No self-help eviction (court required)

You do not have to move out just because rent is late. In most states, your landlord must first win a court case, called an eviction. Only law enforcement can carry out the court's move-out order.

Your landlord cannot throw you out by force. Only a court can order you to leave your home. This is true even if you owe rent.

Your landlord may not take possession of your home by action (a court case) or any other way. Cutting off utilities (water, electric, gas) or other essential services on purpose counts. The only cases are abandonment (you leave for good) or surrender (you give it up). The others are circumstances beyond the landlord's control due to energy conditions, or as the Alaska landlord and tenant law allows.

Your landlord cannot force you out, take your belongings, or shut off your utilities (water, electric, gas) to make you leave. Your landlord can only get you out through the court process, unless you have already moved out or given up the home.

Your landlord cannot force you out on their own. They must first win an eviction lawsuit in Justice Court.

Even if you get a notice to quit for not paying rent, your landlord cannot evict you without going to court first. The court must issue a judgment (the court's final decision in your case) in a Summary Process case. You have the right to go to court, give your defenses, and ask the judge for a payment agreement.

Your landlord must get a court's permission before they can make you leave.

Your landlord must not try to take back your home by force. They have to go to court. Your landlord can enter if they have a court order allowing it.

A notice does not move you out. Only a court can order you to leave. Your landlord cannot change the locks or take your belongings. The court case is called summary process. In that case, you can raise defenses. A defective or missing notice is a defense that can end the case.

Your landlord cannot force you out without a court case. In Chicago, a legal eviction happens only when the landlord follows Illinois court law and uses the Cook County sheriff.

Illinois state law backs this up. No one may enter your home by force, only peacefully and only when the law allows entry. Only the sheriff can remove you, and only with a court order.

Your landlord cannot make you leave your home on their own. Your landlord cannot lock you out on their own either. Your landlord has to go through the court first, before doing either of those things. This is true almost all of the time.

Your landlord almost always needs to go to court before removing or locking you out of your home. There are a few situations where that is not true. One is if you and your landlord both agree to it. Another is if you have moved out for good, like by giving back your keys or taking out most of your things. A third is if the home was used to make drugs and needs to be cleaned up.

Your landlord cannot remove your belongings from your home. This is allowed only if you move out and leave the home, or if your landlord wins a lawful eviction case in court.

Self-help evictions, where a landlord removes a tenant without going to court, are illegal in Georgia, even if the tenant violated the lease. A Georgia landlord must first go through the court process called dispossessory (eviction).

Your landlord may not remove you or keep you out of your home overnight without cause or a court order. If that happens, you may get your home back or end the rental agreement.

If you stay past the notice date and do not pay the new rent, your landlord cannot lock you out or change the locks. The landlord must file an eviction case in court, and only the sheriff can remove you after a judge orders it. Until then, keep paying the old rent on time so the landlord cannot also claim unpaid rent.

In Indiana, the sheriff cannot take part in an eviction without a court order first. This holds even when a landlord needs no advance notice.

If you do not leave after your notice period ends, your landlord cannot cut off your utilities (water, electric, gas). Your landlord also cannot change your locks or move your things out on their own. Your landlord must first file a court case called a Forcible Detainer.

Your landlord can only take back your home in 3 ways. Your landlord can win a court case for possession. You can give up the home to your landlord. Or you can leave the home and abandon it under the law.

If the 3 days pass, only a court can evict you. The landlord must file a lawsuit and win before anyone can make you leave.

In Louisiana, your landlord must ask a court to order you to leave before your landlord can take back your home. Your landlord does this by asking the court to cite you, meaning to call you to explain why you should stay. Louisiana law requires the request to state the reasons your landlord is seeking eviction.

After your landlord gives you the notice Louisiana law requires, your landlord may take back your home without going to court first. Louisiana law allows this when your landlord reasonably believes you have moved out for good. This is called abandonment (moving out for good and not coming back).

In Louisiana, your landlord can take back your home without going to court only in one case. Your landlord must first give the required notice. Your landlord must also reasonably believe you moved out for good. If your landlord does this without that belief, you can ask a court for an order telling your landlord to stop.

Even if you fall behind on rent, your landlord cannot legally make you move out without going to court first. Your landlord cannot physically remove you or your belongings, and cannot change your locks, to try to force you out.

Your landlord can also enter with a court order. Outside of a court order, they cannot use force to get into your home or to make you leave. They must bring a case in court first.

Your landlord cannot make you leave your home without going to court first. They must file a case, often called summary process, and get the court's permission. Only a court order called an execution lets a constable or sheriff move you out.

A notice to quit does not by itself make you move out. Only a court can order you to leave your home. Your landlord cannot change your locks or remove your things without a court order. The court case is called summary process, the formal name for an eviction case in court. In that case, you can raise defenses or ask for money the landlord owes you, and a defective notice can end the case.

When a Michigan court orders your removal, only a court officer, a sheriff's deputy, or a local law enforcement officer can carry it out. That officer can remove you and your things from the home. The officer acts under the court's order.

It is unlawful for your landlord, or someone acting for them, to remove or exclude you from your home without a court order. This can include cutting off your utilities (water, electric, gas). It can also include taking away your doors, windows, or locks.

Missouri law requires your landlord to go to court before making you leave your home. Your landlord cannot force you out with a 'self-help eviction' (changing locks, removing doors, or similar actions without a judge's order). Instead, your landlord must file a lawsuit and get a judgment (the court's final decision) before anyone can remove you.

Your landlord must win a court case before taking back your home. Nevada law bans any other way, including shutting off a needed service on purpose. The only other lawful ways are if you give the home back yourself, or you move out and leave it empty.

