To evict someone from your home legally, you serve a written notice to vacate, and if the person still refuses to leave, you file an unlawful detainer lawsuit and let the sheriff enforce the judgment. Nearly every state requires a court order before you can remove an occupant, even one who never signed a lease or paid a cent of rent. The process usually runs 30 to 60 days when uncontested and stretches longer if the occupant fights back. Trying to force the person out on your own almost always makes things worse.
Identify Who You Are Actually Evicting
The person’s legal status decides which notice you send, how many days you give, and which court procedure applies. Get this wrong and a judge will throw the case out before you get to the merits.
A tenant has a written lease or pays rent under a verbal agreement and gets the fullest protections of your state’s landlord-tenant statutes. A tenant at will lives in the home with your permission but without a fixed end date, often paying weekly or monthly; most states treat them like tenants but allow shorter notice. A guest or lodger typically stays briefly and pays nothing, but a guest who settles in can cross into legal occupancy.
The line varies by state. In some jurisdictions two weeks is enough to trigger tenant-like protections; in others the threshold is 30 days or more. The safe assumption: anyone who has lived in your home for more than a couple of weeks and treats it as their primary residence will require a formal eviction.
Family Members, Spouses, and Children
Evicting an adult family member follows the same steps as anyone else, with two important limits. You generally cannot use the eviction process against a spouse. Removing a spouse from a shared home typically runs through family court, a divorce filing, or a protective order. You also cannot evict your minor children. The parental duty to house a child usually continues until age 18, and in some states 21. If you share minor children with a domestic partner, removing that partner may require family court rather than an unlawful detainer.
If an adult relative pays rent or has agreed to contribute to household bills, most courts treat them as a tenant regardless of the relationship. If they have lived in the home since childhood and never paid anything, some states require a different type of lawsuit entirely.
Do Not Try a Self-Help Eviction
This is where homeowners make their most expensive mistake. Once someone has established occupancy, you cannot change the locks, shut off utilities, remove their belongings, take off doors or windows, or threaten them into leaving. Every state prohibits some or all of these tactics, and doing them anyway can flip you from plaintiff to defendant.
Penalties depend on the state but commonly include the occupant suing you for damages, a court ordering you to let them back in and cover their hotel bills, and in some places a criminal misdemeanor. Where the self-help eviction appears motivated by the person’s race, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability, federal law adds fines and up to one year in prison, with harsher sentences if bodily injury results.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 42 – 3631 Owning the home outright does not change this. The court process exists precisely because occupants are entitled to due process before losing their shelter.
Step One: Serve a Written Notice to Vacate
Every eviction starts with a written notice. Depending on your state it may be called a notice to quit, a notice to vacate, or a demand for possession. The document puts the occupant on formal notice and starts the clock on their deadline to leave.
Your notice needs the full legal names of all adults you want removed, the complete street address including any unit number, the specific reason you want them out (nonpayment, lease violation, end of a verbal arrangement, or termination of permission), and the exact calendar date by which they must be gone. Vague language sinks cases. “You need to leave soon” will not survive a hearing.
How much time you must give depends on the state and the reason. Nonpayment of rent often takes only three to five days. A lease violation may call for a “cure or quit” notice giving the person a chance to fix the problem. Ending a month-to-month arrangement or removing someone with no lease typically requires 30 days, and some states demand 60 for long-term occupants. Check your state’s statute before you send anything.
How to Deliver the Notice
Delivery method matters as much as content. Most states accept personal hand delivery. Many also allow you to leave the notice with another adult at the home and mail a copy, or tape it to the front door and mail a copy. Some require certified mail. A few permit a professional process server. Whichever method you use, document it: timestamped photos of the posted notice, certified mail receipts, or a signed witness declaration. You will need to prove service if the case reaches a judge.
Step Two: File an Unlawful Detainer Lawsuit
If the notice deadline passes and the person is still there, you file suit. Most states call this an unlawful detainer, though some use summary ejectment or forcible entry and detainer. Forms are available from the courthouse clerk or the state judiciary website.
You will generally file a summons and a complaint, or a combined petition. The complaint describes the property, explains the grounds for eviction, states when the occupancy began, and confirms that you served proper notice and the person did not leave. Attach the notice and your proof of delivery. Some courts require extra cover sheets; the clerk can tell you what is needed locally.
Filing fees vary. A straightforward nonpayment case may cost under $100, while other actions run $200 to $400 or more. Once filed, the occupant must be formally served with the court papers, usually by a process server or the local sheriff, since you generally cannot deliver court documents yourself. That service adds another fee.
