An eviction is a court process, not something a landlord does alone. The landlord serves a written notice that meets the state’s rules, waits for it to run out, files a case, wins a judgment, and then an officer carries out the order. Squatters are a different problem with the same lesson. “Squatters rights” mostly means adverse possession, which takes years and strict conditions, plus the plain fact that an owner usually can’t throw an occupant out by hand. Since 2024 several states have added faster routes for a stranger in a home, with hard limits.
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Landlord and tenant law varies by state and city, and changes. Ask the court, your state agency, a lawyer or legal aid about your case.
This guide follows the order most people meet these questions and each part ends at the page that goes deeper. Every state rule here was read in the statute or court page cited on the linked guide. Any state those guides don’t cover is not confirmed, so ask the court.
How a lawful eviction works
The names differ by state, but in the states we read the order is the same:
- Check the ground, and whether tighter rules cover the unit or the tenant.
- Serve the right written notice, in the state’s form where it has one.
- Wait out the notice. The tenant may pay, fix the problem or leave.
- File in the right court, have the tenant served, and go to the hearing.
- Get the judgment, then wait out any appeal or waiting period.
- Have an officer carry out the order.
The notice is where cases most often go wrong. In the eight states on our step-by-step page, the notice for unpaid rent runs from 3 to 14 days,. How to evict a tenant lawfully gives each state’s notice, court timing and filing fee, and the federal rules that sit on top.
What a landlord can’t do matters as much. Changing the locks, cutting power or water, or moving belongings out to force someone out is self-help eviction, and statutes put a price on it. California sets up to $100 a day, with a $250 minimum, plus actual damages and fees (Civ. Code 789.3). Florida allows actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus costs and fees (F.S. 83.67). Texas’s rule is conditional, so ask a lawyer first.
For four states in full, see the Texas eviction process, the Florida eviction process, the California eviction process and the Pennsylvania eviction process.
Does the landlord need a reason?
Ending a tenancy and evicting are two steps. A notice ends the tenancy; the eviction is the court case if the tenant stays. In many places a landlord can end a month-to-month tenancy, or let a lease run out, without giving a reason. Some places don’t allow that. Washington requires a listed cause apart from narrow end-of-term cases, and California requires a stated cause after 12 months’ occupancy for covered units. New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, DC and parts of New York have their own rules.
A notice that gives no reason still can’t rest on a banned one, such as discrimination or payback for a complaint. California’s retaliation window is 180 days after listed tenant acts, Texas’s is six months, and each has exceptions. Can a landlord evict you for no reason? sorts the places we read by whether a reason is needed. If the lease has simply ended and the tenant stayed, see what a holdover tenant is.
How long it takes
Weeks at the very least, and often months. Every eviction runs on three clocks: the notice, the court case and the removal. By our own count from the statutes of 11 states, the fastest lawful path for unpaid rent with nobody contesting anything runs from a little over 2 weeks in Arizona and Florida to about 6 weeks in New York. It’s a floor, not a forecast. In California’s 2024-25 court data, only 44% of eviction cases closed within 45 days of filing, before counting the notice or the officer’s visit.
How long an eviction takes gives each state’s count and what adds time, from appeals and court stays to a defective notice that starts the clock again.
Paying rent after a notice
Often paying helps, but not always. It depends on the kind of notice, the state and how far the case has gone. Where a notice gives the choice to pay or leave, paying the full amount by its deadline answers it. Later, the states split. New York says full rent paid before the hearing “shall be accepted by the landlord”, while in Arizona reinstatement after judgment is up to the landlord. A notice that ends the tenancy for another reason isn’t answered by rent alone. Can you pay rent after an eviction notice? sets out each stage, state by state.
What stays on the record
An eviction isn’t one record. A court file begins when the landlord files, even if the case is later dismissed. On a tenant screening report, federal law generally limits civil suits and judgments to seven years from entry, or longer if the limitations period is longer (15 U.S.C. 1681c). A regular credit report doesn’t list the eviction itself, though unpaid rent sent to collections can appear. Some states seal certain files. How long an eviction stays on your record covers each clock and how to dispute an error.
Squatters: what the rights really are
Adverse possession is the only sense in which time turns an occupier into an owner. The person must occupy openly, exclusively, continuously and without permission for the state’s whole period, and for someone with no deed that takes 5 to 20 years in most of the states we read, often with property taxes paid. California, for one, requires five years plus all taxes paid (CCP 325).
You may see a “30-day rule” on other pages. We looked for a statute giving someone who walks into a home a right to stay after 30 days, and found none in the states we read. What squatters do have is the delay at the door: an officer can’t try a case in a driveway. Squatters rights, explained covers adverse possession by state, the likely origin of the 30-day claim, and the new removal laws.
Removing squatters lawfully
Who the person is decides the route. A stranger who moved into an empty home may qualify for a faster route in some states. A former tenant, a guest, a relative or anyone holding a lease usually goes through court. Texas, since 1 September 2025, and Florida, since 1 July 2024, let an owner make a sworn complaint to the sheriff or constable, who can remove an unlawful occupant without a court case if every condition fits (Tex. Prop. Code ch. 24B, F.S. 82.036). Both exclude current and former tenants, written or oral, and immediate family, and a wrongful removal can cost three times the fair market rent.
How to remove squatters lawfully gives the steps in order, the routes in eight states, and the risk in signing under penalty of perjury. Three states have their own pages:
- Squatters rights in California: we found no sheriff route like Texas’s or Florida’s, and no 30-day statute. Adverse possession takes five years and the taxes.
- Squatters rights in Texas: the chapter 24B route, the justice court fallback, and adverse possession, which takes at least 10 years without a deed.
- Squatters rights in Florida: the sheriff route and the transient occupant route, and adverse possession, which takes seven years and, without written title, tax payments and a return filed with the county property appraiser.
When to stop and get a lawyer
Landlords and owners: before the next step if the home is subsidized, if there was a recent complaint or discrimination issue, if bankruptcy or military service comes up, if an occupant shows a lease, receipts or a family tie, or if someone is already locked out or a utility is off. Nothing in this section is a route around a notice or a court step.
Tenants and occupants: a notice isn’t a court order, but court papers start deadlines that can be a matter of days, and missing one can mean losing by default. The court clerk can explain the process, and the Legal Services Corporation can point you to a legal aid office.
Your next step
- Work out who is in the home: a tenant, a former tenant, a guest or relative, or a stranger. That fact largely decides the route.
- Find the paper you have, or must serve, and its date.
- Read your state’s current statute on the page linked above, then ask the clerk of the court where the property sits about forms, fees and hearing dates, or the sheriff’s civil office about a squatter route.
If court papers have already arrived, that comes first: call the court and legal aid today.
Landlord Rulebook sells no leases, forms or referrals. Sources checked on 6 November 2026.