Your landlord cannot take back your home except by going to court. The only other ways are if you gave the home back, or if the law treats you as having left it for good. The law treats you as having left for good if you are away for half of your rent period. This does not apply if your rent is paid up, or you told your landlord in writing that you would be away. Cutting off on purpose a service your lease or Nevada law requires counts as an illegal way of taking back your home.

Your landlord breaks the law if they force you out of your home without a court case. It is also illegal to block you from getting back in, or to cut off on purpose a service your lease or Nevada law requires.

Missing rent does not let your landlord put you out. Your landlord must win a court case first. After that, only a sheriff, marshal, or constable can carry out the court's warrant (the order that lets an officer remove you).

In New York, only a court can evict you. Your landlord must win a case called a summary proceeding (a fast eviction case) first. After a judgment (the court's final decision), a sheriff, marshal, or constable must give you at least 14 days' written notice before the eviction. The eviction must happen on a business day, between sunrise and sunset.

Even if you owe rent, the landlord cannot force you out on their own. Only a sheriff, marshal, or constable can evict you, and only after the landlord wins in court. Lockouts, threats, and shutting off heat or water are illegal.

Your landlord can only evict you through housing court. The landlord must win the case and get a judgment (the court's final decision in your case). Then only a sheriff, marshal, or constable can actually remove you.

Your landlord cannot remove you from your home on their own. North Carolina law says a renter can only be evicted, removed, or forced out through the court process this page describes. A similar process under a different part of the law can also apply.

North Carolina law says your landlord can only remove you from your home through the court eviction process. North Carolina calls this process summary ejectment (the court case that removes a renter). The law states this rule exists to keep the public peace. Your landlord cannot force you out any other way, on his own.

Your landlord cannot change your locks, shut off utilities (water, electric, gas), or take your belongings to force you out. Ohio law says a landlord can only remove you through the court process described on this page. If your landlord does any of these things, you can sue for the cost this caused you and your lawyer's fees. You get this money only if you win your case and your landlord pays.

Your landlord cannot take back your home on their own. That includes cutting off your heat, running water, hot water, electricity, or other needed services on purpose. Your landlord can only take back the home through the court eviction process, unless you abandoned or gave up the home.

Your landlord cannot take back your home by locking you out. Your landlord also cannot take it back by shutting off your heat, running water, hot water, electricity, or another essential service on purpose. Your landlord can only take back your home if you abandon it, if you give it up, or through the eviction process in court.

The notice is not the end. Your landlord still cannot remove you after the notice deadline passes. The landlord cannot change your locks or shut off your utilities (water, electric, gas). Only a court case that the landlord wins, followed by a court order, can make you leave.

Only a court can evict you in Pennsylvania. An eviction notice from your landlord is not an eviction. If you stay past the date in the notice, your landlord must file a court case. The landlord must win that case before anyone can make you leave.

Philadelphia Municipal Court's information sheet says self-help by a landlord is not permitted. Your landlord may not change the locks, cut off utilities (water, electric, gas), or remove your things from the home. Philadelphia law says a lawful eviction needs a court judgment (the court's final decision in your case) giving your landlord possession. Only a Sheriff or a court-appointed landlord and tenant officer can carry it out.

Your landlord cannot change your locks, cut off your utilities (such as water, electric, and gas), or use force or threats to make you leave. These are self-help eviction practices, and Philadelphia bans them under any circumstances. A lawful eviction needs a court judgment (the court's final decision in your case) giving your landlord possession. See our Philadelphia eviction guide for how to get help.

Only a court can make you leave your home. Your landlord cannot evict you themselves. Your landlord cannot change your locks or shut off your utilities (water, electric, or gas) to start an eviction. If you have a problem with your landlord, you can file a complaint with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection. Call its toll-free hotline at 800-441-2555.

Pennsylvania bans "self-help" eviction: a landlord forcing you out without going to court. Your landlord cannot change your locks. Your landlord cannot shut off your utilities (like water, electric, or gas) to try to force you out. Your landlord must use the court eviction process instead.

Your Rhode Island landlord may not recover or take possession of your home by action or otherwise. Willfully cutting off heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas, or other essential service by interrupting it counts too. Only abandonment (leaving for good), surrender (giving up the home), or the Rhode Island Residential Landlord and Tenant Act allows it.

Your landlord may not take possession of your home by action or otherwise. This includes willfully (on purpose) cutting off heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas, or other essential service. The law allows it in case of abandonment (a tenant leaving for good) or surrender, or as the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act permits.

Your landlord cannot take back your home. Your landlord cannot cut off essential services (such as plumbing, electricity, and running water) on purpose either. The law allows these only in some cases. They are if you abandoned or gave up the home, if your lease ended, or as South Carolina's renter law allows.

In Texas, only a court can evict you. Your landlord must file a court case called a forcible detainer (an eviction case) in the justice court for the precinct where your home is. A judge must rule against you first. Then a constable or sheriff carries out a writ of possession (the court order that lets them remove you). No one can remove you before that.

If you stay past the notice period and do not pay the new rent, your landlord cannot lock you out or remove your things. Under Property Code § 24.005, the landlord must first give you a written notice to vacate (a letter saying you must move out). That notice must give at least 3 days, unless your lease sets a different period. Then the landlord must file an eviction case in justice court and win before a constable can remove you.

A person who wants to remove a tenant from rental property may ask a court for relief. The request goes to the magistrate court or the circuit court in the county where the property is.

Your landlord cannot keep you out of your home, physically remove you, or force you out in any other way. The only legal way to remove you is by winning an eviction case in court.

Your lease cannot give your landlord the right to evict you or lock you out except by using the court eviction process. If it tries to, Wisconsin law makes that part of the lease not count, no matter what the lease says.