Outline of the eviction process in Indiana

Indiana residential evictions are governed by the landlord-tenant article of the Indiana Code (IC 32-31), the ejectment chapter (IC 32-30-3) and, in most cases, the Indiana Small Claims Rules. Most cases are filed on the small claims docket of the circuit or superior court in the county where the property sits, or in Marion County in a township small claims court, as long as the rent owed at filing is $10,000 or less (IC 33-29-2-4; IC 33-34-3-3). The landlord-tenant article contains no just-cause requirement, and state law bars cities and counties from regulating rents or most of the landlord-tenant relationship unless the General Assembly authorizes it (IC 32-31-1-20).

Four acts took effect July 1, 2025: new grounds for emergency possessory orders, police removal of true squatters by affidavit, a 45-day (formerly 90-day) period before stored tenant property may be sold, and broader sealing of eviction records.

1. Grounds

The Indiana landlord-tenant statutes do not list permitted reasons for ending a tenancy; the lease and the notice rules below control. Unless the General Assembly authorizes it, local governments may not regulate rental rates, screening, security deposits, lease applications, lease terms, disclosures, the rights of the parties to a lease, or landlord fees; an ordinance that does is void (IC 32-31-1-20). The section does not apply to private property that receives government funds for the express purpose of reduced rents.

Two limits matter. Retaliation: a landlord may not retaliate because a tenant complained to a code enforcement agency about a violation that materially affects health or safety, complained to the landlord in writing about a violation of IC 32-31-5-6 or IC 32-31-8-5, sued under IC 32-31-6 or IC 32-31-8, organized or joined a tenant organization, or testified against the landlord (IC 32-31-8.5-2, 8.5-5). Section 8.5-5 also lists situations, such as a rent default, in which a landlord may still sue for possession. Crime victims: a landlord may not terminate a lease, refuse to renew or enter into one, or retaliate solely because a tenant, applicant or household member is a protected individual under IC 32-31-9 (IC 32-31-9-8).

2. Notices

• Unpaid rent: 10 days (IC 32-31-1-6). If a tenant refuses or neglects to pay rent when due, the landlord may terminate the lease with not less than ten days’ notice, unless the parties otherwise agreed or the tenant pays the rent in full before the notice period expires. IC 32-31-1-7 supplies a short optional form.
• When no notice is required (IC 32-31-1-8). The statute lists six situations, including a lease for a specified period, a contract that fixes when the tenancy ends, a tenant at sufferance (a holdover), a tenant at will who commits waste, and a lease whose express terms require rent in advance where the tenant refuses or neglects to pay it. Many leases also waive the ten-day notice, which the “otherwise agreed” language of section 6 allows.
• Month-to-month and other periodic tenancies. A general tenancy with the landlord’s consent is month to month (IC 32-31-1-2). A periodic tenancy of not more than three months that runs from one period to the next is ended by notice equal to the interval between periods, so one month for a month-to-month tenancy (IC 32-31-1-4). A tenancy at will is ended by one month’s written notice delivered to the tenant (IC 32-31-1-1). A year-to-year tenancy requires notice not less than three months before the end of the year (IC 32-31-1-3).
• Lease violations. Chapter 1 sets no statutory notice or cure period for breaches other than unpaid rent. What you must send, and whether the tenant may cure, comes from the lease. Follow it exactly.
• Federally backed or subsidized properties may also be subject to the federal CARES Act 30-day notice to vacate; confirm before filing on a shorter notice.

How notices are served (IC 32-31-1-9). Serve the tenant. If the tenant cannot be found, the notice may be served on a person residing at the premises, and the server must explain the contents to that person. Only if no such person is found on the premises may the notice be served by affixing a copy to a conspicuous part of the premises. Posting is a last step, and the statute does not list mail.

Counting days. The statute says only “not less than ten (10) days” and the form counts from when the tenant receives the notice. Count conservatively: start the day after service and do not file until ten full days have run.

3. Filing

File a notice of claim on the small claims docket if the rent due at filing does not exceed $10,000 (IC 33-29-2-4; for Marion County township small claims courts, IC 33-34-3-3). Larger claims go on the regular civil docket. Filing fees and local forms vary by county.

