How much notice does a landlord have to give before filing an eviction for unpaid rent in Missouri?

No fixed statutory period — the summary above explains what, if anything, must precede filing. A demand for the rent is the only statutory precondition, and NO fixed-day pay-or-quit notice is required. Once rent is due and the demand goes unpaid, the landlord may file a 'rent and possession' action the same day (RSMo 535.020), unless a written lease declares the lease forfeited for nonpayment of rent for a specified time, in which case no process issues until that time has run (RSMo 535.050).

How much notice is required to evict for a lease violation in Missouri?

10 days. This is a NOTICE TO VACATE, not a cure-or-quit notice — chapter 441 grants no statutory right to cure a lease violation. The ten days are unqualified in the statute and therefore count as calendar days (RSMo 441.040).

How long does an eviction take in Missouri?

Roughly 20 days from filing in an uncontested rent-and-possession case, with the 21-business-day hearing cap putting the statutory outer envelope near six to seven weeks. These are derivations from statutory minimums, not a promise, and contested cases, trials de novo, appeals, and court congestion extend all of it.

Can a landlord change the locks or shut off utilities instead of going to court in Missouri?

No — Missouri bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. A landlord who removes or excludes a tenant or the tenant's property without judicial process and court order, removes doors or locks, or willfully interrupts electric, gas, water, or sewer service is deemed guilty of forcible entry and detainer (RSMo 441.233). The tenant then recovers restitution of the premises plus DOUBLE damages and DOUBLE the monthly rents and profits.

What is the eviction process and timeline in Missouri?

Verified October 2, 2026 All Missouri topics →

Missouri has no fixed-day pay-or-quit notice for nonpayment: the landlord need only demand the rent, and once it goes unpaid may immediately file a 'rent and possession' action, unless a written lease's forfeiture clause sets a waiting period — the statute expressly says no termination notice is required first.

Cited to RSMo 535.010 and 24 more cited sources · Verified October 2, 2026

Missouri splits eviction into two main tracks: rent and possession (chapter 535) for nonpayment, and unlawful detainer (chapter 534) for holdovers, terminated tenancies, and lease violations, which first require a 10-day notice to vacate with no statutory right to cure. In either track the hearing must be set within 21 business days of the summons issuing. A nonpayment tenant can still save the tenancy by tendering all rent due plus costs at the hearing or on the judgment date, and paying the money judgment before it becomes final stays the lockout. After a rent-and-possession judgment the tenant has 10 days to seek a trial de novo or to set the judgment aside — only a bond posted within those 10 days stays execution — after which the officer must deliver possession within 5 days of receiving the execution; in unlawful detainer the possession execution cannot issue until 10 days after judgment, and the judgment doubles the damages and monthly rental value. Derived from these minimums, an uncontested nonpayment eviction runs roughly three to seven weeks from filing to lockout — a derivation from statutory floors and caps, not a promise. Self-help eviction — lockouts, removing doors or locks, or willfully cutting electric, gas, water, or sewer service — makes the landlord liable in forcible entry and detainer for double damages and double monthly rent, with narrow exceptions for verified abandonment and a backstop, with a law enforcement officer present, when the officer fails to deliver possession within 7 days of receiving the writ.

