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

14 days. Those 14 days are calendar days, and they run from the tenant's receipt of a written notice rather than from mailing — a mailed notice is really a 17-day notice. The tenant defeats the termination by paying or tendering the rent due through the end of the rental period in which payment is made.

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

30 days. Those 30 days are the termination date, not a cure window — Vermont grants no statutory right to fix a lease breach. The clock runs in calendar days from the tenant's receipt of the notice, so a mailed notice really runs 33 days.

How long does an eviction take in Vermont?

About 50 calendar days from receipt of the notice for an uncontested nonpayment case, and longer on other grounds — about 66 calendar days for a material breach, about 96 or 126 days for a no-cause termination.

How long does a tenant have to appeal an eviction judgment in Vermont?

No eviction-specific deadline — the standard civil appeal window applies (see notes).

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

No — Vermont bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. Vermont bars landlord self-help outright: no shutting off utilities, and no denying the tenant access to the premises or to the tenant's property, except through proper judicial process. A tenant harmed by an illegal eviction may sue for an injunction, damages, costs, and attorney's fees.

What is the eviction process and timeline in Vermont?

Verified July 25, 2026 All Vermont topics →

To evict a tenant in Vermont a landlord must first serve a written termination notice - 14 days for nonpayment of rent, 30 days for breach of a material lease term, 14 days for criminal activity, illegal drug activity or violence threatening other residents, and 21 to 90 days for no cause depending on the length of the tenancy and whether the lease is written - then, only after the notice's termination date has passed and within 60 days of it, file an ejectment action in the Civil Division of the Superior Court in the county where the property is located.

Cited to 9 V.S.A. 4451 (1) and 47 more Vermont statutes · Verified July 25, 2026

Vermont has three features a landlord will get wrong if they assume the generic pattern. First, the notice period runs from the tenant's RECEIPT of the notice, not from mailing: 9 V.S.A. 4451(1) defines "actual notice" as receipt and presumes receipt three days after first-class or certified mailing, so a mailed 14-day notice is really 17 days. Second, the no-cause period is a ladder, not a single number: with no written rental agreement it is 60 days for a tenancy of two years or less, 90 days for more than two years, and 21 days for a weekly tenancy; under a written agreement the notice must land at least 30 days (two years or less) or 60 days (more than two years) before the end of the stated term, and 7 days for a written week-to-week agreement. Third, the tenant can stop the eviction with money almost to the end: under 12 V.S.A. 4773 paying all rent due through the current rental period plus interest and costs into court before the writ of possession is executed discontinues the action, though only once in any 12 months. Judgment produces a writ of possession the same day, but the sheriff cannot put the landlord back in possession until 14 days after the writ is served (7 days if the tenant blew a rent-escrow order, 5 days for an unlawful occupant). Landlord self-help is flatly illegal: 9 V.S.A. 4463 bars shutting off utilities and bars denying the tenant access to the premises or to the tenant's property "except through proper judicial process."

