How Do You Deal With a Tenant's Illegal Activity in Your Property?

If you suspect a tenant is dealing drugs or running another crime out of your rental, write down what you see, report it to the police, and serve the eviction notice your state allows, then file in court if the tenant stays. You do not need to wait for an arrest or conviction, because an eviction is a civil case decided on evidence. Ignoring activity you know about is the bigger risk: in Texas, for example, a prosecutor or a neighbor can sue to have the property closed for a year, and federal law allows fines and even forfeiture of a property used for drug crimes.

What should you do first?

1. Write down what you observe. Record dates, times, and facts: heavy short-visit foot traffic, complaints from other tenants or neighbors, police calls to the address, damage, or items left in common areas. Keep the complaints you receive in writing.
2. Report it to the police. Give them your log and ask for report numbers. Ask whether there have been arrests or calls for service at the unit, since police records can become evidence in your case.
3. Do not investigate or confront the tenant yourself. Leave searches and arrests to law enforcement. Enter the unit only for the reasons and with the notice your state allows.
4. Read your lease. Find the clause that makes illegal activity on the premises a default. That clause, plus your state's eviction law, sets the notice you can use.

Reporting promptly also protects you. Under federal forfeiture law, an owner can defend the property by showing they gave timely notice to law enforcement and tried in good faith to revoke the wrongdoer's permission to use the property. Texas tells prosecutors deciding whether to bring a nuisance suit to consider whether the owner promptly notified police and cooperated with the investigation.

How can you end the tenancy?

An eviction based on criminal activity still runs through the court. You serve the notice, file if the tenant does not leave, and a court officer enforces the judgment. The notice period depends on the state:

In other states, check the statute and your lease for the notice that applies. For the court steps after the notice, see the steps for eviction proceedings.

You need evidence, not a conviction. Your burden is to convince the judge that the activity happened. Federal rules for Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) tenancies say this directly: the lease must make drug-related criminal activity on or near the premises by a tenant, household member, or guest a ground for termination, and the owner may evict regardless of whether anyone was arrested or convicted. Bring supporting records and prepare witnesses with firsthand knowledge to testify. The court's evidence rules determine whether written accounts can be admitted as proof.

Use the court process, not self-help. Do not change the locks, remove doors, or shut off utilities to force the tenant out. Wait for the judgment and let the sheriff or constable enforce it.

Which tenants are protected even when there is crime?

Some tenants connected to criminal activity cannot be evicted for it:

• Tenants who call the police. In California, a lease clause that limits a tenant's right to call police or emergency help for a crime victim or an emergency is void, and you cannot penalize the tenant for making the call. If you file an eviction within 30 days of such a call and the notice treats the call as a lease violation or nuisance, the tenant gets a rebuttable presumption that the eviction violates this law.
• Victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. In federally assisted housing, including voucher units, the Violence Against Women Act bars evicting a tenant because of criminal activity directly related to that abuse when the tenant, a family member, or another lawful household occupant is the victim. You may split the lease to evict the abuser and keep the victim housed.

Apply the same evidence standard to every tenant. Act on what a tenant or guest did, documented in your records, not on who visits the unit.

What happens if you ignore it?

Doing nothing can make you a defendant. The main exposures:

• State nuisance abatement suits. In Texas, an owner who knowingly tolerates drug activity at a place people habitually go for that purpose, and does not make reasonable attempts to stop it, maintains a common nuisance. An individual, such as a neighbor, can sue, and so can the attorney general or a district, county, or city attorney. A judgment must order the property closed for one year, and violating the court's injunction carries a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, up to 30 days in jail, or both.
• Federal criminal and civil penalties. It is a federal crime to knowingly and intentionally rent or make a place available for manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using illegal drugs. Penalties reach 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for an individual. As of October 2026, the inflation-adjusted civil penalty can reach the greater of $459,687 or twice the gross receipts from each violation.
• Federal forfeiture. Real property used to commit or facilitate a federal drug felony can be forfeited. An owner keeps the property by proving they did not know, or that once they learned, they did all that reasonably could be expected to stop the use, such as reporting to police and trying to end the tenancy.

For problems coming from a neighboring property, see what to do when a neighbor is a nuisance.

How do you lower the risk with the next tenant?

Screen every applicant with the same written criteria, including rental history and references from prior landlords, and verify identity for every adult who will live in the unit. Use a lease clause that makes criminal activity on or near the premises by the tenant, household members, or guests a default, and that lists only the adults approved to live there. For the other clauses that set up these rights, see what a lease agreement covers.