You promised your guest you would give him or her a certain amount of notice before he or she had to leave. The person is not a tenant but is the former owner of a foreclosed property or cooperative unit that you bought.

Tenants of former owners of foreclosed properties have the rights of tenants. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for Landlords for more information.

If you think one of these reasons might apply to you, you should talk to a lawyer before you file an eviction case to make sure you have served a proper notice to quit.

You do not need to have a family or intimate relationship to use the domestic violence process, but you do need to live together in the same home. For more information about the domestic violence process, click here. The court offers a free service to help people solve disagreements without going to court. If your guest agrees, a community mediator can talk with you and the guest to see if you can reach an agreement. Make sure you arrive and are seated in the courtroom by AM.

The judge will explain how the process works and what help may be available. If you do not speak English or are deaf or hard of hearing, make sure you tell the courtroom clerk before the announcement begins. The clerk will read the names of all parties who are scheduled to appear. You must answer "here" or "present" and state your name when your name is called. Make sure you can hear the clerk clearly. If you cannot hear, raise your hand and let the clerk know.

If you miss your name and fail to answer, your case may be dismissed. If the defendant does not answer when the case is called, you can ask the clerk to enter a "default" against the guest. If you do not hear your name during the roll call or you are late arriving to court and aren't sure if your name was called, you should speak to the clerk in the courtroom after the roll call is over and make sure that the clerk knows that you are present.

Ask the judge to grant a non-redeemable judgment in your case. If the guest does not have a defense to your claim, the judge can enter judgment for possession. If the guest has a defense, the case probably will be set for a trial on a different day.

A mediator will talk to both sides and try to help settle the case. However, you do not have to settle the case, and you should speak to a lawyer if you do not understand any part of the mediation or what is being said to you by the mediator.

For more information about what happens on your first day in court, click here. For more information about settlement and mediation, click here. You should immediately call the Clerk of the Court at to explain why you cannot appear. Ask the clerk for his or her name and write it down. You also should immediately call your guest or the guest's attorney to tell him or her that you cannot appear. If you have time to come to court on another day before your court date, you can file a notice with the court explaining that you cannot come to court and requesting a new date.

If the clerk does not give you another date to appear in court, get to court as soon as possible and find out what happened. Even if you call the court, the judge may still dismiss your case.

How many other civil cases are over and done with after a few weeks? The price to pay for this streamlined treatment is unwavering adherence to the rules. Second, what's at stake here—a tenant's home—is arguably more important than a civil case concerning money or business.

Consequently, legislators have been extra careful to see that tenants get adequate notice and an opportunity to respond. Unless you thoroughly know your legal rights and duties before evicting a tenant, and unless you dot every "i" and cross every "t," you might end up on the losing side. If you need help understanding the eviction processes and rules in other states or need state-specific guidance on legally evicting a tenant, see our state-by-state guides on evicting tenants.

For an overview of terminations and evictions in other states, including relevant state laws on termination for nonpayment of rent and for lease violations, see Nolo's Every Landlord's Legal Guide , by Marcia Stewart, Janet Portman, and Ann O'Connell.

The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site. The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising. In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service.

Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state. Grow Your Legal Practice. Meet the Editors. An overview of the eviction process, including the termination notices required for different situations. Notices for Termination With Cause Although terminology varies somewhat, when landlords have a reason cause for wanting a tenant out, they can use one of three types of termination notices: Pay rent or quit notices, which landlords typically use when the tenant has not paid the rent.

Tenancy Terminations for Nonpayment of Rent. Your landlord must take certain steps to terminate your tenancy when you don't pay rent. Termination of Tenancy: What You Need to Know Every state requires landlords to follow certain procedures when terminating a tenancy , and state laws regarding the timing of and required content of termination notices—often called "quit" or "pay rent or quit" notices—vary greatly. You'll need to check your state's law on termination for nonpayment of rent for the specifics about: When landlords may serve a pay rent or quit notice.

While most states allow landlords to send the notice the first day the rent is late, a handful don't let the landlord send the notice until you're a certain number of days late effectively giving you a grace period.