Vermont eviction process at a glance

Nonpayment notice (pay-or-quit)	14 days
Nonpayment notice rules (day counting, cure rights, service)	Those 14 days are calendar days, and they run from the tenant's receipt of a written notice rather than from mailing — a mailed notice is really a 17-day notice. The tenant defeats the termination by paying or tendering the rent due through the end of the rental period in which payment is made. 9 V.S.A. 4467(a): the landlord terminates for nonpayment by giving the tenant "actual notice" of the date the tenancy will terminate, "which shall be at least 14 days after the date of the actual notice." Unit: calendar days - nothing in 9 V.S.A. ch. 137 excludes weekends or holidays, and the computation statute, 1 V.S.A. 138, only excludes the first day ("When time is to be reckoned from a day, date, or an act done, such day, date, or day when such act is done shall not be included in the computation, unless otherwise provided"). ADDITIVE SERVICE OVERLAY — these days come on top of the notice figure, they are not part of it: the clock runs from "actual notice," which 9 V.S.A. 4451(1) defines as "receipt of written notice hand-delivered or mailed to the last known address," and creates "[a] rebuttable presumption that the notice was received three days after mailing ... if the sending party proves that the notice was sent by first-class or certified U.S. mail." A hand-delivered notice therefore runs 14 days from delivery; a mailed notice runs a real minimum of 17 days from mailing. No arrears precondition: rent "is payable without demand or notice at the time and place agreed upon by the parties" (9 V.S.A. 4455(a)), so the 14-day notice may issue the day rent is late, and 12 V.S.A. 4773 relieves the landlord of proving "a demand of the rent in arrear." Content: the termination date "shall be specifically stated in the notice" (9 V.S.A. 4467(f)); the notice must be written (4451(1)). Delivery: hand delivery or mail to the last known address (4451(1)). Cure: "The rental agreement shall not terminate if the tenant pays or tenders rent due through the end of the rental period in which payment is made or tendered," and "[a]cceptance of partial payment of rent shall not constitute a waiver of the landlord's remedies for nonpayment of rent or an accord and satisfaction for nonpayment of rent" (4467(a)). A far broader post-filing redemption right survives to the last moment of the case: under 12 V.S.A. 4773, "[b]efore a writ of possession is executed, if the defendant pays into court all rent due through the end of the current rental period, including interest and the costs of suit, the action shall be discontinued" - available only once in any 12 months, the period running from the day payment is made. Pre-filing overlays: the landlord must wait until the stated termination date has passed to file, and 9 V.S.A. 4467(k) voids the notice as a basis for judgment "unless the proceeding is commenced not later than 60 days from the termination date set forth in the notice."
Lease-violation notice period	30 days
Lease-violation notice rules (cure vs. termination)	Those 30 days are the termination date, not a cure window — Vermont grants no statutory right to fix a lease breach. The clock runs in calendar days from the tenant's receipt of the notice, so a mailed notice really runs 33 days. This is a one-number statute. Vermont is not URLTA-derived and has no "terminate in X unless remedied in Y" split. 9 V.S.A. 4467(b)(1) reads in full: "The landlord may terminate a tenancy for failure of the tenant to comply with a material term of the rental agreement or with obligations imposed under this chapter by actual notice given to the tenant at least 30 days prior to the termination date specified in the notice." The 30 shown here is the termination date, and it is also the only day-figure in the subsection; the statute grants no cure or remedy window for breach, and the 30 days are calendar days (1 V.S.A. 138; no weekend/holiday exclusion in ch. 137). The 4451(1) receipt rule applies here too: mailed notice adds a presumed three days, making 33 from mailing. Second, shorter for-cause period in the same subsection, not shown as a figure on this page: 4467(b)(2) - "When termination is based on criminal activity, illegal drug activity, or acts of violence, any of which threaten the health or safety of other residents, the landlord may terminate the tenancy by providing actual notice to the tenant of the date on which the tenancy will terminate, which shall be at least 14 days from the date of the actual notice." Material noncompliance: breach of a material term of the rental agreement, or of any tenant obligation in ch. 137; 9 V.S.A. 4456(e) makes a violation of 4456 (creating or contributing to building/housing/health-code noncompliance, disturbing other tenants' peaceful enjoyment, deliberate or negligent damage) "grounds for termination under subsection 4467(b) of this title." Repeat violations: no escalation ladder. Instead 4467(i) provides that valid notices do not invalidate one another and "shall be a valid basis for commencing and maintaining an action for possession ... notwithstanding that the notices may be based on different or unrelated grounds, dates of termination, or that the notices are sent at different times prior to or during an ejectment action," and a landlord "may maintain an ejectment action and rely on as many grounds for ejectment as are allowed by law at any time during the eviction process." Waiver: 4467(j)(1) - accepting full or partial rent after a termination for breach (or for no cause) neither dismisses the ejectment action nor waives the landlord's remedies; that protection expressly does not extend to nonpayment terminations. FILING OFFSET (not shown as a figure here): the termination date is day 30, but the landlord must wait until it has passed to file and must file within 60 days of it (4467(k)).
