How to Evict a Tenant in Indiana: Laws, Process, and Timeline
Indiana Eviction Timeline 2026: Filing, the Small Claims Hearing, and the Writ
Indiana Code Title 32, Article 31 governs the eviction lawsuit itself — notice, filing, the hearing, the writ. For deposits, repair rights, and entry rules, see our Indiana landlord-tenant law guide; that page covers rights and duties, this one covers what happens once a landlord already has grounds.
Grounds and Notice Periods
Indiana’s notice rules are short and lean heavily on the lease itself: the 10-day rent notice gives way to whatever the parties agreed, and a lease that requires rent in advance can remove the notice altogether.
| Ground | Notice Period | Statute | Curable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-payment of rent | 10 days, unless the lease says otherwise; no notice at all where the lease expressly requires rent in advance and the tenant didn’t pay it | IC § 32-31-1-6; IC § 32-31-1-8(5) | Yes — paying in full before the 10 days run out keeps the lease alive; where § 32-31-1-8(5) removes the notice, the statute gives no cure window |
| Tenancy at will, no cause | 1 month, in writing | IC § 32-31-1-1(a) | N/A |
| Periodic tenancy of 3 months or less (month-to-month, week-to-week) | One rental period — a month for month-to-month, a week for week-to-week | IC § 32-31-1-4 | N/A |
| Year-to-year tenancy, no cause | 3 months before the year ends | IC § 32-31-1-3 | N/A |
| Fixed-term lease reaching its end date | None — the lease ends on its own | IC § 32-31-1-8(1)–(2) | N/A |
| Lease violation other than rent | No notice period in IC 32-31-1 — the lease’s own termination terms control | — | Only if the lease gives a cure right |
Notice can be served on the tenant directly; if the tenant can’t be found, on a person living at the unit, who must have its contents explained to them; or, if nobody’s there, by posting it on a conspicuous part of the property (IC § 32-31-1-9). Mail isn’t one of the methods that section lists. For the rent notice, IC § 32-31-1-7 supplies a form that tells the tenant to vacate within 10 days unless the rent due is paid within those 10 days.
The Court Process
- File the complaint. A person with a right to possession sues the tenant in possession to recover the property (IC § 32-30-2-1), in a court for the county where the property sits — small claims handles most residential cases.
- Serve the tenant. The sheriff, a process server, or certified mail delivers the summons (called a Notice of Claim in small claims court), naming the court date and the allegations.
- Hearing. The date comes from the county’s docket, not a fixed statutory number.
- Judgment. A landlord who wins gets a judgment for possession, plus any monetary award the court grants.
- Removal after judgment. Enforcement follows the court’s own possession order. The 48-hour and 5-day rules in IC 32-30-3 belong to the prejudgment track described below, not to enforcement of a final judgment — a final judgment supersedes any prejudgment order for possession (IC § 32-30-3-12). Ask the clerk what the court’s order says about the move-out date.
The prejudgment track (IC 32-30-3). A landlord who wants possession before trial can file an affidavit with the complaint or at any time before judgment (IC § 32-30-3-1). The court then orders the tenant to show cause at a hearing held no earlier than 5 business days after service; that order must tell the tenant they can file affidavits, testify, and file a written undertaking to stay delivery of the property, and must warn that the judge may enter a judgment of possession for the landlord if the tenant fails to appear at the hearing (IC § 32-30-3-2). After the hearing the court decides, as a preliminary matter, which side is entitled to possession; if the tenant doesn’t appear, the court may issue the prejudgment order of possession for the landlord (IC § 32-30-3-5(a), (b)). Before any order other than a final judgment issues, the landlord must post a court-approved surety undertaking covering the tenant’s damages if the order proves wrongful (IC § 32-30-3-6), and the tenant can get possession back — before the show-cause hearing or before final judgment, and within the time fixed in the order of possession — by filing a written undertaking, executed by a court-approved surety, in an amount the court sets to cover costs assessed against the tenant for the wrongful detention; the tenant must then serve notice of the filing on the executing officer and on the landlord or the landlord’s attorney, and file proof of that service with the court (IC § 32-30-3-8(a), (b)). An undertaking filed before the hearing ends the hearing unless the landlord takes exception to the surety, and if the officer is holding the property, the court returns it no more than 5 days after the notice is served on the landlord or the landlord’s attorney (IC § 32-30-3-8(c), (d)). On this track the officer cannot remove occupants earlier than 48 hours after the order of possession is served (IC § 32-30-3-10), and returns the order to the court within 5 days of taking the property into custody (IC § 32-30-3-11).
No Indiana court tracks and publishes a single verified average for how long the whole process takes — county caseload moves that number more than any flat range printed in a guide.
What This Costs
Confirm the current filing and service fees with the clerk of the court where the case will be filed before filing.
What a Landlord Cannot Do
Except under a court order, IC § 32-31-5-6 bars an Indiana landlord from shutting a tenant out of the unit — changing the locks or adding a device to exclude them, removing doors, windows, fixtures, or appliances, or interrupting electricity, gas, water, or other essential services (an emergency, good-faith repairs, or necessary construction excepted). Retaliation is barred under IC § 32-31-8.5 — not IC § 32-31-9, which is a separate, narrower chapter covering only tenants or applicants who are victims of domestic violence, sex offenses, stalking, or similar listed crimes and hold a civil protection order or criminal no-contact order. Chapter 8.5 doesn’t run on a fixed presumption window tied to timing; it turns on what the tenant did — a code-enforcement complaint about a health or safety violation, a written complaint about a lockout or repair violation, a lawsuit under the landlord-tenant chapters, joining a tenants’ organization, or testifying against the landlord. It also names what isn’t retaliation: declining to renew at the end of a lease, raising rent to comparable market rates, or a service cut applied to every tenant equally — and a landlord that filed in good faith before the protected activity, or is evicting over a rent default not cured within the 10-day period or the lease’s own period, keeps that ground even if the timing looks suspicious.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Indiana require notice before filing for non-payment of rent? By default, yes: IC § 32-31-1-6 lets a landlord end the lease on at least 10 days’ notice, and paying the full rent before those 10 days run out stops it. Two exceptions come from the lease itself — the parties can agree to different terms, and under IC § 32-31-1-8(5) no notice is needed when the lease expressly requires rent in advance and the tenant didn’t pay it. Read the rent clause before counting days.
Which statute bars retaliatory eviction in Indiana — IC § 32-31-8.5 or IC § 32-31-9? § 32-31-8.5, for tenants generally. § 32-31-9 exists too, but it’s a narrower chapter reaching only crime victims who hold a protection or no-contact order — citing it as the general retaliation statute is a common but real mistake.
Does Indiana’s 48-hour rule apply after the landlord wins at trial? IC § 32-30-3-10’s 48-hour floor sits in the prejudgment-possession chapter: it governs an order of possession issued before trial, and IC § 32-30-3-12 says a final judgment supersedes that prejudgment order. After a final judgment, the move-out date comes from the court’s own order — read it, or ask the clerk.