Can my landlord evict me?

A tenant (renter) can be evicted for a number of reasons, the most common of which include:

-      Failure to pay rent

-      Failure to pay fines

-      Failure to abide by the lease agreement

-      Criminal activity

-      End of the lease agreement

The landlord CANNOT simply change the locks and force you out. Utah law states that:

It is unlawful for an owner to willfully exclude a tenant from the tenant’s premises in any manner except by judicial process, provided, an owner or his agent shall not be prevented from removing the contents of the leased premises…and retaking the premises and attempting to rent them at a fair rental value when the tenant has abandoned the premises.

Utah Code 78B-6-814. Basically, what this means, is that the landlord must follow the legal process to evict a renter unless the landlord can prove that the property has been abandoned. Abandonment has it’s own requirements, and the landlord cannot simply declare a property abandoned without having gone through the abandonment process.

The website for the Utah State Courts provides a lot of helpful information regarding each type of notice that a landlord can use. You can find that information here:
https://www.utcourts.gov/howto/landlord/eviction.html

The Utah State Courts have also provided a flow chart that shows an overview of the eviction process. You can download that document here:
https://www.utcourts.gov/howto/landlord/docs/Eviction_Summary.pdf

If you have received an eviction notice, please contact Utah Legal Help for help identifying free or affordable legal resources. You can call us at 801-297-7049, send us a message on Facebook through this link, or email us at ProBono@utahbar.org.

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