest money when the deal fails.
• Quiet Title ActionThe lawsuit that asks a court to declare who owns a property and to remove a competing claim from the record - used to clear an old mortgage never released, a break in the chain of title, a tax-sale or adverse-possession claim, or a deed that should never have been recorded.
• Security DepositMoney a tenant leaves with a landlord against damage or unpaid rent - held under state rules that usually require an itemized accounting within a fixed period after move-out.
• Seller Disclosure DutiesWhat a seller of a home must tell a buyer about the property - known material defects, water intrusion, structural and system problems, and under federal law lead-based paint - the state disclosure forms, the "as is" sale, and what a buyer can do when a problem was concealed.
• Title Search and Title InsuranceThe examination of public records that establishes who owns a property and what claims stand against it, and the insurance policy that pays if that examination missed something - who is protected by the lender's policy, who by the owner's, and what neither covers.
• Transfer-on-Death DeedA recorded deed that leaves a house to someone at death while changing nothing during life - available in many states, and not all.

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