Unconditional-quit grounds	Vermont has no zero-day or immediate unconditional-quit ground against a residential tenant. The shortest for-cause notice is 14 calendar days under 9 V.S.A. 4467(b)(2) for "criminal activity, illegal drug activity, or acts of violence, any of which threaten the health or safety of other residents" - the same length as the nonpayment notice, and the statute attaches no cure right to it. There is no separate irreparable-breach or repeat-violation provision; a landlord facing serious misconduct uses 4467(b)(2)'s 14 days, may stack additional notices on other grounds under 4467(i), and may seek an expedited rent-escrow judgment under 12 V.S.A. 4853a(h) if rent is also unpaid. Three genuinely immediate mechanisms exist but reach non-tenants or out-of-scope arrangements: (1) 12 V.S.A. 4853b lets a landlord (or the tenant) move for judgment of immediate possession against "a person that is occupying a dwelling unit without right or permission" where a written agreement bars subleasing, on 10 days' notice of hearing, with lockout as soon as five days after the writ is served - such an occupant is not a tenant and 9 V.S.A. 4452(a)(9) excludes them from ch. 137; (2) 9 V.S.A. 4452(b) lets a certified recovery residence "immediately exit or transfer a resident" on stated conditions, "[n]otwithstanding subsections 4463(b) and 4467(b) and section 4468 of this chapter only" (see notes: 2026 Act 103 amended and broadened this and repealed its sunset); (3) 9 V.S.A. 4469a lets a farm employer terminate housing provided as a benefit of employment when the employment ends, by notice served with the summons and complaint - out of scope, employer-provided housing.
Court and action	Superior Court, Civil Division. The action is "ejectment," brought under 12 V.S.A. ch. 169, subch. 3 ("Superior Court Ejectment", 12 V.S.A. 4851-4856); 9 V.S.A. 4468 directs that if the tenant remains after termination "the landlord may bring an action for possession, damages, and costs under 12 V.S.A. chapter 169, subchapter 3," and 12 V.S.A. 4851 gives the person entitled to possession "a writ to restore him or her to the possession thereof" from "the presiding judge of the Superior Court." Jurisdiction is NOT concurrent: 4 V.S.A. 31(1) gives the Civil Division "original and exclusive jurisdiction of all original civil actions" subject to enumerated exceptions that do not include ejectment; there is no small-claims or magistrate eviction track in Vermont. The Superior Court has statewide jurisdiction but is divided by Supreme Court rule into "14 geographical units that shall follow county lines" (4 V.S.A. 30(b)), and the case is filed in the unit where the property is located. Procedure: the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure apply in the Civil Division (4 V.S.A. 30(a)(1)(A)), and 12 V.S.A. 4853 provides only that "[t]he process shall be served and notice given as in other civil actions." Process issues "as a summons or writ of attachment"; "[a] copy of the rental agreement, if any, and any notice to terminate the defendant's tenancy shall be attached to the complaint"; and "[e]ither party shall have the right to a trial by jury" (12 V.S.A. 4852). Vermont's older forcible-entry-and-detainer chapter, 12 V.S.A. ch. 171 ("Entry or Detainer", 4911-4926), is a distinct and seldom-used track (4911 makes forcible entry a fineable offense; 4921 allows a writ of restitution against one who "wrongfully and without force obtains or continues in possession" after written demand) and is not the residential eviction route.
Filing to hearing	No statutory window (see notes)
Writ of possession and lockout	"Writ of possession." 12 V.S.A. 4854: "A writ of possession shall issue on the date judgment is entered, unless the court for good cause orders a stay. The writ shall direct any sheriff to serve the writ upon the defendant and, not earlier than 14 days after the writ is served, to put the plaintiff into possession." So issuance is same-day as judgment, but the 14-day clock runs from SERVICE OF THE WRIT, not from judgment, and a sheriff (any sheriff since 2025 Act 13, Sec. 1, eff. May 5, 2025 - previously only the sheriff of the county where the property lies) both serves and executes it. Two shorter tracks: (a) 12 V.S.A. 4853a(h) - if the tenant fails to pay court-ordered rent into court, "the landlord shall be entitled to judgment for immediate possession," the court issues the writ forthwith, and the sheriff puts the plaintiff into possession "not earlier than seven days after the writ is served"; (b) 12 