How to Evict a Tenant in Tennessee: Laws, Process, and Timeline
Tennessee Eviction Timeline 2026: URLTA Doesn’t Reach Most of the State’s 95 Counties
Ask which Tennessee county the rental sits in before quoting any eviction number — the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act stops at a population line, Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102(a): counties with more than 75,000 people “according to the 2010 federal census,” a benchmark the current text still uses. By the Census Bureau’s 2010 count, 17 counties clear that bar, led by Shelby (Memphis), Davidson (Nashville), Knox (Knoxville), and Hamilton (Chattanooga); the other 78 of the state’s 95 never have. Everywhere else, the notice rules come from Title 66, Chapter 7, which in turn says it does not apply in the URLTA counties. This page walks through the lawsuit itself, once grounds exist — filing, the hearing, the writ — and the rest of it, deposits and repairs and the full list of which counties qualify, is on our Tennessee landlord-tenant law guide.
Grounds and Notice Periods — Two Different Tennessees
| Ground | Qualifying Counties (URLTA, § 66-28-505 unless noted) | Everywhere Else (§ 66-7-109) |
|---|---|---|
| Non-payment / breach fixable by paying rent, repairs, or damages | 14 days to remedy after written notice, or the agreement terminates (§ 66-28-505(a)(2)) | 14 days’ notice; the tenancy survives if the tenant remedies before the date in the notice (§ 66-7-109(a)) |
| Repeat of substantially the same breach within 6 months | 7 days’ written notice, no chance to fix it (§ 66-28-505(a)(2)(B)) | 14 days’ written notice (§ 66-7-109(a)(2)) |
| Other material breach that payment can’t fix | Termination no less than 14 days after the tenant receives notice (§ 66-28-505(a)(3)) | 30 days’ notice for “all other defaults” (§ 66-7-109(b)) |
| No-cause, month-to-month | 30 days before the periodic rental date named in the notice (§ 66-28-512(b)) | Not set by § 66-7-109, which covers defaults only |
| Violent act, or conduct that is a real and present danger to others’ health, safety, or property | 3 days from the tenant’s receipt of written notice (§ 66-28-517); the tenant can go straight to court for an injunction | 3 days (§ 66-7-109(d)), which also covers drug-related criminal activity; not available against a tenant who is mentally or physically disabled |
A single lease clause can flip the first row above, but only inside a qualifying county: print the waiver in 12-point bold or larger, and § 66-28-505(b) lets the landlord file a detainer warrant immediately upon the non-payment, with no notice at all. What the clause can’t touch is § 66-28-201(d)’s five-day grace period before a late fee may be charged — the statute says the waiver “shall not reduce” it. Chapter 7’s § 66-7-109 contains no comparable waiver clause.
The Court Process — Mostly Statewide
- File a detainer warrant. Once the applicable notice has run, the landlord files in general sessions court for the county where the property sits.
- Serve the tenant. The warrant can be served on any adult found in possession of the premises, or by certified mail through the sheriff or constable (§ 29-18-115(a), (b)). If personal service on a named defendant fails on three different dates, the officer or process server may post the warrant on the door and mail a copy first class — at least 6 days before the date set for the tenant to appear (§ 29-18-115(e)(2)).
- Hearing. The case is heard in general sessions court on the date set in the warrant.
- Judgment and the 10-day appeal window. A landlord who wins gets a judgment for possession. The tenant has 10 days to appeal to circuit court (§ 29-18-128), but the appeal is not allowed unless the tenant posts a bond, cash, a letter of credit, or two personal sureties covering one year’s rent (§ 29-18-130(b)(2)(A)).
- Writ of possession. No writ of possession can issue until 10 days have passed from the judgment (§ 29-18-126); after that, the landlord requests the writ and the sheriff schedules the physical eviction.
- Removal. The sheriff executes the writ if the tenant hasn’t left.
What This Costs
Check the current filing-fee schedule with the general sessions clerk where the case will be filed; this page doesn’t quote a fee.
What a Landlord Cannot Do
Inside a qualifying county, § 66-28-504 gives a tenant who is unlawfully removed or excluded, or whose essential services are willfully interrupted, the right to recover possession or end the lease, plus actual damages, punitive damages where appropriate, and attorney’s fees. Retaliation is a similar story, because it only exists as a statutory claim where URLTA applies. Inside a qualifying county, § 66-28-514 catches a rent hike, a service cut, or bringing or threatening a possession suit because the tenant complained to the landlord about a § 66-28-301 maintenance violation or used a remedy the chapter provides — no specific number of days triggers it, and it backs off if a code violation was the tenant’s own doing, the tenant is in default in rent, or code compliance would take the unit out of use. Step outside a qualifying county and Chapter 28, including both of these sections, doesn’t apply at all.
Protection for victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking is the exception to the county split: the 2021 law that created it put matching text in both chapters — § 66-28-205 for URLTA counties and § 66-7-112 for everywhere else. For a lease signed or renewed on or after July 1, 2021, the tenant gives written notice, agrees on a release date within the next 30 days, and backs it up with either an order of protection issued after a hearing or documentation of a criminal charge based on a police report, dated no more than 60 days before the notice; rent is still owed for the full month in which the tenancy ends. People reach for the wrong section constantly here: § 66-28-517 sounds close but does something else — it’s the landlord’s own tool for removing a violent tenant, and when domestic abuse is the reason, it lets the landlord evict only the perpetrator, not the victim, once the victim holds a qualifying order of protection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Tennessee’s 14-day nonpayment notice apply everywhere in the state? The number does, through two different statutes. In the 17 URLTA counties it comes from § 66-28-505 (and can be waived by a bold-print lease clause); in the other 78 it comes from § 66-7-109, which lets the tenant remedy before the notice date and contains no waiver clause. The repeat-breach rule is where they part: 7 days under URLTA, 14 under Chapter 7.
Can a Tennessee lease waive the eviction notice for nonpayment? Yes, in a qualifying county, with the bold-print clause described above — otherwise the 14-day notice stands.
What’s the correct citation for Tennessee’s domestic-violence lease-termination right? § 66-28-205 in a URLTA county and § 66-7-112 elsewhere — § 66-28-517 is a different, commonly confused provision about a landlord removing a violent tenant.