Outline of the eviction process in North Carolina

North Carolina evictions are called summary ejectment and are heard by a magistrate in small claims court (N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 42, Article 3). The process is quick by national standards, often four to eight weeks from the first notice to the sheriff's lockout, but it has a few traps: the ten-day demand for rent has to be a real demand, the tenant can stall a judgment by appealing and paying rent into court, and only the sheriff may change the locks.

1. Grounds for eviction in North Carolina

• Nonpayment of rent after a proper demand (§ 42-3).
• Breach of a lease condition where the lease says the breach forfeits the tenancy, for example an unauthorized occupant or pet, or repeated late payment (§ 42-26(a)(2)).
• Holding over after the lease term ends or after a periodic tenancy is properly terminated (§ 42-26(a)(1)).
• Criminal activity on or near the premises, which allows an expedited eviction under Article 7 (§§ 42-59 to 42-76).

North Carolina has no just-cause requirement and prohibits local rent control. Retaliation is a defense under § 42-37.1, which protects a tenant who, within the previous 12 months, complained to a housing inspector or other agency, asked the landlord for repairs, asserted rights under the lease or the law, or organized with other tenants, as is discrimination under state and federal fair-housing law.

2. Notice before filing

• Nonpayment. The statute gives the landlord a right to re-enter only after a ten-day demand for rent (§ 42-3). The demand must actually be made and the ten days must pass before you file. Many leases include language that waives the demand, and magistrates generally honor a clear waiver, but a written ten-day notice is cheap insurance and closes off the most common defense. Rent is not "late" for late-fee purposes until it is five calendar days or more late, counting from the day after it was due (§ 42-46, as amended by S.L. 2024-47). And if the tenant pays or tenders the rent due plus the costs of the action at any time before judgment, the case ends (§ 42-33).
• Lease violations. The lease controls. If it contains a forfeiture clause, you may terminate as the clause provides, usually with a written notice describing the breach. If there is no forfeiture clause, the breach alone will not support summary ejectment, and you will need to end the tenancy on holdover grounds instead.
• Ending a periodic tenancy. Written notice before the end of the period: seven days for month-to-month, two days for week-to-week, one month for year-to-year (§ 42-14). Mobile-home lot tenancies require 60 days.
• Federally covered properties. If the property has a federally backed mortgage or federal subsidy, the CARES Act requires a 30-day notice to vacate before the tenant can be required to leave (15 U.S.C. § 9058(c)). Check it before filing; whether the 30 days applies only to nonpayment is disputed, so the safe course is to give it.

Deliver notices in writing and keep proof. Do not accept partial rent after the demand period unless your lease protects you. Accepting rent generally waives the default, but § 42-26(c) recognizes lease clauses under which the landlord may accept partial rent without waiving the breach. Make sure your lease has one.

3. Filing the Complaint in Summary Ejectment

File a Complaint in Summary Ejectment (form AOC-CVM-201) with the clerk of superior court in the county where the property sits. You can ask for possession only, or possession plus a money judgment for rent owed and damages. The small-claims filing fee is $96, and the sheriff charges $30 per defendant to serve the summons. If the amount you are claiming exceeds the small-claims limit ($10,000, G.S. 7A-210), the possession claim can still be heard by the magistrate and the money claim filed separately in district court.

The summons directs the tenant to appear at a hearing not more than seven days after the summons is issued, excluding weekends and legal holidays (§ 42-28), though without both parties’ consent the magistrate may continue it only for up to five days or until the next small claims session, whichever is longer (§ 7A-223(b)), and in the larger counties (Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Durham) hearings are commonly ten to fourteen days out. The sheriff mails a copy to the tenant by the next business day, then either reaches the tenant by phone to arrange service or makes at least one visit to hand it to the tenant or a resident of suitable age, and posts it on the premises if that fails (§ 42-29). If service was only by mail and posting, the magistrate can still decide possession, and on your request will sever the money claim so it can be served properly (§ 7A-223(b1)).

4. The magistrate hearing

Bring the lease, a rent ledger, your ten-day demand and proof of delivery, photographs for damage or breach cases, and a witness who can testify to the facts (a property manager is fine). The tenant does not have to file a written answer; they simply appear and present defenses. Common defenses are that no demand was made or the ten days had not run, that rent was accepted after the demand, that the landlord failed to make repairs after written notice (which can offset rent under § 42-42 and § 42-44), retaliation, and improper service. If the tenant does not appear, the magistrate hears your evidence and enters judgment on the spot.

Judgments for possession usually enter the day of the hearing. If you asked for money, the magistrate can award unpaid rent, late fees within the statutory cap (the greater of $15 or five percent of monthly rent), and, if a written lease provides for them, reasonable attorney's fees actually paid or owed, limited to 15 percent of the amount owed, or 15 percent of the monthly rent where the eviction is for something other than nonpayment (§ 42-46). The same section allows one of three administrative fees if the lease provides for it: a complaint-filing fee (the greater of $15 or 5 percent of monthly rent), which applies only when the tenant cures and you dismiss before judgment; a court-appearance fee (10 percent) when you win before the magistrate; or a second-trial fee (12 percent) when you win again after an appeal. Filing and service costs are recoverable too. For a subsidized tenant every one of these fees is calculated on the tenant’s share of the rent only. Since 2025, a landlord who wins a tenant’s appeal that was frivolous or taken for delay can also recover full reasonable fees for the appeal (S.L. 2025-52).