V.S.A. 4853b(e) - unlawful-occupant judgment, writ issues on the date judgment is entered and the sheriff acts "not sooner than five days after the writ is served." Redemption survives to the eve of execution: 12 V.S.A. 4773 - "Before a writ of possession is executed, if the defendant pays into court all rent due through the end of the current rental period, including interest and the costs of suit, the action shall be discontinued," available once in any 12 months. Tenant belongings: 12 V.S.A. 4854a(a)(1) - the landlord may dispose of personal property left behind, without notice or liability, "15 days after a writ of possession is served ... or upon the landlord being legally restored to possession ... whichever is later"; if execution was stayed, one day after restoration (4854a(b)). Money judgment: 12 V.S.A. 4854 allows possession, rents due, damages, costs, and attorney's fees where a written agreement so provides; 12 V.S.A. 4855 bars a close-jail certification on rent accrued before the notice to quit.
Appeal window	No eviction-specific deadline — the standard civil appeal window applies (see notes)
Best-case uncontested timeline (derived from statutory minimums — contested cases run longer)	About 50 calendar days from receipt of the notice for an uncontested nonpayment case, and longer on other grounds — about 66 calendar days for a material breach, about 96 or 126 days for a no-cause termination. Derived from the statutory minimums cited above, not an observed average; contested cases and any court-ordered stay run substantially longer. Nonpayment, hand-delivered notice, tenant never answers: 14 days to the termination date (9 V.S.A. 4467(a)) + at least 1 day, because the landlord must wait until the termination date has passed to file and then has 60 days to do so (4467(k)) + at least 21 days after service for the answer to come due before default may be sought (V.R.C.P. 12(a), per the Vermont Judiciary's Eviction Process page; no eviction-specific statutory window exists - 12 V.S.A. 4853 says process is served "as in other civil actions") + writ issues the day judgment is entered (12 V.S.A. 4854) + 14 days after the writ is served before the sheriff may put the landlord into possession (4854) = about 50 calendar days from receipt of the notice, and that figure still excludes the time the sheriff takes to serve the summons and later the writ, plus court processing. If the notice was mailed rather than hand-delivered, add the presumed three days to receipt (9 V.S.A. 4451(1)), giving about 53 days from mailing. Material breach on the same assumptions: 30 + 1 + 21 + 14 = about 66 calendar days (about 69 if the notice was mailed). No-cause with no written agreement is longer still: 60 or 90 days of notice depending on length of tenancy, so about 96 or 126 days. There is no mandatory pre-filing mediation or arrears-waiting-period step in Vermont.
Self-help eviction (lockout, utility shutoff) barred	Yes
Self-help scope and tenant remedies	Vermont bars landlord self-help outright: no shutting off utilities, and no denying the tenant access to the premises or to the tenant's property, except through proper judicial process. A tenant harmed by an illegal eviction may sue for an injunction, damages, costs, and attorney's fees. The ban is express and comprehensive. 9 V.S.A. 4463 ("Illegal evictions"): "(a) No landlord may willfully cause, directly or indirectly, the interruption or termination of any utility service being supplied to the tenant, except for temporary interruptions for emergency repairs. (b) No landlord may directly or indirectly deny a tenant access to and possession of the tenant's rented or leased premises, except through proper judicial process. (c) No landlord may directly or indirectly deny a tenant access to and possession of the tenant's property, except through proper judicial process." All three limbs are prohibitions, not merely remedies, and (b) reaches a peaceable lockout as well as a forcible one. Remedies: 9 V.S.A. 4464(a) - "Any tenant who sustains damage or injury as a result of an illegal eviction may bring an action for injunctive relief, damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees"; 4464(b) shifts fees to the landlord only if the tenant's action "was not brought in good faith and was frivolous or intended for harassment only." A separate criminal-side prohibition on forcible entry exists in 12 V.S.A. 4911 (entry must be "only in a peaceable manner"; violation is fineable). Retaliation is separately barred: 9 V.S.A. 4465 gives damages, attorney's fees and "a defense in any retaliatory action for possession," and 4465(c) creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation where a landlord serves a termination notice on any ground other than nonpayment within 90 days after a municipal or State notice that the premises violate health or safety regulations. ONE STATUTORY CARVE-OUT: 9 V.S.A. 4452(b) permits a certified recovery residence to "immediately exit or transfer a resident" on stated conditions "[n]otwithstanding subsections 4463(b) and 4467(b) and section 4468 of this chapter only" - that is, it displaces the lockout bar in 4463(b) but not the utility-shutoff bar in 4463(a) or the property bar in 4463(c).

