Walk It Through: The Changed Locks
A key that no longer turns, belongings inside, a landlord who skipped court, and three months' rent.
A tenant behind on rent comes home to find the locks changed.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
A lockout over unpaid rent. An abandoned unit, a sheriff's execution after a judgment, and belongings removed by court order are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- AbandonmentA tenant leaving the unit. The landlord's certified letter gives seven days to reply, and then the landlord tries to re-rent at a fair rental.
- Essential serviceHeat, running water, hot water, electric, gas and the like. A landlord who fails to supply one gives the tenant three remedies, and cutting one off to force a tenant out is self help.
- Security depositMoney a landlord holds against unpaid rent, cleaning and damage, capped at one month's rent and returned with an itemized notice within twenty days.
- Self help evictionA landlord taking possession without a court, by changing locks or cutting services. The tenant may recover three months' rent or three times the damages.
- Demand noticeThe written notice a landlord mails once rent is fifteen days in arrears, giving five days to pay before an eviction may be filed.
- Right to cureA tenant's right to end a rent case by paying the full rent before suit, or, without a demand in the past six months, the arrears and costs at the hearing.