5. The ten-day appeal period and rent bond

Either side has ten days after the judgment to appeal to district court for a new trial. A tenant who appeals and wants to stay in the unit during the appeal must post a bond: the rent in arrears (or the undisputed amount), prorated rent from the judgment date to the next due date where the judgment came more than five business days before it, and then ongoing rent paid to the clerk as it comes due (§ 42-34). A tenant approved to appeal as an indigent pays the ongoing rent but not the arrears (§ 42-34(c1)), and the clerk must pay you any rent the tenant has not disputed within five business days of a written request (§ 42-34(e)). If the tenant misses a payment by more than five business days, the clerk issues execution on your application; no motion or hearing is needed. A tenant who does not pay the appeal costs within ten days of the judgment has the appeal dismissed automatically (§ 7A-228). Appeals are less common than the rule suggests, because the rent-bond requirement is strict, but they can add one to three months when they happen.

6. Writ of possession and the sheriff's lockout

On the eleventh day after judgment, if no appeal has been filed and the tenant has not left, you ask the clerk for a Writ of Possession (form AOC-CV-401; AOC-CVM-401 is the magistrate’s judgment form, which is a common mix-up). If more than 30 days have passed since the judgment, you must also sign an affidavit (AOC-CV-412) that you have not signed a new lease with the tenant or accepted rent for any period after the judgment (§ 42-36.1A). The sheriff charges a service fee. The sheriff must execute the writ within five days of receiving it (§ 42-36.2), and will notify the tenant of the date. On that date the deputy removes the occupants and padlocks the unit. Only then may you change the locks.

Tenant belongings. After the sheriff's set-out, you must hold the tenant's property for seven days before disposing of it, and the tenant may request its release during that period (§ 42-25.9 and § 42-36.2). Two shortcuts apply to low-value property. If everything left behind is worth less than $500, it is deemed abandoned five days after the writ is executed and may be thrown away, subject to the tenant’s right to ask for it in that window (§ 42-25.9(h)). If it is worth $750 or less, you may instead deliver it to a nonprofit that agrees to store it separately for 30 days and release it to the tenant free of charge, after posting and mailing notice (§ 42-25.9(d)). Document everything with photographs.

Self-help evictions are illegal in North Carolina (§ 42-25.6). A tenant locked out or otherwise removed by self-help can recover possession or terminate the lease and sue for actual damages; § 42-25.9 excludes punitive and treble damages under that section, but separate claims such as unfair trade practices are sometimes added, so the exposure is real.

Expedited eviction for criminal activity

Article 7 of Chapter 42 lets a landlord file for expedited eviction where a tenant, a household member or a guest has engaged in drug trafficking, violent felonies or similar activity on or near the property. The case is heard in district court on a shorter schedule and can include an order barring specific people from the property. Most landlords use counsel for these cases because the evidence requirements are specific.

Typical timeline

Step	Typical time
Ten-day demand for rent	10 days
Filing to magistrate hearing	7 to 14 days
Appeal period	10 days
Writ of possession to lockout	up to 5 days

An uncontested nonpayment case commonly takes four to six weeks from the demand to the lockout. A contested case with an appeal to district court can take three months or more.

Practical notes for North Carolina landlords

• Use a North Carolina-specific lease with a forfeiture clause for breaches and a clear waiver of the ten-day demand, and serve the ten-day demand anyway.
• Ask for a money judgment in the complaint; the magistrate can award it in the same hearing.
• If you require renters insurance, you may not require a particular carrier or agent, and if the tenant gives no proof of coverage you may charge only the actual cost of coverage plus an administrative fee of up to $50 a year (§ 42-46(l), added in 2025).
• Squatters are not tenants. Since December 1, 2025, a separate expedited procedure (G.S. 14-159.52 to 14-159.56) lets an owner remove an unauthorized person within days; it expressly does not apply to tenants or holdovers.
• Keep late fees inside the statutory cap. Over-charging late fees is a frequent counterclaim and can void your fee provision.
• If the tenant is in the military, the court requires an affidavit of military status before default, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act may delay the case.

When to bring in an attorney

Many North Carolina landlords handle routine nonpayment cases themselves; the forms are standardized and the fees are low. Bring in counsel when the tenant appeals, when repair or retaliation defenses are raised, when the property has federal backing or a subsidy, for expedited criminal-activity evictions, and when you are managing enough units that a firm running cases on a schedule saves more than it costs. The North Carolina attorneys listed below represent landlords in the magistrate and district courts, with several focused on Charlotte and the Triangle.

Sources

• N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 42, Article 3 (Summary Ejectment), §§ 42-26 to 42-36.2; § 42-3 (demand for rent); § 42-14 (notice to quit); § 42-25.6 and § 42-25.9 (self-help and disposition of property); § 42-34 (appeal bond); § 42-46 (late fees and attorney's fees); Article 7 (Expedited Eviction).
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-28 (hearing within seven days, excluding weekends and holidays), § 42-33 (tender before judgment), § 42-36.1A (writ after 30 days), § 42-37.1 (retaliation), § 7A-223 and § 7A-228 (continuances and appeals); S.L. 2024-47, S.L. 2024-54, S.L. 2025-45, S.L. 2025-52 and S.L. 2025-88.
• North Carolina Judicial Branch, forms AOC-CVM-201 (complaint), AOC-CVM-401 (judgment), AOC-CV-401 (writ of possession) and AOC-CV-412, and the Summary Ejectment guide (nccourts.gov).