Nebraska 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 the rent is not paid within seven calendar days. If the tenant does not pay within those seven calendar days, you may end the lease.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1431(2)

• A notice reaches the tenant when it is handed to the tenant or mailed to the place the tenant designated (or the tenant's last-known residence). Email or other electronic delivery counts only if the tenant affirmatively consented after getting the statements the law lists. You may not make that consent a lease condition, and if you have reason to believe an electronic notice was not received, deliver it another way. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1413(2)(c), (4) Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1413(7), (9), (15) Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1410(18)
• 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. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1433
• Your eviction complaint must show that you complied with the Act's notice rules. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1441(1)

For a material lease violation, or a breach of the tenant's duties that materially affects health and safety, give written notice naming the breach and saying the lease will end on a date at least 30 days after the tenant receives it unless the breach is fixed within 14 days. If substantially the same breach recurs within six months, you may end the lease on at least 14 days' written notice.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1431(1)

• If the breach can be fixed by repairs, paying damages or otherwise, and the tenant fixes it before the date in the notice, the lease does not end. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1431(1)
• For violent criminal activity, the illegal sale of a controlled substance, or other activity that threatens the health or safety of other tenants, you or your staff, you may give five days' written notice of termination with no right to cure, then sue for possession. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1431(4)
• You may not use the five-day notice against a tenant when someone other than the tenant or a household member did it and the tenant or household member sought a protective order, reported it to police, or, for domestic violence, obtained a qualified third-party certification. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1431(5)
• You may also recover damages and get a court order for any tenant noncompliance, plus reasonable attorney's fees if it was willful. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1431(3)

An action for possession is filed as a complaint for restitution with the clerk of the district or county court. The complaint must state the statute you rely on, the facts in detail, a reasonably accurate description of the premises and your compliance with the Act's notice rules.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1440 Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1441(1)

• The summons must be served within three days after it issues and is returnable within five days, not counting nonjudicial days. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1442
• Trial is held 10 to 14 days after the summons issues, before a judge without a jury. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1446
• If you win, the court declares the lease forfeited and, at your request, issues a writ directing the sheriff or constable to restore possession on a date not more than 10 days after the writ issues. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1446
• When you get possession back, follow the property act for anything left in the unit. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1446
• A tenant's appeal stays the writ only if the tenant deposits the judgment and costs or posts a bond, and pays the monthly rent into court while the appeal runs. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1447
• For a five-day dangerous activity case, the complaint must describe the incident or incidents. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1441(2)
• If diligent efforts to serve the summons fail, it may be posted on the unit's front door and mailed first-class to the tenant's last-known address, with an affidavit describing the efforts. A case served this way can restore possession, but the court will not enter a money judgment for you. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1442 Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1442.01 Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1446
• Prepare a dated case file before the hearing: the lease and amendments, the notice and delivery record, a rent ledger showing payments and credits, and photographs or messages relevant to the stated reason. Put the events in date order and identify what each document supports. Read the summons for the hearing instructions and keep any later payment or move-out agreement with the file. A prepared file supports the case; it does not replace the required notice, service or court order. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1440 Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1441(1)

You may not take possession by removing or locking out the tenant or by willfully cutting off electricity, gas, water or another essential service. You may recover possession only through the eviction process, or after abandonment or surrender.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1436

• If you unlawfully remove or exclude the tenant or willfully cut essential services, the tenant may recover possession or end the lease, and in either case recover three months' periodic rent as liquidated damages plus a reasonable attorney's fee. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1430
• A landlord's lien or security interest in the tenant's household goods is not enforceable, and seizing property for rent (distraint) is abolished. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1434

Total absence without notice to you for one full rental period or 30 days, whichever is less, is abandonment. When personal property remains after the tenancy ends and the tenant has vacated, give written notice to the tenant and anyone you reasonably believe owns the property, describing it and stating that reasonable storage costs may be charged, where it can be claimed and the claim deadline: at least 7 days after personal delivery or 14 days after mailing. The notice must also contain, word for word, one of the two statements the law prescribes: the public sale statement or, if you believe the property is worth less than $2,000, the statement that it may be kept, sold or destroyed without further notice.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1432(3) Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2303 Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2304

• Deliver the notice personally or by first-class mail to the last-known address, and to any other address where you know the person is likely to get it. Give it within six months after the lease expires or you discover the abandonment, whichever is later. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2303(2)(d), (3)
• You may leave the property in the unit or store it in a safe place, using reasonable care; you are liable for loss only if you caused it intentionally or negligently. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2306
• Release the property to the tenant or owner who pays the reasonable storage and advertising costs and takes it by the deadline. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2307
• Unclaimed property must be sold at a public sale after published notice, unless you reasonably believe it is worth less than $2,000 in total, in which case you may keep it or dispose of it as you choose. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2308(1), (2)
• Sale proceeds left after storage, advertising and sale costs go to the State Treasurer within 30 days after the sale if not claimed. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2308(4)
• If a tenant dies, you must try within 10 days to contact the person the tenant named to collect belongings, if any; that person then has set periods to claim and remove the property before you may dispose of it under the property act. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1414(5)
• If the tenant asks in writing within 14 days after vacating, describing the property and giving a mailing address, surrender any property you still hold. A demand for removal and storage costs must be written, itemized, and mailed or handed to the tenant within five days after you receive the request, and the tenant must remove the property within 72 hours after paying. Keeping property in violation of the property act makes you liable for actual damages up to its value plus reasonable attorney's fees. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2311 Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-2312

You may not retaliate by raising rent, cutting services, or bringing or threatening an eviction because the tenant complained to a government code enforcement agency about a violation materially affecting health and safety, or organized or joined a tenants' union. The Act sets no time window, so the protection is not limited to a set number of months.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1439(1)

• A tenant who suffers retaliation may recover possession or end the lease and collect three months' periodic rent as liquidated damages plus a reasonable attorney's fee, and has a defense to your eviction case. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1439(2) Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1430
• Reasonable rent increases or changes in services remain permitted. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1439(2)
• You may still sue for possession if the tenant or the tenant's household or guests mainly caused the code violation through lack of reasonable care, the tenant is behind on rent, or the code repairs would require work that deprives the tenant of the unit. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1439(3)