Outline of the eviction process in North Dakota

North Dakota evictions run under a short statute, N.D.C.C. chapter 47-32, with the lease rules in chapter 47-16. There is no separate landlord-tenant act and no housing court: the case is an action of eviction in the state district court, often heard by a judicial referee. The hearing date in the summons must fall 3 to 15 days after the summons is issued (§ 47-32-02), and a landlord who wins gets judgment for immediate restitution, which the judge may delay by no more than five days (§ 47-32-04).

What is distinctive: a single three-day notice of intention to evict covers nonpayment, holdover and lease violations; the statute does not list mail as a way to serve that notice; tenant counterclaims are almost entirely barred; and there is no just-cause rule, with local rent control prohibited (§ 47-16-02.1). The 2025 Legislative Assembly added an eviction record sealing section (§ 47-32-05) and barred fees for accepting cash, checks or money orders (§ 47-16-20.1).

1. Grounds

Section 47-32-01 lists eight situations in which an eviction action may be brought. The ones that matter for residential rentals are:

• Nonpayment. The lessee “fails to pay rent for three days after the rent is due” (§ 47-32-01(4)).
• Holdover. The lessee, in person or by subtenant, holds over after the termination of the lease or expiration of the term (§ 47-32-01(4)).
• Disturbance. The lessee, or a person on the premises with the lessee’s consent, acts in a manner that unreasonably disturbs other tenants’ peaceful enjoyment of the premises (§ 47-32-01(7)).
• Material lease violation. The lessee violates a material term of the written lease agreement (§ 47-32-01(8)).
• After a foreclosure sale, deed, or cancelled contract for deed (§ 47-32-01(5)).

Mobile home parks. A park tenant may defend an eviction by showing the landlord violated § 47-10-28, and if the court finds a violation it may not order the eviction (§ 47-32-01.1).

2. Notices

• Three-day notice of intention to evict. In all cases under subsections 4, 5, 6 and 8 of § 47-32-01 (nonpayment, holdover, post-sale possession, material lease violation), three days’ written notice of intention to evict must be given to the lessee, subtenant or party in possession before proceedings can be instituted (§ 47-32-02). The disturbance ground in subsection 7 is not in that list. The court system’s own packet nevertheless has landlords serve the notice in every case, which is the safe practice.
• Content. The statute does not prescribe a form. The court system publishes two unofficial versions: Form 1a, used when the only ground is unpaid or late rent, gives the tenant three days to pay the full amount due or move out; Form 1b is for other grounds. The statute itself contains no right to cure.
• Ending a month-to-month tenancy. Unless the parties agreed in writing to a longer period or a different notice time, either party may terminate by giving at least one calendar month’s written notice at any time (§ 47-16-15). One exception in the same section: if a fixed-term lease has converted to month-to-month under § 47-16-06 or 47-16-06.1, termination is on the last day of a month with at least one calendar month’s notice. If the tenant stays past that date, serve the three-day notice and then file.
• Changing terms or rent. In a month-to-month lease the landlord may change the terms effective at the end of a month by written notice at least 30 days before the end of that month (§ 47-16-07).
• 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.

How the three-day notice is served. The notice “may be served and returned as a summons is served and returned or, if the party cannot be found, then by the sheriff of the county or a process server posting the notice conspicuously upon the premises” (§ 47-32-02). Mail, email and text are not listed, and posting is a fallback, available only when the tenant cannot be found and done by the sheriff or a process server, not by the landlord. The court instructions (revised June 2026) say the notice is served by the sheriff or by another person at least 18 who is not a party to or interested in the case, and they call for an attempt between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. before posting.

Counting days. Per the court instructions: start with the day after the notice was served, count three calendar days including weekends and state holidays, and if the third day is a Saturday, Sunday or state holiday, move to the next day that is not. File only after that day has passed.

3. Filing

File the summons and complaint with the clerk of district court; the court instructions put filing before service and state a $160 filing fee.

Entity landlords need a lawyer. The court system states that only a lawyer licensed in North Dakota can represent a legal entity in an eviction and that legal documents signed by non-lawyer agents of an entity are considered void.

What can be joined. An eviction cannot be combined with any other action except claims for rents and profits accrued or for damages arising from the defendant’s possession (§ 47-32-04). The court instructions say a money judgment may include outstanding rent, service costs and late charges, and that future rent cannot be requested in the eviction. An evicted lessee remains liable for rent for the rest of the term, subject to the landlord’s duty to mitigate (§ 47-16-13.7).

Late fees. Chapter 47-16 sets no cap on late fees for ordinary residential leases; the tenant guide treats them as recoverable when the lease provides for them. Mobile home parks are capped: a monthly late fee of no more than 10 percent of monthly rent, and a daily late fee of no more than $5 per day (§ 47-10-28(11)). No landlord may charge a fee to accept cash, a check or a money order (§ 47-16-20.1).

4. Summons, service and the hearing

• Hearing date. The appearance time in the summons may not be fewer than 3 nor more than 15 days from the date the summons is issued (§ 47-32-02). It is measured from issuance, not from service.
• Service deadlines. Delivery of the summons to the defendant in person within the county must be made at least three days before the appearance time. Service elsewhere, or personal service in any other mode, must be made at least seven days before (§ 47-32-02).
• Posting the summons. If the defendant cannot be found in the county (the sheriff’s or process server’s return is prima facie proof), service has been attempted at least once between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney files an affidavit that the defendant cannot be found or is believed to be out of state, and a copy of the summons has been mailed to the last-known address, then the sheriff or process server may post the summons on the door of the residential unit (§ 47-32-02).
• The tenant’s response. The court’s tenant guide tells tenants to appear at the hearing and answer the complaint there.
• Counterclaims are barred. “No counterclaim can be interposed in such action, except as a setoff to a demand made for damages or for rents and profits” (§ 47-32-04).

