An illegal lockout by a roommate — changing the locks, dumping your things outside, shutting off the utilities to drive you out — is prohibited in every state, regardless of whose name is on the lease. If you’ve been living in the home, your roommate cannot remove you without going through the courts. You have the right to get back in, and depending on where you live, you can also recover hotel costs, replacement value of damaged belongings, and in many states statutory penalties on top of that.
What To Do in the First Few Hours
The first hours after a lockout matter for your safety and for any case you later bring. Work through these steps in order.
Document What Happened
Photograph the changed locks, anything of yours left outside, and the condition of the entry. Screenshot texts, emails, or social media posts where your roommate discussed or threatened the lockout. If a neighbor saw it happen, ask them to write down what they witnessed. Memories fade and phones get wiped; the record you make tonight is the evidence you’ll use later.
Call the Police
Use the non-emergency line, or 911 if you feel unsafe, and ask an officer to come to the scene. Bring whatever shows you live there: a lease, mail addressed to you, a utility bill, a driver’s license with the address. In many places officers will tell the roommate to let you in, or stand by while you re-enter. Responses vary by department. Some treat an illegal lockout as a criminal act; others call it a civil dispute and send you to court. Either way, ask for an incident report. That report becomes part of your file.
Contact the Landlord
If neither you nor your roommate owns the property, tell the landlord what happened. Landlords have their own obligation to keep tenants in possession of the unit, and an illegal lockout on their property exposes them to liability. Many will step in quickly, and the landlord can issue you a new key if the locks were changed without permission.
Find Somewhere Safe To Stay
If you can’t get back in that night, keep every receipt. Hotel bills, meals you wouldn’t otherwise have bought, storage fees for your belongings — these are recoverable in court. If paying for a room isn’t possible, dial 211 for referrals to emergency shelters and housing assistance in your area.
Whether You Count as a Tenant
Lockout protections apply to tenants and occupants, not to short-term guests. You don’t need a written lease to qualify. Courts look at how you were actually living there: how long you’d been staying, whether you paid rent or chipped in on household expenses, whether you received mail at the address, and whether you had exclusive use of part of the home such as your own bedroom.
The cutoff varies by state. Some treat you as a tenant after 14 consecutive days; others use 30 days. In states without a fixed number, courts weigh factors like whether you changed your address on official documents or whether the leaseholder accepted any kind of payment from you. If you’ve been there more than a couple of weeks and treating it as home, you almost certainly have tenant protections. When the situation is ambiguous, courts tend to protect the occupant and require formal eviction.
Co-Tenant Versus Subtenant
Your position changes slightly depending on your arrangement, though the bottom line — no lockout without a court order — stays the same.
If both of you are named on the lease as co-tenants, neither has authority over the other. You share equal rights to the home under the covenant of quiet enjoyment, which is implied in nearly every lease and guarantees each tenant peaceful possession.1Legal Information Institute. Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment A co-tenant who wants you gone has to work through the landlord or exit the lease themselves. They cannot evict you.
If you pay rent to your roommate and they hold the master lease, you’re a subtenant. That gives your roommate a landlord-like role, which means they can start a formal eviction — but they’re bound by all the landlord rules too. Written notice, the full statutory notice period, a court filing, a judgment, and a sheriff carrying it out. Shortcutting any of that by changing the locks is just as illegal for a master tenant as for a management company.
Going to Court
When the police and the landlord don’t resolve things, the courts give you two tracks: one to get back inside, one to recover money.
Emergency Orders To Get Back In
The fastest remedy is an emergency motion for re-entry, filed as a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction depending on the jurisdiction. You file in civil court or a specialized housing court, and many courts will hear it on an expedited basis because you’re effectively without a home. If the judge grants it, your roommate must let you back in, and ignoring the order can bring contempt charges.
You don’t need a lawyer to file for emergency relief in most courts, though one helps. Legal aid organizations often take these filings for free because they’re time-sensitive.
Damages
You can also sue for financial losses the lockout caused. Recoverable damages typically include temporary housing, meals you wouldn’t otherwise have bought, storage fees, and the replacement value of belongings lost, damaged, or stolen during the lockout.
Many states add statutory damages — fixed penalties for illegal lockouts that apply regardless of your actual out-of-pocket costs. Amounts vary. Some states set the figure at a multiple of monthly rent, often two to three months; others cap it at a specific dollar amount. Punitive damages are available in some jurisdictions when the lockout was deliberate or malicious. Attorney’s fees and court costs are often recoverable under state landlord-tenant statutes, which lowers the risk of filing.
Which Court
If getting back in is the point, file in civil or housing court, which can issue injunctions and restraining orders. If you only want money, small claims court is an option when the amount falls within your state’s limit, which ranges from $2,500 to $25,000 depending on the state. Small claims court usually cannot order your roommate to let you back in; it can only award damages.
The One Situation Where a Lockout Is Legal
There is a single major exception: a court-issued domestic violence protective order or restraining order. If your roommate obtained one against you, that order may grant them exclusive possession of the home and legally require you to stay away, even if your name is on the lease. Violating it can bring criminal charges against you.
Protective orders come from a judge, so they satisfy the due-process requirement that separates a legal removal from an illegal lockout. They can be issued on an emergency basis, sometimes the same day, and typically last from a few days to several weeks before a full hearing. If you’ve been excluded under one, your path back is through that hearing, not through the door.
Outside of a court-issued protective order, there is no legal shortcut. Anger, unpaid rent, or wanting to move a partner in — none of these let your roommate change the locks. All of them require the formal eviction process.
Finding Legal Help Quickly
Lockout cases move fast, and a lawyer makes a real difference. If you can’t afford one, LawHelp.org connects people to free legal aid organizations in every state, and many of them handle lockout and eviction cases specifically. Local bar associations typically run referral services with free or low-cost initial consultations, and law school clinics in your area may take housing cases.
When you call a legal aid organization, lead with the urgency: you are locked out right now and need emergency relief. Many have expedited intake for housing emergencies. Bring the documentation you’ve gathered so the attorney can size up the case quickly and, if the facts support it, file for an emergency order the same day.