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Vermont Eviction Process Laws (verified July 25, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/eviction-process/vermont/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Vermont statute in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

Out of scope — tenancies chapter 137 itself excludes — 9 V.S.A. 4452(a) excludes institutional occupancy (medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious); occupancy under a contract of sale; fraternal, social or religious organization housing; transient hotel, motel or lodging occupancy taxed under 32 V.S.A. ch. 225; condominium-owner and cooperative proprietary-lease occupancy; mobile home lots; transient campground residence; transient hotel or motel occupancy while the occupant receives General Assistance, Emergency Assistance or, through September 30, 2025, federal Emergency Rental Assistance hotel and motel funding; occupancy of a dwelling unit without right or permission by a non-tenant; and transient hotel or motel occupancy paid for by a hospital or designated agency in connection with health care treatment or recovery.
Mobile home lots run on longer clocks — Mobile home lots are governed by 10 V.S.A. ch. 153, with its own longer timings: 12 V.S.A. 4853a(h) gives 30 days after writ service instead of seven, and 4854a(a)(2) gives 40 days for property disposal. None of those figures are blended into the headline numbers here.
Farm employee housing has its own termination scheme — 9 V.S.A. 4469a lets the employer end the housing benefit when employment ends, with notice served by a law enforcement officer together with the summons and complaint. It is out of scope for this page.
Every period here is calendar days — Nothing in 9 V.S.A. ch. 137 or 12 V.S.A. ch. 169 uses business, judicial or working days, and 1 V.S.A. 138 supplies only the exclude-the-first-day rule. The one non-calendar element in Vermont practice, the three-day mail-receipt presumption in 4451(1), is also in calendar days.
The 14 and 30 are bare minimums — mailing adds three days — The clock runs from 'actual notice,' which 4451(1) defines as receipt, with a three-day presumption when the landlord mails. The published figures stay at the bare statutory 14 and 30 because the addition depends on the delivery method the landlord chooses; the extra three days is carried in the rules text and the derived timeline.
The 30-day breach figure is a termination date, not a cure window — 4467(b)(1) carries one figure — actual notice at least 30 days prior to the termination date specified in the notice — and grants no cure or remedy period. Vermont is not a two-number statute, and a template expecting a separate remedy window will misread it.
The neighbouring 14-day for-cause notice — 4467(b)(2) drops to 14 days where termination is for criminal activity, illegal drug activity or acts of violence threatening others' health or safety. It must not be confused with the 30-day breach figure.
Two real deadlines deliberately left out of the numeric fields — The 60-day filing window in 4467(k) — the notice is void unless suit is commenced within 60 days of the termination date — and the post-judgment money cure in 12 V.S.A. 4773 are carried in the rules and timeline text rather than in a single day figure. The same subsection means the landlord must also wait until the termination date has passed before filing.
No-cause ladder: no written agreement, rent monthly — At least 60 days 'for tenants who have resided continuously in the same premises for two years or less' (4467(c)(1)(A)), and at least 90 days 'for tenants who have resided continuously in the same premises for more than two years' (4467(c)(1)(B)).
No-cause ladder: weekly rent, and a building under contract to sell — With no written agreement and rent payable weekly the notice is at least 21 days (4467(c)(2)). Where the landlord has contracted to sell the building it is at least 30 days (4467(d)).
No-cause under a written agreement works differently — Notice must be given at least 30 days before the end or expiration of the stated term if the tenancy has run two years or less, and at least 60 days before it if longer (4467(e)). Under a written agreement a no-cause termination can only take effect at the end of the term, a structurally different mechanic from the (c) ladder; a written week-to-week agreement takes at least seven days.
Shared occupancy in the landlord's own home — Renting one or more rooms in the landlord's own residence with shared common living space: 15 days if rent is monthly, seven days if weekly, terminable by either party (4467(h)).
Tenant-side notice, including the abuse-survivor route — A tenant terminating gives at least one rental payment period (9 V.S.A. 4456(d)). A protected tenant fleeing abuse, sexual assault or stalking may terminate on not less than 30 days' notice with documentation (9 V.S.A. 4472).
One document, not two — Vermont is a one-document state on every ground: 4467 requires a single written termination notice per ground, there is no separate statutory demand for rent, and 12 V.S.A. 4773 expressly relieves the landlord of proving 'a demand of the rent in arrear or a stipulation for reentry.'
Stacked notices do not cancel each other — A landlord may voluntarily serve several notices on different grounds; 4467(i) makes them all independently valid, running on separate clocks and each usable at any point in the case. Nothing requires them to expire in sequence.
Local overlays: municipal charters are the only route — Vermont municipalities act only under powers the General Assembly grants in their charters, and charters are codified as state law in 24 App. V.S.A. Of the 103 municipal-charter chapters on legislature.vermont.gov, exactly one contains a landlord-tenant notice provision.
