Outline of the eviction process in Idaho

Idaho evictions are “unlawful detainer” actions under Idaho Code Title 6, Chapter 3 (§§ 6-303 to 6-324), filed in the district court of the county where the property sits (§ 6-305); the court’s self-help forms are captioned for the magistrate division. Idaho has no just-cause rule and no rent control, and the notice periods are short: three days for unpaid rent and three days for a lease violation. We found no general anti-retaliation statute for ordinary residential rentals; the retaliation section in Title 55 (§ 55-2015) is part of the Manufactured Home Residency Act and applies to manufactured home lots. For a nonpayment or drug case on a parcel of five acres or less, the court must set trial within 12 days of filing (§ 6-310).

The speed comes with conditions. The expedited track is for possession only, the three-day notice has required content that was added in 2020, and the tenant’s belongings are governed by a 72-hour rule in § 6-316.

1. Grounds

Section 6-303 defines unlawful detainer: holding over after the term expires without the landlord’s permission (a tenancy at will must first be terminated by notice); nonpayment of rent after a three-day notice; breach of another lease covenant after a three-day notice; assigning, subletting or committing waste contrary to the lease; and unlawful delivery, production or use of a controlled substance on the premises during the term (§ 6-303(1) to (5)). Cities and counties may not regulate rent, fees or deposits on private residential property or force owners into an optional federal housing assistance program (§ 55-306).

2. Notices

• Nonpayment: three days (§ 6-303(2)). The notice must be in writing, state the amount due, and demand payment or possession. Since July 1, 2020 it must also tell the tenant that if a court enters judgment, a residential tenant will have 72 hours to remove belongings before the landlord may remove and dispose of them under § 6-316 (seven days for a commercial tenant or a tract of five acres or more).
• Attorney fee language (§ 6-324). The prevailing party is entitled to attorney fees in any action under the chapter, except where treble damages are awarded. In a nonpayment case fees are available only if the three-day notice advised the tenant that attorney fees will be awarded to the prevailing party.
• Lease violation: three days, with a right to cure (§ 6-303(3)). Within three days after service the tenant, a subtenant or another interested person may perform the covenant and save the lease. No demand to perform is needed if the covenant cannot afterward be performed.
• Waste, assignment or subletting: three-day notice to quit; the breach itself terminates the lease (§ 6-303(4)).
• Drug activity. Section 6-303(5) does not state a notice period of its own. The Idaho Attorney General’s landlord and tenant manual describes a three-day written notice for drug cases, and the expedited complaint must allege that all notices required by law were served (§ 6-310(1)(d)), so serve a three-day notice in the § 6-304 manner before filing.
• Ending a month-to-month or at-will tenancy. The landlord gives written notice to leave within a period of not less than one month stated in the notice, given “in the manner prescribed by the code of civil procedure” (§ 55-208), which in practice means the § 6-304 methods. Separately, for any residential lease the landlord must give written notice at least 30 days before a non-renewal or a rent increase takes effect (§ 55-304(2)).
• Federally backed or subsidized properties may also be subject to the federal CARES Act 30-day notice to vacate for nonpayment; confirm before relying on a three-day notice there.

How notices are served (§ 6-304). The statute sets an order of methods. First, deliver a copy to the tenant personally. Second, if the tenant is absent from home and from the usual place of business, leave a copy with a person of suitable age and discretion at either place and mail a copy to the tenant’s residence. Third, only if the residence and business cannot be ascertained or no such person can be found there, affix a copy in a conspicuous place on the property, deliver a copy to a person residing there if one can be found, and mail a copy addressed to the tenant at the property. Posting without mailing is not service. Complete the court’s affidavit of service (CAO UD 2) when you serve.

Counting days. The court’s instructions say not to count the day of service. Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure 2.2, the general rule for periods stated in days, works the same way: the day of the triggering event is excluded, every day is counted including weekends and holidays, and a period that ends on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday runs to the end of the next day that is not one.

