North Carolina eviction law

If the tenant does not pay within 10 days after you demand all past-due rent, the lease term is forfeited. You must then remove the tenant only through the court's summary ejectment process.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-3 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.6

• Self-help removal is not allowed: a residential tenant may be removed only through the summary ejectment procedure (or the expedited drug-crime procedure). N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.6 See Lockouts and utility shutoffs on the North Carolina page
• Before filing, the tenant must be holding over after you have demanded that they surrender the home. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-26(a)
• If, before judgment, the tenant pays or tenders the rent due and the costs of the action, a case based on unpaid rent stops. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-33

North Carolina sets no cure period for a lease violation other than unpaid rent. If the lease says the tenancy ends on a particular breach, you may seek summary ejectment once the tenant holds over after you demand possession.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-26(a)(2)

• You must notify the tenant in writing of a breach of the tenant's statutory maintenance duties, except in an emergency. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-43(b)
• The lease may provide that accepting partial rent or a partial housing subsidy payment does not waive the breach. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-26(c)

Evictions are summary ejectment cases. After you file, the clerk issues a summons for a hearing within seven days, not counting weekends and legal holidays, usually before a magistrate in small claims court.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-28 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-30

• The sheriff mails the summons and complaint and tries to deliver them in person; if that fails, copies may be posted on the premises. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-29
• A party may appeal the magistrate's judgment for a new trial in district court, orally in court or by written notice within 10 days after judgment. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-228
• A tenant who appeals can stay the eviction by paying the undisputed rent in arrears the magistrate found (an indigent appellant need not) and paying rent into the clerk's office as it comes due. If a payment is more than five business days late, the clerk issues execution on your application, and within five business days of your written request the clerk must pay you rent paid in that the tenant has not claimed. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-34(b) to (f)
• The sheriff must execute a writ of possession within five days of receiving it and must first give the tenant notice of the approximate time. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-36.2(a)
• Before executing a judgment for possession more than 30 days old, you must sign an affidavit that you have not made a new lease with the tenant or accepted rent for any period after the judgment. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-36.1A
• Prepare for the hearing with a dated file: the lease and amendments, notices and delivery records, a rent ledger showing payments and credits, relevant messages, and photographs or repair records that explain the disputed issue. Keep the amount requested clear and update it when a payment arrives. Read the hearing papers carefully and check the court's instructions for attending and presenting evidence. A payment discussion or proposed move-out agreement does not by itself cancel a scheduled hearing. The North Carolina Judicial Branch landlord/tenant guide provides an official starting point for court procedures and help. North Carolina Judicial Branch: Landlord/Tenant Issues

You may remove a residential tenant only through the court process. Changing the locks, removing the tenant or taking the tenant's belongings yourself is not allowed, and a lease term to the contrary is void.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.6 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.8

• A tenant removed or locked out unlawfully may recover possession or end the lease, and may recover actual damages (not punitive or treble damages or damages for emotional distress). N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.9(a)
• Distress and distraint are prohibited: you have rights in a tenant's personal property only as the statutes allow, and interfering with it unlawfully makes you liable for its return or value plus actual damages. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.7 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.9(b)
• If you bill the tenant for electric, water, sewer or natural gas service, you may not disconnect or cut off that service because the tenant has not paid for it. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42.1(b)

Without an eviction, the only way to deal with property a tenant leaves behind is to give property worth $750 or less to a qualifying nonprofit. For that route, property counts as abandoned if you find evidence that clearly shows the tenant voluntarily left after the paid rental period and you have no notice that a disability caused it, and abandonment is presumed 10 or more days after you post a notice of suspected abandonment inside and outside the home without a response. Anything else may be removed or disposed of only after a writ of possession is executed, or under the estate affidavit procedure when a sole tenant has died.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.7 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.9(d), (e) N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-36.3

• If abandoned property is worth $750 or less, you may give it to a nonprofit that provides clothing and furnishings to people in need, if it agrees to store it separately for 30 days and release it free to the tenant. You must post a notice naming the recipient at the home and for 30 days where rent is paid, and mail it to the tenant. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.9(d)
• After the sheriff executes a writ of possession, you may move property for storage but must not dispose of it for seven days, and must release it to the tenant on request during that time. After seven days you may dispose of or sell it; a sale needs seven days' written notice by first-class mail, and surplus proceeds go to the tenant on request or to the county. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.9(g) N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-36.2(b)
• If everything left at the time of the writ is worth less than $500, it is deemed abandoned five days after execution. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.9(h)

In an eviction case a tenant may raise retaliation as a defense and show that your action was substantially in response to a protected act within 12 months before you filed. This is a defense the tenant must support with evidence, not a presumption.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.1

• Protected acts are a good faith complaint or repair request to you, a good faith complaint to a government agency, a government's formal complaint to you, a good faith attempt to enforce rights under the lease or law, and involvement with a tenants' rights organization. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.1(a)
• You may still win if the tenant's breach of the rent covenant or another substantial covenant is the reason for the eviction, the tenant held over after a fixed term with no renewal option, the tenant's household or guests willfully or negligently caused the condition, code compliance requires displacing the household, your good faith notice to quit came before the protected act, or at the end of the tenant's term you in good faith seek the home for your own residence, for work that requires displacing the household, or to take it off the rental market for at least six months. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.1(c)
• If the court finds the eviction retaliatory, it denies possession but may still award rent due. A tenant cannot waive these rights. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.2 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-37.3
• You also may not end, refuse to renew or refuse to rent because someone is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, or used the victim early termination right. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42.2 See Fair housing on the North Carolina page