Entity landlords. Small Claims Rule 8(C) lets a corporation, LLC, LLP or trust appear through counsel, an owner, or a designated full-time employee. An entity using an employee must file a certificate of compliance in each case with a resolution or sworn document binding the entity, plus the employee’s affidavit required by the rule. Outside the small claims docket, plan on using an attorney for an entity.

If the case settles before final adjudication, the plaintiff must file a motion to dismiss unless it is still seeking damages, including retention of the security deposit (IC 32-31-10-3).

4. Service and the hearing

In small claims the notice of claim is the summons. It may be served by certified mail with return receipt, by personal delivery, or by leaving a copy at the defendant’s dwelling, in which case the server must also mail a copy by first class mail (S.C. Rule 3(A)).

The tenant does not file an answer. All defenses are deemed at issue without a responsive pleading, and a tenant’s failure to enter an appearance is not by itself grounds for default (S.C. Rule 4). A defendant may demand a jury within ten days of receiving the notice of claim, which moves the case off the small claims docket (S.C. Rule 4(C)).

In practice many Indiana courts hear possession first and set a later hearing on rent and damages; this is local practice, not a statute. Under the ejectment chapter a landlord may also file an affidavit with the complaint or any time before judgment and obtain an order to show cause; that hearing may be no earlier than five business days after service, and any order of possession other than a final judgment requires the landlord to file a written undertaking with surety in an amount the court sets (IC 32-30-3-1, -2, -6).

Emergency possessory orders (IC 32-31-6). The court must review the petition immediately and hold an emergency hearing not later than three business days after filing (IC 32-31-6-5). A landlord may petition if the tenant commits or threatens waste, and since July 1, 2025 also if the tenant or a guest has committed a crime that affects the health and safety of another tenant, the landlord or the landlord’s agent, or if the tenant gave materially false information with intent to induce the lease (IC 32-31-6-3). On the crime ground the court must also find that the other tenant, the landlord or the agent has suffered or will suffer immediate and serious injury, loss or damage. On a crime or false-information finding the court orders possession returned not later than seven days from the hearing (IC 32-31-6-7.1). Unpaid rent is not waste and is not a basis for an emergency order (IC 32-31-6-7).

Diversion. The Indiana judiciary’s housing page (checked September 2026) describes a pre-eviction diversion program under which, if both sides agree, the case is made confidential and paused for 90 days; ask the court whether it is operating locally. By statute any such program must be voluntary for all parties (IC 32-31-10-5). The statutes reviewed for this guide do not give tenants a right to appointed counsel in eviction cases.

5. Judgment, paying to stay, and appeal

The statutory right to pay and stay is the one in IC 32-31-1-6: payment in full before the ten-day notice expires. The statutes reviewed for this guide give the tenant no right to reinstate the lease by paying after that.

An appeal from a small claims judgment goes to the Indiana Court of Appeals, and the notice of appeal is due within 30 days after the final judgment is noted in the chronological case summary (App. Rule 9(A)(1)). That includes Marion County township small claims judgments (IC 33-34-3-15.1). A late notice of appeal forfeits the appeal (App. Rule 9(A)(5)). Do not assume an appeal stops enforcement or that it does not; whether the judgment is stayed, and on what bond, is decided by the court, so check the order in your case.

Sealing. The court must order nondisclosure of the eviction file, without a further hearing, when the case is dismissed, when judgment is entered for the tenant, or when a judgment against the tenant is overturned or vacated on appeal. Where judgment went against the tenant, the court must seal on the tenant’s motion once a money judgment has been satisfied, or seven years after a final judgment that included no money judgment, and it may do so without a hearing (IC 32-31-11-3, -4).

6. The order of possession and the lockout

Watch Small Claims Rule 16. An order of possession may not be issued if more than 30 days have passed since the judgment, and once issued it is effective for no more than 30 consecutive days. After the 30 days from judgment have passed, the rule says a plaintiff seeking possession may do so by filing a new case.

The lockout is carried out by an officer, not the landlord. In Marion County’s township small claims courts, the court’s constable has police powers to carry out the court’s orders (IC 33-34-6-4). The ejectment chapter directs an order of possession to the sheriff or other officer charged with executing it in the jurisdiction where the property lies (IC 32-30-3-7). That chapter, which is written around prejudgment orders of possession, has the officer serve the order on the tenant and remove the occupants not earlier than 48 hours after that service (IC 32-30-3-9, -10). No statute reviewed for this guide sets a statewide move-out period after a final small claims judgment; in practice the judge usually sets the possession date, and timing after that depends on the executing officer. Ask the clerk how orders of possession are executed in your county.