3. Filing

• Expedited proceeding (§ 6-310). Available only in an action exclusively for possession of a tract of five acres or less, and only for nonpayment of rent, for reasonable grounds to believe someone has engaged in unlawful delivery, production or use of a controlled substance on the premises, or against a tenant at sufferance after a trustee’s sale under § 45-1506(11).
• Everything else. Lease-violation, waste and holdover cases are not listed in § 6-310, and a claim for rent or damages takes the case out of it: under § 6-311E the early trial provision does not apply when a damages action is combined with one for possession, and the summons is returnable as in other civil cases.

The Idaho Court Assistance Office publishes a nonpayment packet, including the Three Day Notice (CAO UD 1), Complaint for Eviction, Expedited Proceeding (CAO UD 1-1), Summons (CAO UD 1-2), Judgment for Eviction (CAO UD 8-1) and Writ of Restitution (CAO UD 10-1). Its instructions state that these forms cannot be used to sue for unpaid rent or damages. The self-help site lists the filing fee for an unlawful detainer for nonpayment as $166; confirm the current amount with the clerk.

Who may file. The court’s instructions say the plaintiff must be the owner of the rental property and that a property manager or other agent cannot represent the owner unless licensed as an Idaho attorney. Entity owners should confirm with counsel whether they may file without a lawyer.

4. Summons, service and trial

In an expedited case the court, when it issues the summons, must schedule trial within 12 days from the filing of the complaint, and the summons, complaint and notice of trial setting must be served on the tenant not less than five days before trial (§ 6-310(2)).

• No jury, short continuances. An expedited case is tried by the court without a jury (§ 6-311A). No continuance longer than two days may be granted unless the tenant posts an undertaking, approved by the court, for the rent that may accrue if judgment goes against the tenant (§ 6-311).
• Default. If the tenant does not appear and defend, the court must enter default and judgment (§ 6-312).
• Non-expedited cases follow the ordinary civil timetable, and an issue of fact is tried by a jury unless waived (§ 6-313).

5. Judgment and appeal

If the court finds the complaint true it enters judgment for restitution of the premises and costs (§ 6-311A). The statutory right to redeem by paying into court within five days after judgment applies only to nonpayment cases on tracts larger than five acres where the lease has not expired (§ 6-316(1)); ordinary residential tenants have no statutory pay-and-stay right after judgment.

Appeal. A notice of appeal from the magistrate division to the district court is due within 42 days of the file-stamped judgment (I.R.C.P. 83). Section 6-319 says a defendant’s appeal does not stay proceedings on the judgment unless the court so directs, and § 6-311D requires a defendant appealing a restitution judgment to post, in addition to any other undertaking, an undertaking with two sureties for the rental value of the property from the start of the action until final judgment in the action. Rule 83 also contains a general 14-day automatic stay on appeals to the district court; ask counsel how the two interact.

6. The writ, the lockout and tenant property

Section 6-316(2), as amended in 2020, controls:

• After a finding for the landlord for possession, a residential tenant has 72 hours to remove belongings. A commercial tenant or a tenant of five acres or more has seven days, and the court may give a commercial tenant longer for good cause.
• The landlord or an agent may deliver the writ of restitution, or give the sheriff a copy and ask the sheriff to deliver it.
• “After the time required for a tenant to remove his belongings under this subsection and three (3) days after the finding of the court,” the sheriff restores possession by causing immediate removal of the tenant. Only the sheriff removes the tenant.
• After that, the landlord may remove and dispose of all property of the tenant that remains on or about the premises, subject to any security interests under the Uniform Commercial Code, without further compensation to the tenant. On good cause the court may award the landlord reasonable costs of removal and restoring the premises. The statute imposes no storage period beyond the 72 hours.

The court’s eviction instructions are dated 2017 and do not reflect the 2020 changes, so follow the statute where they differ.

Self-help. Section 6-317 allows judgment for three times the actual damages where a landlord or tenant recovers damages for a forcible or unlawful entry or detention, or in a tenant’s action under § 6-320. Do not change locks, remove doors or property, or cut utilities before the sheriff has acted.