Missouri eviction process at a glance

Nonpayment notice (pay-or-quit)	No fixed statutory period — the summary above explains what, if anything, must precede filing
Nonpayment notice rules (day counting, cure rights, service)	A demand for the rent is the only statutory precondition, and NO fixed-day pay-or-quit notice is required. Once rent is due and the demand goes unpaid, the landlord may file a 'rent and possession' action the same day (RSMo 535.020), unless a written lease declares the lease forfeited for nonpayment of rent for a specified time, in which case no process issues until that time has run (RSMo 535.050). Missouri requires no fixed-day pay-or-quit notice for nonpayment. RSMo 535.020 lets the landlord file whenever rent 'has become due and payable, and payment has been demanded ... and payment thereof has not been made,' and it expressly states that the one-month termination notice of 441.060 'is not required' before filing. Because there is no notice period, no day-counting rule applies at the notice stage. Cure ladder (all under ch. 535): (1) AT THE HEARING — if the tenant tenders all rent due plus all costs before the judge, no possession judgment enters (535.040.1); (2) ON THE JUDGMENT DATE — tendering all rent in arrears plus costs to the landlord or the court causes further proceedings to 'cease and be stayed' (535.160); (3) AFTER TRIAL BUT BEFORE THE JUDGMENT BECOMES FINAL — satisfying the money judgment and all costs stays any execution for possession, though the landlord may still appeal the money judgment (535.160). If no money judgment was entered (possession-only judgment, e.g. after posting-and-mailing default service), there is no pay-and-stay: no stay of execution except by bond under 535.110, the civil rules, or agreement (535.160).
Lease-violation notice period	10 days
Lease-violation notice rules (cure vs. termination)	This is a NOTICE TO VACATE, not a cure-or-quit notice — chapter 441 grants no statutory right to cure a lease violation. The ten days are unqualified in the statute and therefore count as calendar days (RSMo 441.040). Under RSMo 441.040, if the tenant violates 441.030 (which binds a tenant for a term not exceeding two years, at will or by sufferance: assigning without the landlord's written assent, violating any condition of a written lease, or committing waste) or 441.020 (illegal use), the landlord 'after giving ten days' notice to vacate the premises' may retake possession 'by the procedure specified by law' — i.e., an unlawful detainer action under ch. 534 against a tenant whose term has been terminated. Missouri statutes say 'business days' explicitly when they mean it, e.g. 535.030.1. There is no statutory repeat-violation ladder, and Missouri has no cure/quit split to report: the nonpayment track has no notice at all, and the violation track's notice is unconditional.
Unconditional-quit grounds	Effectively ALL lease-violation evictions in Missouri are unconditional: the 441.040 ten-day notice to vacate carries no statutory cure right for any violation of 441.020 or 441.030. Illegal use is the harshest ground — under 441.020, permitting prohibited gambling, keeping a 'bawdyhouse, brothel or common gaming house,' or allowing illegal possession, sale or distribution of controlled substances renders the lease VOID, and the landlord has 'the same remedies for the recovery of the premises as in the case of a tenant holding over the tenant's term.' For a controlled-substances petition the landlord bears the burden of proof but is shielded from damages when relying on written law-enforcement notification (441.040). These grounds proceed through the ordinary ch. 534 unlawful detainer timetable, except that drug-related criminal activity and certain emergencies may instead be brought under the expedited procedure of 441.710 to 441.880, which generally needs no notice to vacate (441.780), sets the hearing no later than fifteen days after service of the summons (441.720) and gives an evicted tenant twenty-four hours to vacate (441.770).
Court and action	Missouri splits residential eviction into two main statutory actions, alongside the expedited procedure for drug-related criminal activity and emergencies in 441.710 to 441.880. (1) 'RENT AND POSSESSION' (ch. 535) for nonpayment: filed by verified statement before an associate circuit judge of the county where the property sits, heard under the Missouri rules of civil procedure except as ch. 535 provides otherwise; the clerk issues the summons immediately on filing (535.020). (2) 'UNLAWFUL DETAINER' (ch. 534) for holdovers — including tenancies terminated by the 441.040 ten-day violation notice, the 441.060 one-month termination notice, expired terms, post-foreclosure occupants (10 business days' notice, 534.030), and employment-tied occupancies: sworn written complaint, heard by an associate circuit judge on the record, with ch. 517 practice applying unless the plaintiff designates circuit-judge procedure (534.060, 534.070). Which chapter applies drives everything downstream — notice, cure rights, damages (ch. 534 judgments are doubled), and execution timing.