What the Burlington charter actually says — 24 App. V.S.A. 48(64)(A) empowers the City Council, where there is no written rental agreement and notwithstanding 9 V.S.A. 4467(c), 'to prohibit, by ordinance, a landlord from terminating a tenancy of rental housing within the City for no cause unless the landlord provides to the tenant written notice of at least 90 days when the tenancy has been less than two years and of at least 120 days when the tenancy has been two years or more.'
Two further Burlington charter powers — 48(64)(B) authorizes an ordinance requiring tenants to give two rental periods' notice notwithstanding 9 V.S.A. 4456(d), and 48(65) authorizes an ordinance requiring 90 days' advance written notice of rent increases.
That is a power to legislate, not a rule in force — The longer 90 and 120-day periods bind a Burlington landlord only if and to the extent the City Council has actually adopted the ordinance, which could not be confirmed from any official municipal source. Burlington's own Renter Resources page states no local notice period.
No Vermont municipal charter contains a just-cause eviction provision — The word 'evict' appears nowhere in any of the 103 charter chapters, and every 'just cause' reference in the other charters — Vergennes, Winooski, Lyndon, Shelburne, Stowe, Woodford, Newbury Village — concerns removal of municipal officers or waiver of tax penalties.
The Burlington just-cause charter amendment was never enacted — H.462 of the 2025-2026 biennium, 'An act relating to approval of an amendment to the charter of the City of Burlington concerning just cause eviction,' was only 'read first time and referred to the Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs' on 3/12/2025. It carries no act number.
Do not publish a Vermont just-cause locality list — There is none, and no official state registry of municipal landlord-tenant ordinances exists.
What the Judiciary itself says about local rules — The Vermont Judiciary's official eviction page says only 'Some cities and towns may require more notice. Check local laws.' The only localities it names by ordinance section are Brattleboro (Code of Ordinances 8-71 through 8-75) and Burlington (Code of Ordinances 18-120), and both are security-deposit ordinances, not notice periods.
Why the appeal window is blank — Vermont has no eviction-specific appeal statute. 12 V.S.A. 2383 is a general civil provision — a notice of appeal within 30 days from entry of 'any appealable judgment, order, ruling, decree or sentence of any court, commission, board, agency, or department' — and 12 V.S.A. 4853, the ejectment provision, sets no window of its own.
The 30 days is real, it is just not an eviction rule — Appeals run from the Civil Division to the Vermont Supreme Court under V.R.A.P. 4, whose current text is published only behind advance.lexis.com. Both figures are stated here so a reader can render the standard civil appeal window while the eviction-specific field stays blank, consistent with the other states that face an identical general window.
Why filing-to-hearing is blank — 12 V.S.A. 4853 delegates entirely — 'The process shall be served and notice given as in other civil actions' — so there is no statutory window between filing or service and the merits hearing, and scheduling is left to the individual court unit. Any specific day count would be fabricated.
The 21-day answer period, for orientation only — Measured from service rather than filing, the Vermont Judiciary's official Eviction Process page states that '[t]he tenant generally has 21 days after being served with the eviction complaint to respond by filing a written answer with the court,' which corresponds to V.R.C.P. 12(a).
The 21 days rests on the court's description of its own rule — Vermont court rules are published by Lexis, and V.R.C.P. 12(a) is not available in official free text. The 21 days is used only in the derived timeline and is not shown as a figure here.
Two motion windows that are not the merits hearing — 12 V.S.A. 4853a(b): a rent-escrow hearing 'shall be held any time after 14 days' notice to the parties,' and if a tenant who has not previously been defaulted appears at that hearing the court cannot default them unless they fail to file a written answer within 14 days after the hearing, so the answer deadline can reset. 12 V.S.A. 4853b(b): an unlawful-occupant hearing 'shall be held any time after 10 days' notice to the parties.' Neither is carried in the figures on this page.
Currency: the official statutes site is one session behind — Vermont Statutes Online carries the header that the statutes 'include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly' and the note that it 'is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.'
What the acts-affecting index shows — The Legislature's own Acts Affecting VSA Sections index for the whole 2025-2026 biennium and for 2021-2024 shows nothing in the 2025 or 2026 sessions amending 9 V.S.A. 4451, 4455, 4456, 4456b, 4463, 4464, 4465, 4467, 4468 or 4469a, or any section of 12 V.S.A. ch. 169 other than 4854, or 1 V.S.A. 138, 12 V.S.A. 2383, 12 V.S.A. 2681, 4 V.S.A. 30, 4 V.S.A. 31, or 24 App. V.S.A. 48.
4467 was last touched by a technical-corrections act — 2021 Act 20 (H.366), Sec. 42 changed only 'commenced no not later than 60 days' in subsection (k); every other subsection appears in that act as '* * *'. The 14-day nonpayment figure appears in the same terms in the 2009 (Adj. Sess.) Act 129 (H.213), Sec. 2 enrolled text, approved May 29, 2010.
The 2025 writ amendment is published as a redline — 12 V.S.A. 4854 was amended by 2025 Act 13 (H.21), Sec. 1, effective on passage and approved May 5, 2025. The enrolled act is a PDF redline reading 'shall direct the any sheriff of the county in which the property or a portion thereof is located to serve,' which is not text that ever existed as law; the codified section shows the enacted result, 'shall direct any sheriff to serve the writ,' and the 14-day post-service period was not changed.
