Alaska eviction law

If rent is unpaid when due, give the tenant written notice of the nonpayment and of your intention to end the lease if rent is not paid within seven days. If the tenant does not pay in full within seven days, the tenancy ends unless you agree to let the tenant stay, and you may seek possession.

AS 34.03.220(b) AS 09.45.090(a)

• You need to give only one written notice for any one default. After giving it, you may accept a partial payment and extend the eviction date to match. AS 34.03.220(b)
• This notice serves as the notice to quit for an eviction. Deliver it to the tenant, leave it at the premises if the tenant is absent, or send it by registered or certified mail. AS 09.45.100(b) AS 09.45.100(c)
• If you mail the notice, add three days to the seven before the tenant is holding over unlawfully. AS 09.45.090(c)
• Accepting rent while knowing of a default waives your right to end the lease for that breach, unless you and the tenant agree otherwise after the breach. AS 34.03.240

For a material breach of the lease, or a breach of the tenant's duties that materially affects health and safety, serve a written notice to quit that names the breach and ends the lease on a date at least 10 days after service. If the tenant adequately remedies a curable breach before that date, the lease does not end.

AS 34.03.220(a)(2)

• If substantially the same breach recurs within six months and the tenant did not use due care, you may end the lease on at least five days' written notice to quit. AS 34.03.220(a)(2)
• If the tenant or someone in the tenant's control deliberately causes more than $400 of damage, or the tenant engages in or permits prostitution or another listed illegal activity at the premises, the notice to quit may end the lease between 24 hours and five days after service. AS 34.03.220(a)(1) AS 34.03.120(b)
• For illegal activity, though, you may not file for possession until the tenant has failed to leave within five days after service of the notice to quit, or eight days if you mailed it. AS 09.45.090(a)(2)(G) AS 09.45.090(c) AS 09.45.110
• If a utility cuts off electricity, gas or water because the tenant did not pay, the tenancy ends five days after your notice to quit unless the tenant restores service within three days, repays what you paid to restore it, and the unit was not damaged; a repeat within six months allows three days' notice. AS 34.03.220(e)
• A notice to quit must state the breach, any corrective action and its deadline, and the date and time the tenancy ends, direct the tenant to leave by then, and warn that you may sue for possession. AS 09.45.105 See Eviction process on the Alaska page
• Accepting rent, or performance that varies from the lease, while knowing of a default waives your right to end the lease for that breach, unless agreed otherwise after the breach. AS 34.03.240

Unless the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the unit, you may recover possession only through a court action for forcible entry and detainer, after the notice the situation requires; for unpaid rent, the seven-day nonpayment notice serves as the notice to quit. A notice to quit must be in writing and must state the breach or reason, any cure and its deadline, and the date and time the tenancy ends, direct the tenant to leave by then, and warn that you may sue for possession.

AS 09.45.100 AS 09.45.105 AS 34.03.280

• Serve the notice by delivering it to the tenant, leaving it at the premises if the tenant is absent, or registered or certified mail; mailing adds three days to the notice period. AS 09.45.100(c) AS 09.45.090(c)
• You may file on or after the date the tenant unlawfully holds possession. AS 09.45.110
• The summons must be served at least two days before trial, and a tenant who wants a continuance of more than two days must post security for the rent that may accrue. AS 09.45.120
• The summons and complaint are served under Civil Rule 85, and a continuance may be granted only for good cause. AS 34.03.285
• The court does not inquire into the merits of title in the action. AS 09.45.150
• Attorney fees are allowed to the prevailing party in a proceeding under the Act or the lease. AS 34.03.350

You may not recover or take possession of the unit, by court action or otherwise, including by wilfully cutting off electricity, gas, water, sanitary or other essential services, except after abandonment or surrender, for circumstances beyond your control due to energy conditions, or as the Act permits, such as an eviction case after proper notice. A tenant who is unlawfully removed or excluded, or whose services are wilfully interrupted, may recover possession or end the lease, and recover up to one and one-half times actual damages.

AS 34.03.280 AS 34.03.210

• Distraint for rent is abolished, and a landlord's lien on a tenant's household goods is not enforceable unless perfected before March 19, 1974. AS 34.03.250
• Where entry is allowed by law, it must be made peaceably, not by force. AS 09.45.060
• If the lease ends this way, you must return the prepaid rent and deposit the tenant is owed. AS 34.03.210

If a tenant leaves personal property behind when the tenancy ends and you reasonably believe it is abandoned, you may give notice demanding removal by a date at least 15 days after the notice is delivered or mailed. If it is not removed, you may sell it at a public sale, or destroy or dispose of property worth too little to store and sell; the notice must state which items you elect to sell and which you will dispose of.

AS 34.03.260(a)

• After the notice, store the property in a place of safekeeping with reasonable care. Storage on the premises may not cost more than the fair rental value; commercial storage costs include the actual charge and the move. AS 34.03.260(b)
• If the tenant answers in writing that it will remove the property, it has until the later of your deadline or 15 days after its response; after that the property is conclusively presumed abandoned. A tenant who removes it owes the storage cost. AS 34.03.260(c)
• Perishable goods may be disposed of in any manner you consider fit. AS 34.03.260(a)(1)
• A landlord who deliberately or negligently violates these rules is liable for actual damages plus penal damages up to the same amount. AS 34.03.260(d)
• The public sale follows AS 09.35.140, and property that draws no bid may be disposed of. AS 34.03.260(e)

You may not raise rent, decrease services, or bring or threaten an eviction because the tenant complained to you of a violation of your maintenance duties, sought to enforce rights under the Act, organized or joined a tenants' union, or complained to a government agency that enforces housing, wage, price or rent controls. The Act sets no time window for this protection.

AS 34.03.310(a)

• A tenant who faces retaliation has a defense to an eviction and the remedies for unlawful ouster, including up to one and one-half times actual damages. AS 34.03.310(b) AS 34.03.210
• After a notice to quit you may still seek possession if the tenant owes rent, a code repair requires the tenant to leave, the tenant commits waste or a nuisance or uses the unit illegally or for non-residential purposes against the lease, or you in good faith seek the unit for personal use, major remodeling or demolition, removal from housing use for six months, or a sale to a buyer with such a purpose. AS 34.03.310(c)
• Bringing such an action does not release you from liability for your own noncompliance. AS 34.03.310(e)