North Dakota Eviction Process

How to Evict a Tenant in North Dakota (6 Steps)

Step 1 – Send the Correct Notice

Send a three to 30-day notice if necessary, depending on the stipulations of the lease agreement and the eviction reason. You can use a North Dakota eviction notice template to make sure you follow all regulations in the notice.

You can deliver a notice by any effective method, but the following are the most accepted methods:

• Hand delivery to the tenant.
• Hand delivery to a person residing with the tenant who is of a suitable age.
• Sending through mail or courier service with a return receipt requested.

According to laws surrounding the eviction process, the required notice period begins once the tenant receives the notice.

Step 2 – Wait to Hear from Tenant

You must give the tenant the proper notice time period to move out. If the evicting offense is rent nonpayment, they can pay you all rent owed plus late fees to stop you from filing for eviction.

If the offense is a lease violation, they may or may not have the chance to solve the issue during the notice period. This is up to you as the landlord.

Step 3 – File a Lawsuit With the Court

You can file a complaint with the North Dakota district court in the county where your property is located. You will owe $80 in filing fees.

The sheriff or a process server, defined as a person over the age of 18 with no involvement in the case, will be tasked with serving the tenant the complaint and summons. They must do so in-person at least three days before the hearing. If the tenant cannot be found, they must prove at least one attempt to serve the tenant between 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM.

If the tenant cannot be served in person, you or your lawyer must file an affidavit and also send the summons and complaint to the tenant’s last known address. Additionally, the sheriff or process server must conspicuously post the notice on the door to the property at least seven days before the hearing (N.D. Cent. Code § 47-32-02).

Step 4 – Court Holds a Hearing

The court will hold a hearing within three to 15 days after it issues the summons, per N.D. Cent. Code § 47-32-02. If the tenant does not appear at the hearing, the judge may automatically rule in your favor.

Step 5 – Obtain Writ of Execution

If the hearing is resolved in your favor, the court will issue a writ of execution at or soon after the hearing. This is the tenant’s final notice to move out and law enforcement’s go-ahead to forcibly remove the tenant after the notice expires.

At this point, the tenant can request up to five more days to move out, as laid out in N.D. Cent. Code § 47-32-04. This is known as a stay of execution and is granted in cases where the tenant can prove that immediate eviction would cause significant hardship for them or their family.

Step 6 – Repossess Property

After the tenant moves out voluntarily or is forcibly removed, all keys will be returned to you. Once you repossess the property, you must follow the proper procedures to restore the property, bill the tenant for any related costs, and handle any personal property they may have left behind.

Eviction Reasons

North Dakota landlords — like landlords in most states — can evict tenants for both “at-fault” and “no-fault” reasons. At-fault evictions place blame on the tenant for actions or inaction that somehow violate the terms set by their lease agreement. No-fault evictions occur when a landlord decides to stop renting to a tenant who has otherwise fulfilled all of the responsibilities outlined in the lease.

At-Fault Evictions

Acceptable at-fault eviction reasons include:

• Late rent payment.
• Holdover tenancy.
• Lease violations.
• Illegal activity.

These fall under two additional subcategories: “curable” and “incurable” eviction reasons. With a curable eviction reason, the tenant gets the chance to remedy or fix the issue. With an incurable eviction reason, the tenant has no option to remedy and must vacate the property.

1. Failing to Pay Rent

Overview:

• North Dakota landlords can file to evict a tenant that has not paid rent.
• Landlord must first serve the tenant a three-day notice to pay or quit.
• This offense is curable if the tenant pays what they owe before the end of the notice period.
• See N.D. Cent. Code § 47-32-01.

Rent is considered due at the start of each month and late the day after. There is a three-day grace period for late rent payments, after which a landlord can seek eviction.

This can differ depending on the specific arrangement between the landlord and tenant, as some lease agreements contain clauses that provide a longer grace period. If the lease agreement contains a longer grace period, the landlord is required by law to honor it.

2. Violating the Lease

Overview:

• Landlords can evict a tenant who materially breaks the terms set forth in the lease agreement.
• Must serve the tenant a three-day notice to quit or a three-day notice to comply or quit at their discretion.
• This offense is either curable or incurable and is up to the landlord to decide.
• See ND. Cent. Code §§ 47-32-01 and 47-32-02.