In force but missing from the codified pages: the cannabis section — 2026 Act 176 (S.278), Sec. 30, effective July 1, 2026 (Sec. 32(e); signed June 18, 2026), adds 9 V.S.A. 4468b: a rental agreement may not prohibit a tenant from possessing cannabis or cannabis products within the rental premises or using them within a dwelling unit, except that it may prohibit the use of lighted cannabis or products intended for inhalation, and the section does not apply to agreements required by federal law to prohibit possession or use. The section does not yet appear in the chapter 137 table of contents on legislature.vermont.gov.
Why the cannabis section matters to evictions — A lease clause banning cannabis possession or non-lighted use is void, so it cannot supply the 'material term of the rental agreement' whose breach supports a 30-day termination under 4467(b)(1). A clause banning smoked or vaped cannabis remains enforceable.
The site shows a repeal that never happened — 2026 Act 103 (S.157), effective July 1, 2026 and signed May 19, 2026, amends and broadens 9 V.S.A. 4452(b), the recovery-residence immediate-exit carve-out, at Sec. 3, and repeals that carve-out's sunset at Sec. 4. As of 2026-07-25 the official 4452 page still printed the pre-Act-103 text under '[Subsection (b) effective until July 1, 2026]' followed by '[Subsection (b) effective July 1, 2026 ...] (b) [Repealed.]' — a reader taking the site at face value would conclude the carve-out had been repealed. It was not: Act 103 killed the sunset.
The same official site errs in both directions at once — It hides a section that has been in force since July 1, 2026 (4468b) while displaying a repeal that never happened (4452(b)), in the same chapter.
Act 103's wording is a redline, so it is not quoted as codified — Because the act's own text is a PDF redline, its exact wording is not reproduced here; the codified 4452(b) is the text to read once the revisor incorporates the 2026 session. Nothing in either 2026 act changes any headline figure shown here.
Six bills that would have changed Vermont eviction law, none enacted — H.440 (protections against no-cause eviction), referred to General and Housing 2/28/2025 with no further action; H.462 (Burlington just-cause charter amendment), referred 3/12/2025; H.688 (timelines and process for residential evictions), referred to General and Housing 1/15/2026; H.756 (termination based on criminal activity; increased penalties), referred 1/22/2026; H.772, which failed on 5/27/2026 on '3rd reading refused on roll call ... Yeas = 15, Nays = 16'; and its companion S.309, which sat in Senate Judiciary from 1/27/2026. None carries an act number.
If a source says Vermont changed its eviction timelines in 2026 — It is describing H.772 or H.688, neither of which is law. These are bill statuses, not bill texts.
Vermont court rules are not published in official free text — V.R.C.P. and V.R.A.P. are available only through advance.lexis.com, which does not serve directly readable text. No figure on this page rests on a court rule.
12 V.S.A. 4853a prints two conflicting versions of subsection (a) — The same page carries '[Subsection (a) as amended by 2007, Act No. 125 (Adj. Sess.), Sec. 1.]' and '[Subsection (a) as amended by 2007, Act No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), Sec. 51.]' — an unreconciled double amendment, not an effective-date split. They differ only in whether the rent-escrow motion is available '[i]n any action against a tenant for possession' or in such an action 'brought in accordance with this chapter, 9 V.S.A. chapter 137, 10 V.S.A. chapter 153, or 11 V.S.A. chapter 14'; neither reading changes a figure shown here, and both cover an ordinary residential ejectment.
Chapter 137 carries two sections numbered 4466 — One was repealed in 1987; the other is a 2024 flood-hazard disclosure requirement.
The Judiciary's 60-day writ-validity rule is not in the statute — The official Eviction Process page states that 'A Writ of Possession is only effective for 60 days after it is issued. If the landlord does not have the tenant served within that timeframe, the Writ is no longer in effect,' and cites 12 V.S.A. 4854 — but the codified text of 4854 contains no such limitation. The nearest statutory source is 12 V.S.A. 2681(a), under which court executions 'shall be made returnable within 60 days from the date thereof'; the window is not shown here as a statutory figure and the citation mismatch is flagged instead.
What must be attached to the complaint — 12 V.S.A. 4852 requires the rental agreement, if written, and the termination notice to be physically attached to the complaint, and gives either party the right to a jury trial.
Forms: a CARES Act declaration, and no eviction-specific form — The Vermont Judiciary requires a Declaration of Compliance with the CARES Act (form 100-00031) to be filed and served with the eviction papers, and publishes no eviction complaint or answer form — landlords use the general civil Complaint, form 100-00050.
What rent escrow covers, and when it ends — Escrow ordered under 12 V.S.A. 4853a(d) covers rent accruing while the case is pending plus rent accrued from the earlier of filing or service, not pre-filing arrears. An escrow order survives a default judgment but ceases when the writ of possession is executed (4853a(b)).
Either side can move on the escrow amount — A tenant may move to reduce the escrow, and a landlord may move for interim disbursement on a showing of danger of loss of the premises or personal hardship (4853a(f), (g)).
The headline figures, as legislature.vermont.gov carries them — As of 2026-07-25 all four headline figures stand in the official text: the 14-day nonpayment notice and its cure in 4467(a), the single 30-day figure with no cure window in 4467(b)(1), the three express self-help bans in 4463, and the full no-cause ladder in 4467(c), unflattened.