Tenant property. A landlord is not liable for property the tenant has abandoned, meaning a reasonable person would conclude the tenant has vacated and surrendered the property, and a lease may not define abandonment differently (IC 32-31-4-2). Otherwise, a landlord awarded possession may ask the court for an order allowing removal of the tenant’s belongings. If the tenant does not remove them by the date in that order, the landlord may deliver them to a warehouseman or court-approved storage facility, but only after the removal order and the identity and location of the facility have been personally served on the tenant at the last known address (IC 32-31-4-2, -3). Exempt property must be released to the tenant on demand without payment. The facility may sell unclaimed property 45 days after the tenant receives that notice (IC 32-31-4-5, as amended in 2025).

Self-help is prohibited. Except under a court order, a landlord may not change locks, remove doors, windows, fixtures or appliances, or interrupt electricity, gas, water or other essential services, unless the unit is abandoned as the statute defines it (IC 32-31-5-6). A locked-out tenant can petition for an emergency order, with a hearing within three business days, returning possession (IC 32-31-6-3, -5, -6), and the Small Claims Manual warns that illegal lockouts and utility shutoffs can lead to punitive damages.

Squatters are different. Since July 1, 2025 an owner may give law enforcement an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that the occupant has no rental agreement, permission or property interest and never had one; the agency must dispatch officers to remove the squatter not later than 48 hours after receiving the affidavit, or as soon as practicable if public safety requires delay (IC 32-31-12-3, -4). The definition excludes anyone whose rental agreement expired or who may have violated one, and invitees (IC 32-31-12-2). A knowingly false affidavit exposes the owner to a civil suit (IC 32-31-12-8).

Recent law changes landlords should know

• Emergency possessory orders expanded (July 1, 2025). H.E.A. 1115, P.L. 157-2025.
• Squatter removal by affidavit (July 1, 2025). S.E.A. 157, P.L. 191-2025, new IC 32-31-12.
• Tenant property: 45 days, down from 90 (July 1, 2025). H.E.A. 1079, P.L. 154-2025, IC 32-31-4-5.
• Broader sealing of eviction records (July 1, 2025). S.E.A. 142, P.L. 128-2025, amending IC 32-31-11.
• 2026 session. The Indiana courts’ 2026 legislative update lists no enacted change to the eviction statutes; confirm before relying on this.

What actually goes wrong

• Taping the ten-day notice to the door first. Posting is allowed only after the tenant cannot be found and no resident is found on the premises.
• Filing before ten full days have run.
• Letting the judgment sit. No order of possession after 30 days from judgment, and the order itself dies after 30 days.
• Sending a part-time manager or outside agent to small claims for an LLC without the Rule 8(C) paperwork.
• Disposing of belongings without a removal order and personal service of the storage notice.

When to bring in an attorney

An individual landlord with a clean ten-day notice can often handle an uncontested small claims case. Use counsel when rent owed exceeds $10,000, when the tenant demands a jury or raises retaliation or habitability, for subsidized housing, for emergency possessory petitions based on crime or false information, and for any entity that cannot meet Rule 8(C). The Indiana attorneys listed below represent landlords.

Sources

• Indiana Code 32-31-1 (§§ 1 to 4, 6 to 9 and 20), 32-31-4, 32-31-5-6, 32-31-6, 32-31-8.5, 32-31-9-8, 32-31-10, 32-31-11 and 32-31-12 (2025 code).
• Indiana Code 32-30-3 (§§ 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12); IC 33-29-2-4; IC 33-34-3-3 and 33-34-3-15.1.
• Indiana Small Claims Rules 3, 4, 8 and 16; Indiana Appellate Rule 9.
• P.L. 128-2025 (S.E.A. 142), P.L. 154-2025 (H.E.A. 1079), P.L. 157-2025 (H.E.A. 1115), P.L. 191-2025 (S.E.A. 157); Indiana Judicial Branch legislative updates for 2025 and 2026.
• Indiana Office of Court Services, Small Claims Manual (2026); Indiana Judicial Branch, Help with Housing page.

This guide is general information about Indiana procedure and is not legal advice. County practice varies and statutes change; confirm the current text and your court’s local rules before relying on any deadline.