After being served, the occupant has a window to respond in writing, typically 5 to 15 days depending on the state. If they do not respond, you can ask for a default judgment. If they do, the court sets a hearing.
Step Three: The Hearing and Common Defenses
Do not walk into court assuming an easy win. Occupants have real defenses available, and judges take them seriously.
- Defective notice. The occupant argues your notice was missing required information, gave too little time, or was served improperly. This is the most common defense and the easiest to avoid by getting the notice right the first time.
- Retaliatory eviction. The occupant claims you moved to evict because they complained about unsafe conditions, reported a code violation, or exercised another legal right. Suspicious timing can shift the burden to you.
- Uninhabitable conditions. In rental situations, tenants can argue you failed to keep the property livable, which may excuse unpaid rent or defeat the case outright.
- Discrimination. The occupant alleges the eviction is motivated by race, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. The Fair Housing Act protects against discriminatory removals.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 42 – 3604
- Acceptance of rent after notice. If you took any payment after serving the notice, the occupant can argue you waived the eviction for that period.
That last defense trips up more homeowners than you would expect. Once you decide to evict, stop accepting money. Even a partial payment can reset the clock or give a judge grounds to dismiss. Either side can also request a jury trial in most states, which adds time and cost.
Step Four: Get the Writ of Possession and the Lockout
A judgment for possession does not mean the person leaves that day. You still need a writ of possession (also called a writ of execution or writ of restitution) from the court clerk. The writ is what authorizes law enforcement to remove the occupant.
You take the writ to the local sheriff’s or constable’s office and pay a service fee, typically $50 to $200. A deputy posts a final notice at the property giving the occupant one last chance to leave voluntarily. The grace period runs from as little as 24 hours to several days depending on the jurisdiction.
If the person still will not go, law enforcement returns to conduct the lockout. Have a locksmith on-site to rekey the locks the moment the occupant is out. Some sheriff’s offices handle entry themselves, but their methods can damage the door. Once the locks are changed and the officer clears the property, you have legally reclaimed possession.
Handling Belongings Left Behind
Almost every eviction leaves personal property behind, and you cannot just haul it to the curb. Nearly every state requires you to store abandoned belongings for a set period and notify the former occupant of their right to reclaim them.
The pattern is consistent: inventory the property, store it somewhere reasonable, and send written notice to the person’s last known address explaining where their things are and how long they have to collect them. Storage periods run from about 15 to 45 days depending on the state. If nothing is claimed by the deadline, you can typically dispose of the items, or sell anything valuable and apply the proceeds to what the occupant owes you. A written inventory and photographs protect you against later claims that you destroyed or stole property.
Federal Laws That Can Block or Delay Your Eviction
Eviction law is mostly state-specific, but a few federal statutes apply everywhere and can override your timeline.
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
If the occupant is an active-duty servicemember or a dependent, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act imposes strict rules. You cannot evict a servicemember from a residential property without a court order. If military service has materially affected the servicemember’s ability to pay rent, the court must stay proceedings for at least 90 days or adjust the lease terms to balance both sides. The protection applies to premises with monthly rent below a threshold that adjusts annually with the housing component of the Consumer Price Index. Knowingly evicting a protected servicemember without following the required procedures is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 50 – 3951 Evictions and Distress
Fair Housing Act
The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to evict someone because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 42 – 3604 You can still evict a person who belongs to a protected class, but the reason cannot be their membership in that class. Document your legitimate grounds thoroughly so there is no ambiguity about why you are acting.
Violence Against Women Act
In federally subsidized housing, the Violence Against Women Act prohibits eviction of a tenant because they are a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. It also blocks landlords from denying housing or terminating assistance based on an eviction record or criminal history tied to the abuse.4Department of Housing and Urban Development. Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) If your property participates in a HUD program, VAWA adds requirements you must meet before you can proceed.
Timeline and Cost
From the day you serve the notice to the day the sheriff changes the locks, a straightforward uncontested eviction usually takes 30 to 60 days. A contested case with a response, defenses, or a jury trial takes longer, and heavy court dockets can add weeks just to get a hearing. An appeal can push resolution out several more months.
Between filing fees, process server charges, sheriff service, and locksmith costs, even a simple eviction runs several hundred dollars. A landlord-tenant attorney adds more but often prevents the procedural errors that lead to delays and dismissals. For the harder situations, including family members, occupants raising domestic violence protections, or anyone who may qualify for SCRA coverage, the cost of legal counsel usually pays for itself.