Common questions: Vermont 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 Vermont?: 14 days. Those 14 days are calendar days, and they run from the tenant's receipt of a written notice rather than from mailing — a mailed notice is really a 17-day notice. The tenant defeats the termination by paying or tendering the rent due through the end of the rental period in which payment is made.
How much notice is required to evict for a lease violation in Vermont?: 30 days. Those 30 days are the termination date, not a cure window — Vermont grants no statutory right to fix a lease breach. The clock runs in calendar days from the tenant's receipt of the notice, so a mailed notice really runs 33 days.
How long does an eviction take in Vermont?: About 50 calendar days from receipt of the notice for an uncontested nonpayment case, and longer on other grounds — about 66 calendar days for a material breach, about 96 or 126 days for a no-cause termination.
How long does a tenant have to appeal an eviction judgment in Vermont?: No eviction-specific deadline — the standard civil appeal window applies (see notes).
Can a landlord change the locks or shut off utilities instead of going to court in Vermont?: No — Vermont bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. Vermont bars landlord self-help outright: no shutting off utilities, and no denying the tenant access to the premises or to the tenant's property, except through proper judicial process. A tenant harmed by an illegal eviction may sue for an injunction, damages, costs, and attorney's fees.

Statute citations

9 V.S.A. 4451 (1) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4452 (a), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4455 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4456 (d), (e) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4456b (a)(2) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4463 (a)-(c) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4464 (a), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4465 (a), (b), (c) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (b)(1) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (b)(2) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (c)(1)(A), (c)(1)(B), (c)(2) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (d) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (e) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (f) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (h) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (i) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (j)(1) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4467 (k) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4468 (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4469a (b), (c) (verified 2026) Official source
9 V.S.A. 4472 (a), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4761 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4773 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4851 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4852 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4853 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4853a (b) (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4853a (d) (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4853a (h) (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4853b (b), (d), (e) (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4854 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4854a (a)(1), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4855 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4856 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4911 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 4921 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 2383 (verified 2026) Official source
12 V.S.A. 2681 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
1 V.S.A. 138 (verified 2026) Official source
4 V.S.A. 30 (a)(1)(A), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
4 V.S.A. 31 (1) (verified 2026) Official source
24 App. V.S.A. 48 (Burlington city charter) (64)(A), (64)(B), (65) (verified 2026) Official source
2025 Acts and Resolves No. 13 (H.21), Sec. 1 (amending 12 V.S.A. 4854) Sec. 1; Sec. 2 (eff. on passage, signed May 5, 2025) (verified 2026) Official source
2026 Acts and Resolves No. 103 (S.157), Secs. 3-4, 6 (amending 9 V.S.A. 4452 and repealing its sunset) Sec. 3, Sec. 4, Sec. 6 (eff. July 1, 2026) (verified 2026) Official source
2026 Acts and Resolves No. 176 (S.278), Sec. 30 (adding 9 V.S.A. 4468b) Sec. 30; Sec. 32(e) (eff. July 1, 2026) (verified 2026) Official source
Vermont Judiciary, Civil Division - Eviction Process (official court guidance) Starting a court case; Responding to an eviction complaint; Writ of Possession (verified 2026) Official source
Vermont General Assembly, Acts Affecting VSA Sections, 2025-2026 session (currency check) Title 9 ch. 137; Title 12 ch. 169 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Vermont General Assembly site (legislature.vermont.gov): the complete text of every section of 9 V.S.A. chapter 137 (4451 through 4475, all four subchapters) read twice via two independent official endpoints — the per-section pages and the full-chapter view — with every key figure (60 days' actual notice for rent increases in 4455(b); the 14-day deposit return clock, its discovery/noticed-vacate-date triggers, the 60-day seasonal clock, and the forfeiture-plus-willful-double penalty in 4461(c)-(e); the 48-hour / 9 AM-9 PM entry rule in 4460(b); the three-day mail-receipt presumption in 4451(1)) matching verbatim across both reads. 10 V.S.A. 6251 and a full sweep of 10 V.S.A. chapter 153 (mobile home parks) read for the note-only lot-rent regime. Session sweep run against the official 2025-2026 biennium data: all 178 regular acts, all 12 municipal (charter) acts, and all 13 vetoed bills enumerated, plus the official Acts-Affecting-VSA-Sections table (2,693 rows) filtered to Title 9 chapter 137 — exactly three hits, each verified in the enacted act text (Act 69 of 2025 sec. 10 amending 4456a; Act 103 of 2026 amending 4452(b) and cancelling its scheduled repeal, effective 2026-07-01; Act 176 of 2026 sec. 30 adding new 9 V.S.A. 4468b, effective 2026-07-01). Act 103 and Act 176 read from their official As Enacted PDFs; both postdate the statutes site's current text (the site still shows 4452(b) as repealed effective 2026-07-01 and lacks 4468b — flagged in notes). Verified negatives (no deposit cap, no state deposit-interest or separate-account rule, no late-fee or grace-period statute, no rent-control or preemption provision, no increase-frequency limit) established by the full-chapter double read plus a targeted Title 24 municipal-powers check (24 V.S.A. 2291; chapter 123). Late-fee case law (Highgate Associates, Ltd. v. Merryfield, 157 Vt. 313 (1991)) corroborated via the statewide CVOEO tenant-landlord guidance and multiple independent secondary descriptions; advance.lexis.com not used. Dead 2025-2026 bills (S.91, H.399, H.440) verified dead on their official bill-status pages; the biennium has adjourned sine die.