Squatters are a different procedure. A person who never had a lease can be removed by a verified forcible detainer complaint, with trial within 72 hours of filing excluding weekends and holidays (§ 6-310(3), (4)), or, since July 1, 2025, by a sworn complaint to the sheriff under § 6-310A. Neither may be used against a current or former tenant: the penalties are treble damages (§ 6-310(5)) or, under § 6-310A, actual damages plus triple the fair market rent, costs and attorney fees. Under § 6-310A(5) (as amended in 2026, ch. 82), the sheriff charges the same fee to serve the notice to immediately vacate as for a writ of restitution, and the owner may then ask the sheriff to stand by, at an hourly rate the owner pays, while the locks are changed and the occupant’s property is moved to or near the property line.

7. Fees and late fees (Title 55, Chapter 3)

Under § 55-305, any fee imposed on a residential tenant, including a late fee, must be reasonable. An owner may not charge a fee, fine, assessment, interest or other cost in an amount greater than the rental agreement provides, or one that is not in the rental agreement, unless the agreement is oral or the owner gives the tenant 30 days’ written notice of the change. The section applies to rental agreements entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2023, sets no dollar cap, and does not limit rent. Section 6-303(2) speaks of default in the payment of rent, so the cautious practice is to demand rent only in a three-day notice.

Recent law changes landlords should know

• 72-hour property rule (July 1, 2020). 2020 Session Laws ch. 340 (H 461) amended §§ 6-303, 6-311C and 6-316: new required notice language, the 72-hour and seven-day removal periods, and the landlord’s right to dispose of what remains.
• Local preemption (July 1, 2024). H 545, 2024 ch. 257, barred local regulation of rent, fees and deposits; now § 55-306.
• Eviction record shielding (cases filed on or after January 1, 2025). Section 6-303A, added by 2024 ch. 269. Unlawful detainer records are shielded from public view, without a petition, if the entire case was dismissed, no appeal is pending, and either three years have passed since filing or the parties stipulated to shielding and filed the stipulation. The court publishes a stipulation and order to shield (CAO UD 4-1, 4-2). Parties keep access.
• Fees and renumbering. The fee section was enacted by 2023 ch. 67 as § 55-314; 2025 ch. 65 moved it to § 55-305 and moved the change-of-terms section from § 55-307 to § 55-304, so older citations point to the wrong text.
• Sheriff removal of unauthorized occupants (July 1, 2025). H 321, 2025 ch. 222, § 6-310A. H 695, 2026 ch. 82, effective July 1, 2026, revised its provision on the fee for service.

What actually goes wrong

• Posting the three-day notice and nothing else. Posting is the last resort under § 6-304 and always requires mailing.
• Old notice forms. A notice without the 72-hour language fails § 6-303(2); one without the attorney fee advisory forfeits fees under § 6-324.
• Asking for back rent in an expedited complaint. That removes the 12-day trial setting (§ 6-311E).
• Clearing the unit before the 72 hours run and the sheriff restores possession.

When to bring in an attorney

An individual owner can often handle an uncontested expedited nonpayment case with the court’s forms. Use counsel for lease-violation and holdover cases, any case that includes a money claim, drug-activity cases, subsidized housing, a tenant who has a lawyer, an appeal, and whenever the owner is an entity or the case is handled by a property manager. The Idaho attorneys listed below represent landlords.

Sources

• Idaho Code §§ 6-303, 6-303A, 6-304, 6-305, 6-310, 6-310A, 6-311, 6-311A, 6-311C, 6-311D, 6-311E, 6-312, 6-313, 6-316, 6-317, 6-319, 6-320 and 6-324 (legislature.idaho.gov).
• Idaho Code §§ 55-208, 55-304, 55-305 and 55-306.
• Idaho Session Laws 2020 ch. 340 (H 461); 2023 ch. 67; 2024 ch. 257 (H 545) and ch. 269; 2025 ch. 65 and ch. 222 (H 321); 2026 ch. 82 (H 695).
• Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure 2.2 and 83 (isc.idaho.gov).
• Idaho Court Assistance Office, Housing forms page and eviction instructions (CAO UD Instruction 1), courtselfhelp.idaho.gov.
• Idaho Attorney General, Landlord and Tenant Manual (July 2026), ag.idaho.gov.

This guide is general information about Idaho procedure and is not legal advice. Confirm current statute text and county practice before relying on any deadline.