How much notice must a landlord give before entering in North Dakota?
North Dakota sets no fixed advance-notice period for landlord entry — instead, before a routine entry the landlord must (unless impractical) notify the tenant and obtain consent for a specific time, and the tenant's consent is presumed if the tenant does not object after getting notice of intent to enter at that stated time.
Cited to N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.3 (1)-(2) · Verified July 11, 2026
Consent may not be unreasonably withheld, entry must happen during reasonable hours and in a reasonable manner, and the permitted purposes are inspection, necessary or agreed repairs and improvements, supplying services, and showing the unit to prospective buyers, insurers, mortgagees, agents, tenants, workers, or contractors. The landlord may enter at ANY time, without notice or consent, in an emergency, when the landlord reasonably believes the tenant has abandoned the premises, or when the landlord reasonably believes the tenant is in substantial violation of the lease — an unusually broad third ground most states do not have. Notice can be personally served, posted conspicuously at the unit, or given any other way that actually informs the tenant, and the statute forbids using the access right to harass or intimidate the tenant.
North Dakota entry notice at a glance
| Advance notice required | No fixed statutory period (see notice standard) |
|---|---|
| Notice standard | North Dakota sets no fixed advance-notice period. Before a routine entry the landlord must, unless impractical, notify the tenant and obtain consent to a stated time — and consent is PRESUMED if the tenant does not object after that notice (47-16-07.3(2)). The tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent, and the notice must identify a time certain. Notice may be given by personal service, by posting in a conspicuous place in or about the dwelling unit for a reasonable period, or by any other method that results in actual notice. |
| Permitted reasons | Inspecting the premises; making necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements; supplying necessary or agreed services; or exhibiting the unit to actual or potential purchasers, insurers, mortgagees, real estate agents, tenants, workmen, or contractors. Those are the routine-entry grounds, and they must be exercised during reasonable hours and in a reasonable manner (47-16-07.3(2)). The landlord may also enter at any time without consent: emergency; the landlord reasonably believes the tenant has abandoned the premises; or the landlord reasonably believes the tenant is in substantial violation of the lease or rental agreement (47-16-07.3(1)). The landlord may not abuse the access right or use it to harass or intimidate the tenant. |
| Emergency exception | Yes |
| Time-of-day restrictions | North Dakota sets no clock hours. Routine entry is limited only to 'reasonable hours' and 'a reasonable manner' (47-16-07.3(2)). The any-time grounds in subsection 1 have no hour limit. |
Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, North Dakota Landlord Entry Notice Laws (verified July 11, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/entry-notice/north-dakota/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the North Dakota statute in the citations section below.
Notes and caveats
- No hour figure exists — charts saying '24 hours' are wrong — 47-16-07.3 contains no hour or day figure, which is why no hour figure is shown here — the reasonable-notice convention, not a missing value. No other entry provision exists anywhere in ch. 47-16.
- Notify AND consent — but silence counts as consent — This is a two-step statute: the landlord must notify the tenant and obtain consent to a time certain. Because consent is presumed when the tenant does not object, in practice a landlord who gives notice of a specific entry time and hears nothing may enter — functionally similar to a notice-only state, with no minimum lead time specified anywhere.
- 'Unless impractical' is a real escape valve — The notify-and-consent duty is qualified by 'unless impractical' (URLTA-adjacent language), so the obligation is not absolute.
- Entry on suspected lease violation is rare and landlord-favorable — 47-16-07.3(1) lets the landlord enter at any time on a reasonable belief that the tenant is in substantial violation of the lease. Few states have that ground; read it alongside the emergency and abandonment grounds.
- No 2025 amendment — Failed HB 1272 (2025) cross-referenced this section for its proposed move-out inspection scheme, but the bill died; 47-16-07.3 was not amended in the 2025 session.
Common questions: North Dakota entry notice
Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.
- How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in North Dakota?
- No fixed statutory period (see notice standard). North Dakota sets no fixed advance-notice period. Before a routine entry the landlord must, unless impractical, notify the tenant and obtain consent to a stated time — and consent is PRESUMED if the tenant does not object after that notice (47-16-07.3(2)).
- What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in North Dakota?
- Inspecting the premises; making necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements; supplying necessary or agreed services; or exhibiting the unit to actual or potential purchasers, insurers, mortgagees, real estate agents, tenants, workmen, or contractors.
- Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in North Dakota?
- Yes — North Dakota recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.
- Are there time-of-day limits on when a landlord can enter in North Dakota?
- North Dakota sets no clock hours. Routine entry is limited only to 'reasonable hours' and 'a reasonable manner' (47-16-07.3(2)).
Statute citations
- N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.3 (1)-(2) (verified 2026) Official source
How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text in the official North Dakota Century Code chapter PDFs on ndlegis.gov (t47c16.pdf read in full, t47c32.pdf sections 47-32-01/-02/-05, t09c08.pdf section 9-08-04), whose official currency page states the posted code reflects all changes approved by the 69th Legislative Assembly, current as of 2025-07-01. Every key figure (1-month deposit cap; 2-month felony and prior-judgment exceptions; pet deposit greater of $2,500 or 2 months; 30-day itemized return; 9-month interest threshold; treble damages; 30-day written change-of-terms notice covering rent; 25-day tenant termination after a change notice; one-calendar-month m2m termination; no entry-hour figure) was read twice independently — official PDF pass plus codes.findlaw.com mirror pass (current through 2024-01-01), reconciled verbatim, with deposit figures additionally matched against the current-law baseline reprinted in introduced HB 1272 (2025). Amendment history pinned from official session-law PDFs: 2015 ch. 312 (HB 1192, pet deposit subsection), 2017 ch. 316 (HB 1220, felony exception), 2019 ch. 379 (HB 1150, prior-judgment exception). 2025 regular-session sweep via official bill-overview pages: HB 1272 (inspections/deposits) failed House 41-47 on 2025-02-07; SB 2236 (late-fee cap amending 47-16-20) failed Senate 7-39 on 2025-02-04; SB 2237 (labor-commissioner oversight) failed 5-41; SB 2366 (notice of intention to evict) failed 8-37; SB 2238 (eviction-record sealing, now 47-32-05) enacted, signed 2025-03-26 — out of v1 topic scope. January 2026 special session (3 days) was Rural Health Transformation Program only; no regular session in 2026, next regular session January 2027. Negative findings (no late-fee statute, no entry-hour figure, no deposit-interest rate figure, no frequency limits) verified against the complete section-heading list of ch. 47-16 read from the official chapter PDF, run twice.