Should You Try to Evict the Tenant Yourself?

No. Changing the locks, cutting off utilities, removing doors or a tenant's belongings, or threatening a tenant to force a move-out is illegal in almost every state, even when the tenant owes rent or the lease has ended. You can run most of a court eviction yourself, from the notice to the hearing, but only a sheriff, marshal, or constable acting on a court order can physically remove the tenant. A lockout can also cost more than the rent you were trying to collect: in Florida, the minimum award is 3 months' rent plus the tenant's attorney's fees.

What counts as an illegal self-help eviction?

Self-help eviction means forcing a tenant out without a court order. The American Bar Association reports that substantially all states prohibit it, and the banned tactics are similar from state to state:

• Changing or disabling the locks, or putting a bootlock (a device that blocks the lock) on the door
• Removing outside doors or windows
• Shutting off water, heat, electricity, gas, or another utility, including one you do not control or pay for (Florida says this outright)
• Removing the tenant's belongings or furniture from the unit
• Using or threatening force, or a course of harassment meant to make the tenant leave

The California Attorney General's guidance to police states that a landlord cannot force a tenant out even if the tenant owes rent, has received an eviction notice, or is breaking the lease. In California, the same protection generally covers people who rent a room, whether from the owner or from another tenant. California's one exception is a lodger: a single person renting a room in a home where the owner lives, with no other tenants, and where the owner keeps access to every area. Even then, specific legal requirements apply before the owner can treat that person as a lodger.

New York's statute, RPAPL section 768, protects anyone who has a lease or has lawfully lived in the unit for 30 consecutive days or longer. It also counts cutting off essential services as an unlawful eviction.

What can a tenant recover if you lock them out?

Example (Florida): Rent is $1,800 a month. You change the locks for two days and the tenant spends $400 on a hotel. The award is the greater of the $400 in damages or 3 x $1,800 = $5,400, so you owe $5,400 plus the tenant's attorney's fees and costs. You also still have no court order, so you must start the eviction over the lawful way.

Example (California): A utility shutoff meant to force the tenant out lasts 12 days. The daily penalty can reach 12 x $100 = $1,200, never less than $250, on top of the tenant's actual damages and attorney's fees.

In California and New York, a lockout is also a crime. The California Attorney General tells officers to warn the landlord that forcing out a tenant is a misdemeanor, to let the tenant back in, and to write a report even when no one is arrested. In New York, each intentional violation is a separate offense.

What can you lawfully do yourself?

An individual owner can handle almost every step of a court eviction without a lawyer. The steps for eviction proceedings article covers the full sequence. The parts you can do yourself:

1. Prepare and serve the notice. The notice type and number of days depend on your state and the reason for ending the tenancy. California's Orange County Superior Court tells self-represented landlords that a sheriff, a registered process server, or any adult who is not a party to the case may serve court papers.
2. File the case. An individual landlord may file the complaint and appear for themselves. If a corporation owns the property, it cannot represent itself in a California eviction and must hire an attorney, according to Orange County Superior Court's guidance. In Florida, nonlawyer agents generally may file only the initial complaint. A property manager with the landlord's written authorization may also seek a default and a judgment for possession for an individual or corporate landlord in an uncontested residential nonpayment eviction, but cannot seek unpaid rent or continue if a hearing is required.
3. Argue the case at the hearing. Bring the lease, the notice, proof of service, and a rent ledger.
4. Follow your state's entry rules. You may still enter for repairs, subject to your state's notice requirements and emergency exceptions. In California, 24 hours' advance written notice is presumed reasonable in most situations, but emergency entry requires no advance notice. In Florida, routine repairs require at least 24 hours' notice and entry between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., but you may enter at any time to protect or preserve the premises. The Florida statute bars using your right of access to harass the tenant.
5. Negotiate a move-out date. If the tenant agrees in writing to leave by a set date and does, the tenancy ends by surrender with no court case. If the tenant stays past that date, you still need a court order; a lockout to enforce the agreement is still illegal.
6. Retake the unit only if the tenant gave it up. In Florida, the only ways to get the unit back without a court case are the tenant's surrender or abandonment of the unit (or, in narrow cases, the death of the last remaining tenant). Without actual knowledge, abandonment is presumed only if the tenant has been gone for half a rental period (about 15 days on a monthly lease), rent is not current, and the tenant gave you no written notice of the absence.

Who removes the tenant after you win?

Winning the case gives you a court order, not the right to change the locks yourself. A law officer carries out the order after a set waiting period:

• California: the court issues a writ of possession, which you take to the sheriff with a letter of instruction. The sheriff serves it, and the tenant has 5 days to leave. If the tenant stays, the sheriff removes them, and you must be present to change the locks. You are not entitled to possession until the sheriff has removed the tenant.
• Florida: the clerk issues a writ to the sheriff, who posts a 24-hour notice on the property; weekends and holidays do not pause it. Once the sheriff puts you in possession, you or your agent may move the tenant's belongings to the property line and change the locks. You can ask the sheriff to stay and keep the peace while you do, at an hourly fee you pay.
• New York: the court issues a warrant of eviction to a sheriff, marshal, or constable, who must give the tenant at least 14 days' written notice and carry out the eviction on a business day between sunrise and sunset.

Belongings left after the lockout follow your state's storage and notice rules; see handling property abandoned by a tenant. For state timelines and notice periods, see the California eviction process, the Florida eviction process, and the New York eviction process.

For options that end a tenancy without going to court, see general ways to end a tenancy agreement.