Outline of the eviction process in Missouri

Missouri has two separate eviction actions, and picking the wrong one is an easy way to get a case dismissed. Rent and possession (RSMo chapter 535) is for unpaid rent only. Unlawful detainer (RSMo chapter 534) is for a tenant who stays after the tenancy has ended, including after a month-to-month termination or a ten-day notice for a lease violation under § 441.040. Both are heard by an associate circuit judge in the county where the property sits.

Missouri has no just-cause requirement and no rent control, and state law now blocks most local tenant ordinances: cities and counties may not regulate rent, require landlords to accept vouchers, restrict screening or cap deposits (§ 441.043, as amended effective August 28, 2025), or impose eviction moratoriums (§ 535.012).

1. Grounds

• Unpaid rent. When rent is due, has been demanded and has not been paid, the landlord may file a rent and possession case (§ 535.020).
• Lease violations, assignment without consent, waste. A tenant may not violate the conditions of a written lease, commit waste, or assign without written assent (§ 441.030). After ten days’ notice to vacate, the landlord may oust the tenant “by the procedure specified by law” (§ 441.040), which in practice means an unlawful detainer case.
• Illegal use. A lease becomes void if the tenant permits illegal gaming, prostitution or controlled-substance activity on the premises, and the landlord has the remedies available against a holdover tenant (§ 441.020).
• End of the tenancy. Holding over after the term ends, or after a periodic tenancy has been properly terminated, is unlawful detainer (§ 534.030). No reason is required to end a month-to-month tenancy or to decline to renew a lease under state law, though fair housing law still applies.
• Expedited eviction. A court must order immediate eviction if it finds drug-related criminal activity on or within the leased property, or an emergency in which slower legal means would imminently cause physical injury to other tenants or the lessor or property damage costing more than twelve months’ rent to repair. The emergency ground is available only after the lessor has made a reasonable attempt to abate the emergency through law enforcement or local mental health personnel (§ 441.740, as amended in 2023).

2. Notices

• Nonpayment: a demand, with no statutory waiting period. Chapter 535 requires that rent has been “demanded” and not paid (§ 535.020). It does not set a number of days, a form, or a method of service, and a demand is good when made at any time after the rent becomes due (§ 535.060). The petition swears that demand was made, so make it in writing, state the rent amount, keep proof of delivery, and honor any notice period your lease promises.
• Lease violation: ten days’ notice to vacate (§ 441.040). The statute gives the tenant no right to cure. Your lease may.
• Month-to-month: one month, tied to the rent date. Written notice must state that the tenancy ends on a periodic rent-paying date not less than one month after the tenant receives the notice (§ 441.060.4(1)).
• Year-to-year: written notice not less than 60 days before the end of the year (§ 441.050).
• Fixed-term lease that expires: no notice to quit is necessary when the term ends at a certain time (§ 441.070), unless the lease requires one.
• Federally backed or subsidized properties may also be subject to the federal CARES Act 30-day notice to vacate; confirm before filing on a covered property.

Service of notices. For the written demand for possession in § 534.030, § 534.050 gives the method: deliver a copy to the person in possession, or leave it with a person over age 15 who lives on or is in charge of the premises. Posting is allowed only if no one is in actual occupancy. Chapter 441 does not spell out a service method for the ten-day or one-month notices, so the careful practice is to follow § 534.050, add any method the lease requires, and keep a sworn record.

3. Filing

Both actions are heard by an associate circuit judge in the county where the property is located (§§ 535.020, 534.060). The rent and possession petition is a statement verified by affidavit setting out the rental terms, the rent actually due, the unpaid demand, and a description of the property (§ 535.020). You may join other unpaid lease sums, other than property damages, but they are not “rent” and will not by themselves support possession. You may also sue for possession alone (§ 535.040). An unlawful detainer complaint must be in writing, signed and sworn (§ 534.070). Name every adult occupant: the summons is directed to the tenant and all occupants “by name.”

Jackson County assigns all chapter 441, 534 and 535 cases to its Landlord/Tenant Docket. Fees are set locally; check the circuit clerk’s schedule. Missouri courts generally do not let a corporation or LLC appear in court through a non-lawyer officer or property manager. That rule comes from case law, not the eviction chapters, so an entity owner should plan on using an attorney.

4. Summons, service and the hearing

In both actions the court date must be not more than 21 business days after the summons is issued unless the plaintiff consents in writing to a later date, and the summons must be served at least four days before the court date (§§ 535.030, 534.070, 534.090).

• Rent and possession: posting and mailing. In addition to attempted personal service, you may ask the clerk to order service by posting the summons and complaint on the dwelling and mailing them by ordinary mail, both at least ten days before the court date, proved by affidavit (§ 535.030.2).
• Unlawful detainer: court-ordered posting. If ordinary service fails, the judge may order notices set up for ten days on the premises and in one public place in the county, plus ordinary mail (§ 534.090).
• The price of posting. In either action, if the tenant defaults after posted service, the court can award possession only, no money judgment (§§ 535.030, 535.040, 534.090).

No written answer is required by these chapters; the tenant appears on the court date. Unlawful detainer cases are heard on the record (§ 534.060), which matters for the appeal.

5. Judgment, pay and stay, and appeal

Rent and possession. If the tenant tenders the rent due with all costs at the hearing, there is no judgment for possession (§ 535.040). A tenant who tenders all rent in arrears and all costs on the date a money judgment is given stops the case, and one who satisfies the judgment and costs after that date but before the judgment becomes final stops the execution for possession. A possession-only judgment carries no such stay (§ 535.160). The defendant has ten days from the judgment to move to set it aside or apply for a trial de novo; after that the possession judgment is final (§ 535.030.4). Trial de novo is available in chapter 535 cases tried without a jury before an associate circuit judge, unless the case was assigned to be heard on the record under circuit judge procedures, in which case the remedy is an appeal on the record (§§ 512.180, 512.190). The application does not stay execution unless the tenant posts a bond within ten days covering damages, costs and rent then due, conditioned on paying accruing rent into court (§ 535.110).