Filing to hearing	Both actions share a 21-business-day outer limit: the summons must state a court date 'not more than twenty-one business days from the date the summons is issued' unless the plaintiff consents in writing to a later date (535.030.1 for rent and possession; 534.070.2 for unlawful detainer, where the date is assigned when the summons issues). In rent and possession the summons must be served 'as in other civil cases at least four days before the court date' (535.030.1; because the period is shorter than seven days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays are excluded from the count, RSMo 506.060.1); if personal service fails or the landlord requests it, service may be completed by posting a copy conspicuously on the dwelling AND mailing it at least TEN days before the court date, but a default judgment on posted-and-mailed service cannot include a money judgment (535.030.2-.3, 535.040.1). On executed return the judge sets the case 'on the first available court date' (535.040.1).
Writ of possession and lockout	Rent and possession: on judgment the judge issues an execution 'commanding the officer to put the landlord into immediate possession,' and the officer 'shall deliver possession of the property to the landlord within five days from the time of receiving the execution' (535.040.1); the defendant, however, has ten days from judgment to move to set aside or apply for trial de novo, after which the possession judgment 'will become final and the defendant will be subject to eviction from the premises without further notice' (535.030.4), and only a timely bond stays execution (535.110). Unlawful detainer: the judge may issue execution at any time after judgment, but 'such execution shall not be levied until after the expiration of the time allowed for the taking of an appeal, except execution for the purpose of restoring possession shall be issued no sooner than ten days after the judgment'; a posted appeal bond stays the possession execution (534.350; the former separate stay section 534.360 was repealed in 2016). The court transmits a possession judgment to the enforcing law-enforcement agency within two business days after it becomes final (534.330.2). Backstop for either action: if the service officer fails to deliver possession within seven days of receiving the writ, the landlord may — within 60 days of judgment, with a law-enforcement officer present and without breach of the peace — break locks, enter, and remove the tenant's property (441.060.5).
Appeal window	10 days
Best-case uncontested timeline (derived from statutory minimums — contested cases run longer)	Roughly 20 days from filing in an uncontested rent-and-possession case, with the 21-business-day hearing cap putting the statutory outer envelope near six to seven weeks. These are derivations from statutory minimums, not a promise, and contested cases, trials de novo, appeals, and court congestion extend all of it. The 20 days is a ≈5-day minimum service-to-hearing span, plus the 10-day finality window, plus up to 5 days for the officer (periods shorter than seven days exclude intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, RSMo 506.060.1, so each can run longer on the calendar). A nonpayment (rent and possession) case runs: a rent demand, with no statutory waiting period, then filing the same day (unless a written lease's forfeiture clause sets a waiting period, 535.050), with the summons issuing immediately (535.020); then a hearing set no more than 21 business days out, served at least 4 days before the court date (535.030.1); then, if the tenant neither appears nor tenders rent and costs, judgment with execution (535.040.1); then the 10-day set-aside and trial-de-novo window (535.030.4); then the officer delivering possession within 5 days of receiving the execution (535.040.1). A holdover or lease-violation eviction (unlawful detainer) adds the 10-day 441.040 notice (or one-month 441.060 notice) up front and waits at least 10 days after judgment for the possession execution (534.350).
Self-help eviction (lockout, utility shutoff) barred	Yes
Self-help scope and tenant remedies	A landlord who removes or excludes a tenant or the tenant's property without judicial process and court order, removes doors or locks, or willfully interrupts electric, gas, water, or sewer service is deemed guilty of forcible entry and detainer (RSMo 441.233). The tenant then recovers restitution of the premises plus DOUBLE damages and DOUBLE the monthly rents and profits. RSMo 441.233 reaches a landlord who removes or excludes a tenant or the tenant's property 'without judicial process and court order,' or removes doors or locks, and is 'deemed guilty of forcible entry and detainer as described in chapter 534'; the same applies to willfully interrupting essential services (electric, gas, water, sewer), except interruptions for health or safety reasons. The teeth come from ch. 534's damages formula: a prevailing complainant recovers restitution of the premises plus DOUBLE the assessed damages and DOUBLE the monthly rents and profits until restitution is made (534.330.1). Statutory carve-outs where landlord action is lawful: abandonment under 441.065 (rent unpaid 30 days + reasonable belief of vacatur + posted-and-mailed notice + no tenant response within 10 days), and the post-judgment self-execution of 441.060.5 (writ unexecuted 7 days, law enforcement present).