Lease violations encompass any tenant actions or inaction that go against the terms of the lease agreement. Some common examples of lease violations include:

• Causing property damage.
• Allowing an unauthorized occupant to reside on the premises.
• Having a pet on a pet-free property.
• Failing to keep the unit clean and sanitary.
• Disturbing the peaceful enjoyment of other tenants.

You can — but are not legally required to — allow tenants the chance to fix the issue before asking them to leave. Due to this stipulation, lease violations can be curable or incurable at the sole discretion of the landlord.

3. Conducting Illegal Activity

Overview:

• Can evict a tenant who commits criminal acts on the premises.
• Must serve the tenant a three-day notice to quit.
• This offense is incurable.
• See ND. Cent. Code § 47-32-01.

Any illegal activity at the rental property can be grounds for eviction. However, examples of criminal acts that may lead to eviction specifically mentioned by state law include:

• Menacing conduct or intimidation.
• Threatening force or violence.
• Unlawfully keeping possession of the premises.

Other common examples are:

• Running an illegal business on the premises.
• Keeping or using illegal substances on the property.
• Conducting illegal sex work out of the rental unit.
• Unlawfully owning or firing illegal firearms.

No-Fault Evictions

A landlord may decide to stop renting a unit to a tenant without any bad acts or inaction from the tenant. This is known as a no-fault eviction and reasons for it may include:

• The landlord or one of their immediate family members wants to move into the property.
• The landlord plans to renovate the property extensively or convert it for another purpose.
• The landlord sells the property to another party who no longer wishes to rent it out, either at all or just to the current tenants.

To carry out a no-fault eviction lawfully, a landlord must give proper notice to the tenant in order to terminate the tenancy. They cannot end a lease during its term without an appropriate cause. 

1. Lease Expiration

Overview:

• Must serve the tenant a 30-day notice to move out.
• This applies to fixed-term leases that are 30 days out from expiring, periodic tenancies, and tenancies without leases (known as tenancies “at will”).
• See ND. Cent. Code § 47-16-15.

2. Holdover Tenants

Overview:

• May evict a tenant if they stay even a day after their lease expires as long as proper notice is given to terminate the tenancy and the notice period has ended.
• No eviction notice is necessary before filing to evict a holdover tenant.
• See ND. Cent. Code § 47-16-15.

3. Eviction Due to Property Sale

Overview:

• Must serve the tenant a three-day notice to move out.
• If the tenant stays after the three-day notice period and the property buyer is not taking on their lease, they can be considered a holdover tenant and the landlord can file for eviction.
• See ND. Cent. Code § 47-32-01.

Eviction Timeline

Tenant Rights in North Dakota

The law protects tenants from an illegal type of eviction known as self-help eviction. Unlike most other states, North Dakota law does not protect tenants from evictions in direct response to their exercising of legally protected rights, known as “retaliatory” evictions.

Self-Help Evictions

A self-help eviction occurs when a landlord tries to get around the legal eviction process by kicking out or forcing a tenant to leave. If proven in a court of law, the landlord may have to pay the tenant’s legal fees.

Prohibited self-help eviction actions include:

• Changing the locks.
• Shutting off utilities.
• Removing tenant belongings.

Abandoned Property

Any personal belongings left behind by a tenant are not considered abandoned in North Dakota until they have been left for 28 days. If the total estimated value of the abandoned personal property is less than $2,500 total, you may dispose of the property without notifying the tenant.

See N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-30.1 for all details. According to the code:

Before or without an eviction, you can do the following with the proceeds from selling a tenant’s abandoned property:

• Keep it.
• Recover the security deposit.
• Reimburse the storage fees for storing abandoned property.

After an eviction, you can do the following with the proceeds from selling a tenant’s abandoned property:

• Put a lien on the items for reasonable costs associated with storing and removing abandoned property.
• Keep the property until charges like court-associated fees are paid off.

Resources

• The North Dakota Legal Self-Help Center’s informational guide to eviction for tenants.
• The North Dakota Courts’ overview on evictions for tenants.
• Tenant rights as described by the North Dakota Attorney General.
• Instructions for eviction forms from the North Dakota courts.