Unlawful detainer. The judgment is for restitution of the premises plus double the damages found and double the monthly rents and profits from the judgment date until possession is restored (§ 534.330). There is no statutory pay-and-stay right. The tenant’s remedy is an appeal on the record as in other civil cases, and it does not stay restitution unless the tenant posts a bond within the time for appeal, in the amount of the judgment and conditioned on paying accruing rent into court; a subsidized tenant’s bond is reduced by the subsidy (§ 534.380). Execution for possession may not issue sooner than ten days after judgment (§ 534.350).

6. The execution and the lockout

The court issues an execution commanding the officer to put the landlord in possession, and under chapter 535 the officer must deliver possession within five days of receiving the execution (§ 535.040). At the prevailing party’s request, the judgment may also order the sheriff or appropriate officer to deliver possession within 15 days of the date the judgment becomes final (§ 534.355). The sheriff performs the eviction; scheduling varies by county. If there is no stay and the officer has not delivered possession within seven days after the writ was delivered to the officer, the landlord may, within 60 days of the judgment, change the locks and remove property without breach of the peace, but only in the presence of a municipal or county law enforcement officer who has been shown a true copy of the judgment and execution and acknowledges that in writing. The acknowledgment must be filed with the court within five days after taking possession (§ 441.060.5).

Tenant property. Except for willful, wanton or malicious acts, a landlord is not liable for removing or disposing of property left in the dwelling under a court-ordered execution (§ 535.040.2). The exception is property with a conspicuous permanent label identifying a third-party owner: notify that owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, and allow five business days from receipt to recover it (§ 535.040.3). Without a court case, premises are deemed abandoned only when the landlord reasonably believes the tenant has moved out, rent is 30 days unpaid, the landlord posts a notice and mails it by both first class and certified mail, return receipt requested, and the tenant neither pays the rent nor responds in writing within ten days after both the posting and the mailing (§ 441.065).

Self-help. Outside the abandonment procedure in § 441.065, a landlord or agent who removes or excludes a tenant or the tenant’s property without judicial process, removes doors or locks, or willfully interrupts electric, gas, water or sewer service (other than for health or safety reasons) is deemed guilty of forcible entry and detainer under chapter 534 (§ 441.233), which exposes the landlord to the doubled damages in § 534.330.

7. Kansas City and St. Louis

Kansas City funds a Right to Counsel program for tenants facing eviction who live within the city limits, delivered by Legal Aid of Western Missouri and two other providers. The City of St. Louis runs the Housing Eviction Law Program (HELP STL) for eligible low-income city residents through Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.

Recent law changes landlords should know

• Local tenant ordinances preempted (August 28, 2025). HB 595 (with HB 343) amended § 441.043 to bar local source-of-income rules, limits on screening by credit, income, eviction, property damage or criminal history, deposit caps, and automatic rights of first refusal. Cities and counties may still prohibit discrimination based solely on receipt of veterans’ benefits.
• No local eviction moratoriums (August 28, 2024). § 535.012, from HB 2062 and SB 895.
• Squatters (August 28, 2024). § 534.602, from HB 2062, lets an owner file a verified petition and, for good cause shown, obtain an immediate ex parte order, enforced by the sheriff, removing a person who occupies a residential property without the owner’s permission and has no tenant protections under state law. A hearing follows within 48 hours of filing unless good cause is shown for delay.
• 2026 session. As of September 2026 the Revisor of Statutes shows no section of chapter 441, 534 or 535 with a 2026 effective date, and the Missouri Bar’s summary of bills passed in 2026 lists none on landlord-tenant law. HB 1870 of 2026, signed May 6, 2026, changes garnishment procedure, not chapters 441, 534 or 535. Confirm before relying on this.

What actually goes wrong

• Filing rent and possession for a lease violation, or unlawful detainer before the tenancy has actually been terminated.
• A month-to-month notice that does not end on a rent-paying date at least one month after the tenant received it.
• Relying on posted service and expecting a money judgment. A default on posting yields possession only.
• Posting a demand for possession on an occupied unit. § 534.050 allows posting only when no one is in actual occupancy.
• Changing locks without a law enforcement officer present, or not filing the officer’s acknowledgment within five days.

When to bring in an attorney

An individual landlord with a documented demand can often handle an uncontested rent and possession case. Use counsel for unlawful detainer, lease-violation and drug cases, expedited evictions, subsidized housing, any case where the tenant has a lawyer, any trial de novo or appeal, and whenever the owner is an entity. The Missouri attorneys listed below represent landlords in the associate circuit courts.

Sources

• RSMo chapter 535 (rent and possession): §§ 535.012, 535.020, 535.030, 535.040, 535.060, 535.110, 535.160.
• RSMo chapter 534 (unlawful detainer): §§ 534.030, 534.050, 534.060, 534.070, 534.090, 534.330, 534.350, 534.355, 534.380, 534.602.
• RSMo chapter 441: §§ 441.020, 441.030, 441.040, 441.043, 441.050, 441.060, 441.065, 441.070, 441.233, 441.740; §§ 512.180, 512.190; history lines for 2023 SB 106, 2024 HB 2062 and SB 895, and 2025 HB 595 & 343 (revisor.mo.gov).
• 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County, Landlord/Tenant Docket page; City of St. Louis, Housing Eviction Law Program page; Legal Aid of Western Missouri, Right to Counsel page; The Missouri Bar, 2026 Legislative Updates.

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