Being Evicted For Rent
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 535.020 and § 535.040 — rent demanded, a hearing, and paying before judgment
When rent is due, has been demanded, and is not paid, a Missouri landlord may file a sworn statement with an associate circuit judge in the county, setting out the rental terms, the rent due, and that it was demanded. No separate notice to vacate is required first. The court summons everyone in the home by name to appear and show cause why possession should not go back to the landlord.
Paid with costs at the hearing, no judgment for possession. If the rent due and all costs are not tendered to the judge at the hearing, the judge enters judgment for possession and for the rent. If they are tendered, that judgment does not follow.
After judgment, the officer delivers possession to the landlord within five days of receiving the execution. A money judgment is not entered against a tenant served only by posting who never appears.
A landlord may join other unpaid sums the lease calls for, other than property damage, but those are not rent, and a judgment for them alone does not entitle the landlord to possession. Property left after the sheriff carries out the judgment and plainly marked as someone else's has to be offered back to that person, who gets five business days after notice to recover it.
Sources for this section (2)
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 535.020 — Procedure to recover possession
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 535.040 — Upon return of summons, cause to be heard
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Missouri attorney.