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Missouri Eviction Process Laws (verified October 2, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/eviction-process/missouri/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

Nonpayment carries no notice period — the blank is not a missing figure — 535.020 conditions filing only on the rent being due and 'demanded,' with no day count attached, and it expressly dispenses with the 441.060 one-month notice. The empty nonpayment-notice field is a true blank: there is no notice stage to count, and it should never be read as zero days or as a default.
Which periods are business days and which are calendar days — Missouri says 'business days' explicitly where it means it: the 21-business-day court date (535.030.1, 534.070.2), the 2-business-day transmittal to law enforcement (534.330.2), and the 10-business-day post-foreclosure notice (534.030). Every other period shown here — the 4-day service window, the 10-day violation notice, the 10-day trial-de-novo and bond deadline, the 10-day unlawful-detainer execution floor, the 5-day officer delivery, and the 7-day writ backstop — is stated in plain days. For a period inside a court action, RSMo 506.060.1 sets the count: a period shorter than seven days (the 4-day service window and the 5-day officer delivery) excludes intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and a period whose last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday runs to the end of the next day that is not one. RSMo 1.040, the general rule for the time within which an act is to be done, excludes the first day, includes the last, and excludes a last day that is a Sunday.
The statutes pull both ways on when possession may be executed — 535.040.1 directs an execution 'upon such judgment' commanding 'immediate possession,' while 535.030.4 makes the possession judgment final only after the 10-day set-aside and trial-de-novo window. The figures here and the derived timeline take the conservative reading — execution effectively enforced after the 10-day window absent a bond — rather than resolving the tension.
The 10-day appeal window is the rent-and-possession number — It is the window in 535.030.4, paired with the bond deadline of 535.110. Unlawful detainer appeals instead run 'as in other civil cases' (534.380), with the practical floor set by 534.350's 10-day execution rule. The former stay section 534.360 was REPEALED in 2016 and is not authority for anything.
Chapter 534 judgments double the damages — A prevailing complainant recovers double the assessed damages and double the monthly rents and profits (534.330.1). That formula is also what gives the 441.233 self-help bar its remedy.
Manufactured-home lots use the same eviction procedure — Missouri has no separate eviction procedure for manufactured-home communities: the definition of premises that governs chapters 441, 534 and 535 includes manufactured homes, mobile trailer homes and vehicles used primarily as a dwelling (RSMo 441.005), so a lot tenancy is ended and enforced under those chapters like any other. RSMo 700.600 adds one rule, at least one hundred twenty days' written notice before residents who own their homes must vacate for a change in use of the property. The sixty-day lot-termination notice of 441.060.4(2), for tenants who own their mobile home and rent the lot, is covered under rent increase — it is a termination-notice rule, not an eviction procedure.
The sections this topic rests on — Missouri's residential eviction rules here come from RSMo 535.010, 535.020, 535.030, 535.040, 535.110, and 535.160 (rent and possession); 534.030, 534.060, 534.070, 534.330, 534.350, and 534.380 (unlawful detainer); and 441.020, 441.030, 441.040, 441.060, 441.065, and 441.233 (notices, abandonment, and unlawful ouster). Since September 20, 2026 the page also rests on sections 441.710 to 441.880, 535.012, 535.200, 535.210 and 701.308, described in the notes that follow, and on 535.050 (a lease forfeiture period) and 1.040 and 506.060 (how periods are counted).
Local eviction moratoriums are barred — Since August 28, 2024 no county, municipality or other political subdivision may impose or enforce a moratorium on eviction proceedings unless state law specifically authorizes it.
A separate expedited route exists for drug activity and emergencies — Alongside rent and possession and unlawful detainer, Missouri has a third, expedited procedure that a landlord or the prosecuting attorney of the jurisdiction may bring. Unless the tenant proves that the tenant in no way furthered the activity and did not know or have reason to know of it, or could not prevent it because of coercion (441.750), a court must order immediate eviction where it finds drug-related criminal activity on or within the leased property, that the property was used to further, promote, aid or assist such activity, or that the tenant, a household member or a guest engaged in it within, on or in the immediate vicinity of the property. It must also do so in an emergency where slower means would, with reasonable certainty, cause physical injury to other tenants or the lessor, or property damage costing more than twelve months of rent to repair, and on that ground only after the lessor first makes a reasonable attempt to abate the emergency through law enforcement or local mental health services personnel. The court may protect witnesses, including by withholding names and addresses or examining them in camera. A tenant may apply to stay the eviction and the court must grant the stay where every one of six conditions is met, among them that the tenant is drug dependent and will promptly enter a court-approved treatment program or did not aid the activity, that the activity did not occur within one thousand feet of a school or did not involve selling or distributing drugs to minors, that no weapon or firearm was involved, and that the stay will not endanger the surrounding community. A prosecuting attorney or a not-for-profit neighborhood or community organization that prevails as plaintiff may recover costs and reasonable attorney fees from the landlord where the landlord did not take reasonable corrective action within thirty days of a written request.
Two circuits may run a dedicated landlord-tenant court — State law lets the circuit judges of the twenty-second judicial circuit, if the City of St. Louis adopts an ordinance funding it, and of the sixteenth judicial circuit, if Jackson County does the same, establish a landlord-tenant court as a division of the circuit court with up to two commissioners each. A commissioner may hear landlord and tenant disputes in the first instance, make findings of fact and conclusions of law, and order the payment of money, the giving or taking of possession of residential property and other equitable relief, but may not hear a case or issue an order by ex parte means. Where such a court sits, a summons carries a return date of ten days (in Jackson County, ten days from the date of service) and service must be attempted within four days of issuance; a party may move for a hearing in associate circuit court within ten days, and a judgment may be taken to a trial de novo or an appeal as from an associate circuit judge.
A lead hazard is not a ground to evict — A tenant may not be evicted because someone with an elevated blood lead level or suspected lead poisoning lives in the dwelling, or because of anything the owner is required to do under the state lead assessment and abatement law. The bar does not stop an eviction for any other lawful reason, and it does not stop an owner who has received written notice of a lead hazard from taking the property off the rental market instead of abating.

