North Carolina (NC) Eviction Process
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North Carolina Eviction Process first step is serving the tenant that has not paid rent an Eviction Notice. In North Carolina, nonpayment of rent is the most common reason for eviction. In this case, you are required to give the tenant a 10-day “notice to quit.” The notice informs the tenant that they need to pay the rent due within 10 days. Otherwise, they will be evicted. This notice must demand the rent, and give the tenant 10 days to pay it before a Summary Ejectment (Eviction) Complaint is filed.
Landlords you will need to give the Tenant a Notice when they did not pay Rent – This notice is called a 10 Day Demand for Rent.
North Carolina Eviction Laws
The North Carolina Eviction Process, Landlord Tenant and Eviction Laws are found in Chapter 42 of the North Carolina General Statutes. These are the laws passed by the North Carolina Legislature that spell out the duties and remedies in the Landlord Tenant relationship. If you are a landlord in North Carolina, it is a very good idea to take the time to read and become familiar with these laws. This page has information useful for procedures for Evictions in North Carolina, when you need more help select Landlord help pages or Tenants help pages for even more information.
Top Questions: How Long Does It Take to Evict a Tenant in North Carolina? Pursuant to North Carolina law, a landlord may, following successful judicial proceeding, forcibly evict a tenant seven days after the filing of a writ of possession.
North Carolina Eviction Notice
The first step in the North Carolina Eviction Process is giving the tenant an Eviction Notice. If the landlord is evicting the tenant for non-payment of rent (most common reason), then the notice must demand the rent, and give the tenant 10 days to pay it before a Summary Ejectment (Eviction) Complaint is filed.
Landlords you will need to give the Tenant a Notice when they did not pay Rent – This notice is called a 10 Day Demand for Rent.
If the tenant is being evicted simply because they are staying beyond their lease term (called a holdover), and the landlord told them that the lease would expire and they would have to move out, then the time period in the notice is different. So for a landlord to evict a tenant for a holdover, the notice period is as follows:
10 Days if the tenant paid rent monthly
1 Month if the tenant paid rent yearly
30 Days for Mobile Home lot rental
When the landlord is evicting you and the eviction is not because of breach of the rental or lease agreement, your landlord must tell you in advance of his intent to evict you and to end the lease agreement.
The amount of notice given and whether it is correct can be complicated. In some specific situations, it is very simple, and the lack of proper notice may be the basis to dismiss the complaint.
If there is a written lease agreement, the requirements of the lease must be followed. If the lease requires 30 days prior notice, this means, that the landlord before filing the complaint must give you notice 30 days before the end of the rental term.
If the landlord gives notice on the 10th of the month and files the complaint on the 30th of the month, this notice is incorrect because the landlord did not give the tenant 30 days before filing the complaint.
If there is no lease or the lease does not specify the requirements of the notice to evict then:
the notice must follow the requirements of the law
North Carolina law requires the Serving the Tenant with a Notice to Quit, find the notice to evict on our Forms pages.
For non-payment of rent, 10 days
A year-to-year lease, 30 days
A month-to-month lease, 7 days
A week-to-week lease, 2 days (not counting weekends)
In case of non-payment of rent, if there is no written lease specifying the type of notice, the landlord must demand payment of the rent and wait 10 days before filing the complaint.
In the North Carolina Eviction Process, case is called “summary ejectment.” Landlords can file to legally remove a tenant rented property if the tenant has failed to pay rent, violated the lease agreement, or if other…
After the landlord has given the tenant the proper Eviction Notice and has waited out the notice period, the landlord now must go to court and file a “Summary Ejectment” case to evict the tenant if they are still in possession of the property. It is illegal for a landlord to physically evict a tenant without going through court procedures. The landlord should go to the Small Claims court in the county where the property is located. The landlord should ask the court clerk for the Complaint form to file a Summary Ejectment case. There will be a filing fee to do this. Once the landlord files the case and pays the filing fee, the court will issue a Summons.
In North Carolina the eviction process is called SUMMARY EJECTMENT.
The first step is to notify the tenant that he or she must move out by a specific date. This is known as the “notice to vacate”. The notice may be oral or written. The number of days’ notice required by law depends on the type of lease and reason for terminating the leave. For non-payment of rent, 10 days’ notice is required.
After the notice period has ended, the landlord may go to court to take out Summary Ejectment papers. The court papers state why the landlord wants the tenant to move out and when and where the court hearing will be held.
The court papers must be delivered to the tenant. This is usually done by the sheriff. Delivery may be in person or by tacking the papers on the tenant’s door. If delivery is by tacking the papers on the door, and if the tenant does not go to the hearing, the landlord cannot get a judgment against the tenant for rent owed.
If the only reason for eviction is non-payment of rent, the tenant can stop the eviction by taking the rent owed to the court hearing and offering it during the hearing. This is known as “tender of rent”.
After the magistrate makes a decision, either the landlord or the tenant may file an appeal. The appeal must be filed within 10 days after the magistrate’s decision.
If the tenant files an appeal and is very low-income, he or she will probably not have to pay filing fees. However, there may be a fee for having the sheriff deliver the appeal papers to the landlord, and the tenant must pay rent into the court as it becomes due.
If the tenant perfects the appeal according to the requirements of the law, but failed to raise a defense in magistrate’s court, failed to file a responsive pleading in the district court action, and failed to make any payment when due under the appeal bond, the landlord may file a motion to dismiss the appeal, and the court must grant the motion to dismiss without a hearing, if the defendant does not file and serve a response or make the required payment within ten days.
If the tenant does not move out by the date specified in the writ of possession, the landlord can have the sheriff padlock the apartment or house. The sheriff usually tries to give the tenant a couple of days’ notice before the padlocking.
After padlocking, the tenant has 7 days to contact the landlord and arrange to move his or her belongings out. The landlord has to give the tenant only one chance to get his or her belongings. If the belongings are still there after the 7-day period, the landlord may dispose of them as he wishes.
Sheriff Serves the Summons and Complaint
Once the eviction case is filed, the court will give a Summons and a copy of the Complaint to the County Sheriff. It is the County Sheriff’s job to deliver these documents to the tenant. These documents will tell the tenant when and where the eviction court hearing will be. The Summons will require the tenant to appear not more than 7 days from the issuance of the Summons. The Sheriff may serve the Summons by mail or in person within 5 days of issuance of the Summons, but not less than 2 days before the scheduled hearing.
If a judgment for possession or eviction is entered against you, you have ten (10) days to appeal the judgment to District Court. If you do not appeal, you should try to move out within the 10-day appeal period. If you do not move, the landlord can obtain a writ directing the sheriff to remove you and padlock the rental property. The sheriff will proceed as follows:
The sheriff will generally try to give you at least a day’s notice of the date and time when he intends to evict you and padlock the property.
No more than five (5) days after the landlord obtains the writ, the sheriff will come to the rental property to padlock the premises.
You and all occupants of the rental property will be asked to leave the property.
After you have left the property, you cannot go back without the landlord’s consent. If you try to re-enter the property, the landlord can charge you with trespassing.