5. Judgment and appeal

If the court finds for the plaintiff, it “shall enter judgment that the plaintiff have immediate restitution of the premises” (§ 47-32-04). The statute contains no right to pay and stay after the notice period.

The judge’s power to delay. On a showing that immediate restitution would work a substantial hardship on the defendant or the defendant’s family, the court may stay the special execution for a reasonable period not to exceed five days. No stay is available when the judgment is based in whole or in part on a disturbance of the peace (§ 47-32-04).

Review and appeal. If a judicial referee heard the case, a party may file a written request for review by a district judge within seven days after service of the notice of the right to review (N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 13). Appeal from a district court judgment is to the North Dakota Supreme Court, with the notice of appeal due within 60 days from service of notice of entry of judgment (N.D.R.App.P. 4(a)). Chapter 47-32 has no eviction-specific appeal bond. Under the general civil rule, a judgment directing delivery of possession of real property is not stayed on appeal unless the appellant files an undertaking with at least two sureties, in a sum directed by the court, covering waste and the value of use and occupation during the appeal (N.D.R.Civ.P. 62(h)). Rule 62(a) gives most civil judgments an automatic 30-day stay of execution, but Rule 81(a) excludes special statutory proceedings from the civil rules to the extent they conflict, and § 47-32-04 calls for immediate restitution with a discretionary stay of no more than five days. Do not assume the 30-day stay applies to an eviction judgment; no North Dakota case settling the point was found, so ask counsel if a tenant appeals.

6. The execution and the lockout

Possession is restored by a special execution, which the court forms call a Writ of Eviction. The court’s guide states that only the sheriff or the sheriff’s staff can remove a tenant, after the move-out date in the order. Chapter 47-32 sets no fixed waiting period beyond the optional five-day stay, so timing depends on the order and the sheriff’s schedule.

Tenant property (§ 47-16-30.1). Property with a total estimated value of not more than $2,500 left in a leased dwelling may be retained and disposed of without legal process 28 or more days after the lessor received actual notice that the lessee vacated, or 28 or more days after it reasonably appears the lessee has vacated. The lessor keeps the sale proceeds and may recover storage and moving expenses in excess of the proceeds from the security deposit. If the lessor removes the property after an eviction judgment and service of the special execution, the lessor has a lien for reasonable storage and moving expenses and may hold the property until paid, but the lien does not outrank a prior perfected security interest.

Recent law changes landlords should know

• Eviction record sealing (SB 2238, signed March 26, 2025). New § 47-32-05: a person evicted for nonpayment or damage who has resolved all rent and damage claims may move to seal the court records seven years after the eviction order was satisfied, if not evicted from another property in those seven years. A domestic violence victim evicted because of an incident may move to seal on the assailant’s conviction or on issuance of a protection or restraining order.
• No fee for accepting payment (HB 1610, signed April 1, 2025). New § 47-16-20.1 bars charging a tenant a fee to accept cash, a check or a money order for rent or any other payment required under the lease.
• Effective date: August 1, 2025. Each enrolled bill is a single section with no emergency clause and no stated effective date, and both were filed with the Secretary of State in March 2025, so the constitutional default applies: a law takes effect on August 1 after its filing (N.D. Const. art. IV, § 13).
• The 2025 session laws contain no act changing the three-day notice, the service rules, the hearing window or the five-day stay. SB 2366, which would have added required content to the notice of intention to evict, failed in the Senate on February 5, 2025 and is not law.

What actually goes wrong

• Mailing, texting or taping up the three-day notice yourself. The statute allows service like a summons, or posting by the sheriff or a process server when the tenant cannot be found.
• Filing on the third day. The day of service does not count, and a third day that lands on a weekend or state holiday rolls forward.
• Setting the hearing too close to allow service. Anything other than in-hand delivery within the county needs seven days before the hearing, inside a window that closes 15 days after the summons issues.
• Posting the summons without the evening attempt, the affidavit and the mailing.
• An LLC or corporation filing through a manager. The court system says those papers are void.
• Suing on an oral lease under subsection 8, which requires a material term of a written lease.
• Clearing out belongings early. The 28-day and $2,500 limits in § 47-16-30.1 control.

When to bring in an attorney

An individual owner can often handle an uncontested nonpayment case with the court system’s packet. Use counsel whenever the owner is an entity, for disturbance and lease-violation cases, for mobile home park evictions, for subsidized housing, when service is difficult, when the tenant has a lawyer or raises setoffs, and for any referee review or appeal. The North Dakota attorneys listed below represent landlords.

Sources

• N.D.C.C. ch. 47-32: §§ 47-32-01, 47-32-01.1, 47-32-02, 47-32-04, 47-32-05 (ndlegis.gov).
• N.D.C.C. ch. 47-16: §§ 47-16-02.1, 47-16-07, 47-16-13.7, 47-16-15, 47-16-20.1, 47-16-30.1; § 47-10-28(11).
• 2025 N.D. Session Laws, Property title, chs. 423 (HB 1610) and 427 (SB 2238), and the enrolled bills; N.D. Const. art. IV, § 13.
• N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 13; N.D.R.App.P. 4(a); N.D.R.Civ.P. 62(h).
• North Dakota Court System, Legal Self Help Center: Eviction for Landlords, eviction instructions (rev. June 2026), and Eviction for Tenants Informational Guide (rev. December 2025).

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