Common questions: Missouri eviction process

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 much notice does a landlord have to give before filing an eviction for unpaid rent in Missouri?: No fixed statutory period — the summary above explains what, if anything, must precede filing. A demand for the rent is the only statutory precondition, and NO fixed-day pay-or-quit notice is required. Once rent is due and the demand goes unpaid, the landlord may file a 'rent and possession' action the same day (RSMo 535.020), unless a written lease declares the lease forfeited for nonpayment of rent for a specified time, in which case no process issues until that time has run (RSMo 535.050).
How much notice is required to evict for a lease violation in Missouri?: 10 days. This is a NOTICE TO VACATE, not a cure-or-quit notice — chapter 441 grants no statutory right to cure a lease violation. The ten days are unqualified in the statute and therefore count as calendar days (RSMo 441.040).
How long does an eviction take in Missouri?: Roughly 20 days from filing in an uncontested rent-and-possession case, with the 21-business-day hearing cap putting the statutory outer envelope near six to seven weeks. These are derivations from statutory minimums, not a promise, and contested cases, trials de novo, appeals, and court congestion extend all of it.
How long does a tenant have to appeal an eviction judgment in Missouri?: 10 days.
Can a landlord change the locks or shut off utilities instead of going to court in Missouri?: No — Missouri bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. A landlord who removes or excludes a tenant or the tenant's property without judicial process and court order, removes doors or locks, or willfully interrupts electric, gas, water, or sewer service is deemed guilty of forcible entry and detainer (RSMo 441.233). The tenant then recovers restitution of the premises plus DOUBLE damages and DOUBLE the monthly rents and profits.

Citations

RSMo 535.010 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.020 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.030 · 1-4 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.040 · 1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.110 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.160 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 534.030 · 1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 534.060 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 534.070 · subsec. 2 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 534.330 · 1-2 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 534.350 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 534.380 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.020 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.030 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.040 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.060 · 1, 3-5 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.065 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.233 · 1-2 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo § 535.012 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo §§ 441.710, 441.740, 441.820, 441.850, 441.880 · § 441.710; § 441.740.1; § 441.820; § 441.850; § 441.880.1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo §§ 535.200, 535.210 · 535.200.1-.2; 535.210.1-.2 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo § 701.308 · 1, 2 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.050 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 506.060 · 1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 1.040 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Missouri Revisor of Statutes site (revisor.mo.gov), read again on October 2, 2026 with each page's effective date and history line: RSMo 535.300, 441.043, 441.050, 441.060 and 700.600; 535.060, 415.400 and 415.417; 441.020 to 441.040, 441.065, 441.233 and 441.560; the rent and possession and unlawful detainer sections of chapters 535 and 534, with 535.012, 535.050, 535.200 and 535.210; the expedited procedure of 441.710 to 441.880; 701.308; and the time-computation sections 1.040 and 506.060. The section lists of chapters 441, 534, 535 and 700 were read for the negative answers: no section of chapters 441, 534 or 535 sets an entry notice, a late fee or a rent-increase notice, and the one limit on rent increases is RSMo 700.600.2, for manufactured and mobile home land lease communities. The Senate's Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed lists for 2024, 2025 and 2026 (102 bills in 2026) were read with the bills' pages and truly agreed texts: no 2026 act changed an answer on security deposits, late fees, entry, rent increases or eviction, and the 2025 amendments to 441.043 (H.B. 595 & 343, effective August 28, 2025) are in force and incorporated. Paragon Group, Inc. v. Ampleman, 878 S.W.2d 878 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994), was read in the reporter.