What the notice must contain. Some laws lay out exactly what must be in the notice, such as a statement of the amount of rent due, the landlord's contact information, and the deadline for either paying rent or moving out. How landlords must give the notice to tenants. Oral notice is never valid. Depending on the law, landlords must personally serve the tenants with the notice, mail it, or post it at the rental.

How quickly you must pay the rent before the landlord can file an eviction lawsuit. Often, state law requires landlords to give tenants an opportunity to pay the outstanding rent before filing an eviction lawsuit.

In this situation, landlords will provide a notice to pay rent or quit. The notice might give the tenant the opportunity to "cure," which is another way of saying pay rent. The tenants have a choice: either pay the rent cure or move out quit before the deadline stated in the notice usually three to ten days after receipt.

A few states are tough on delinquent renters, though, and don't require landlords to give tenants a chance to pay up. Some tenants may find it easier to make minor repairs on their own and then recover the cost from the landlord. Tenants have a wider range of options if the landlord is refusing to make major repairs. In many states, they can withhold rent until the repairs are completed.

Tenants also can make the repairs on their own and then deduct their cost from the rent, although this is not an option in every state. Other options include making the repairs and suing the landlord for the cost of the repairs in small claims court, as well as compensation for related injuries or property damage.

Or you can alert a housing inspector to the problem if it violates a building code. If the issue is relatively minor, and you cannot persuade the landlord to address it, you can sue the landlord in small claims court. You may be able to get your rent reduced to reflect the reduced value of the unit.

No, a landlord cannot just kick you out. They need to follow the formal eviction process provided in your state. If a landlord uses illegal self-help measures, such as changing the locks or throwing out your belongings, you should be able to hold the landlord accountable and remain on the property. You can also get compensation for property damage and any other related losses.

The notice that a landlord needs to give a tenant to move out depends on the reason behind the notice. This is true for both written leases and month-to-month tenancies. Some states require a somewhat longer period. If the landlord is terminating a tenancy based on an alleged violation of the lease, they need to provide a termination notice stating the violation.

The period until an eviction begins can vary. A Pay Rent or Quit notice usually gives a tenant three to five days to pay the rent or move out. A Cure or Quit notice gives a tenant an opportunity to fix a non-rent violation of the lease within a certain time, which is usually longer than the period allowed to catch up on rent.

If you get an Unconditional Quit notice, this means that you must move out, often within five to 10 days. Tenants who commit or are reasonably suspected of committing crimes may have an especially short time window to move out. If you pay rent more often than once a month in a month-to-month tenancy, however, some states allow you to give a shorter period of notice that matches the interval at which you pay rent.

Some leases and rental agreements have specific rules about the date on which a tenant can provide notice, so you should check to see whether this type of rule applies to you. Yes, a landlord can evict you for being late on rent. This usually will result in a Pay Rent or Quit notice, which means that you need to pay what you owe or move. If you do neither, the landlord can start the eviction process. If you have repeatedly failed to pay rent on time, and especially if you have received a previous Pay Rent or Quit notice, you may be at risk of receiving an Unconditional Quit notice based on failing to pay rent.

This means that you do not have the opportunity to pay what you owe and are required to move. However, if the landlord accepts a partial payment of the rent, this likely will negate the existing Pay Rent or Quit notice. The landlord would need to start over with a new notice if they want to collect the remaining rent.

Yes, a landlord can evict you if there is no lease. If there is no written lease, it is possible that you have an oral agreement based on a verbal understanding with the landlord. This oral agreement and its terms will be valid and enforceable if the lease period is one year or less. If there is no lease, either written or oral, a landlord still can evict you.

This is because the lack of a lease means that you are in a month-to-month tenancy at will and must pay rent on a monthly basis, or more frequently if you have an agreement to that effect.

However, a landlord generally must provide notice of terminating your tenancy. A landlord cannot legally evict you without a court order, whether or not you have a lease. A landlord can evict a tenant only by going through a formal eviction proceeding, which can take a few weeks from start to finish.

Depending on the type of termination notice that the landlord sends, the eviction process might not even start for a week or more after the tenant gets the notice.

Or it might be expedited if you are alleged to have engaged in serious misconduct, such as committing a crime or posing a safety risk.

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