How to Evict a Tenant in Utah: Laws, Process, and Timeline
Utah Eviction Timeline 2026: Business Days, Calendar Days, and a Retaliation Statute Narrower Than It Sounds
Utah’s unlawful detainer statute, Utah Code §§ 78B-6-801 through 78B-6-816, governs eviction in every Utah county. This page covers the lawsuit itself: notice, filing, the hearing, the writ. Fit-premises duties, deposits, and disclosures are on our Utah landlord-tenant law guide.
Grounds and Notice Periods
Two of these notice periods look identical at “3 days” until you check whether they run in business or calendar days — they don’t match.
| Ground | Notice Period | Statute | Curable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-payment of rent | 3 business days — a weekend or holiday adds real time | § 78B-6-802(1)(c) | Yes — the notice has to offer paying the rent and other amounts due as the alternative to leaving |
| Lease violation (any lease condition not listed in the next row) | 3 calendar days | § 78B-6-802(1)(h) | Yes — the notice offers performance as the alternative, and § 78B-6-802(2) lets the tenant perform the condition and save the lease from forfeiture |
| Assigning or subletting against the lease, waste, an unlawful business, nuisance, or a criminal act on the premises | 3 calendar days, notice to quit | § 78B-6-802(1)(d)–(g) | No — these are straight notices to quit with no pay-or-perform alternative |
| No-cause, month-to-month or other periodic tenancy | 15 calendar days before the end of the rental period | § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i) | N/A |
| Holdover after lease expiration | None — the tenancy ends without notice at the end of the term | § 78B-6-802(1)(a) | N/A |
The Court Process
- File. Once the applicable notice has run, the landlord files an unlawful detainer complaint in district court — justice courts in Utah hear small claims but not evictions.
- Serve. The tenant is served with the summons and complaint.
- Hearing. While the tenant is still in the unit, the court has to expedite the case and start trial within 60 days of service unless the parties agree otherwise. Either side can ask for an evidentiary hearing, which has to be held within 10 business days after the tenant answers, and in a nuisance case alleging criminal conduct the court holds an evidentiary hearing upon request within 10 days of filing, set when the complaint is filed and served with the summons at least three calendar days ahead; if the court finds the act more likely than not occurred, it issues an order of restitution and possession returns immediately or within up to 72 hours the court allows (§ 78B-6-810(3)). A tenant who gets notice of a hearing and doesn’t show up faces an order of restitution and a default judgment.
- Judgment. A landlord who wins gets a judgment for restitution, which can be enforced immediately. The financial side is steep: the court enters judgment for the rent plus three times the damages assessed for the unlawful detainer, and the prevailing party is awarded costs and reasonable attorney fees (§ 78B-6-811).
- Order of restitution. The order tells the tenant they have three calendar days after it is served to leave, unless the parties agree otherwise or the court ordered immediate return of possession (§ 78B-6-812(2)). The tenant can request a hearing on how the order is being enforced, but that request doesn’t pause enforcement unless the tenant posts a bond (corporate, cash, certified funds, or property) approved by the court and the court orders a stay. The court sets that hearing within 10 calendar days of the request, or as soon as it practicably can.
- Enforcement. If the tenant doesn’t comply within the time the order allows, a sheriff or constable can enter using the least destructive means possible and remove them. Within five business days after the removal, the tenant has to be given reasonable access to retrieve clothing, identification, financial and immigration or employment documents, and medication and medical equipment.
What This Costs
Confirm the current filing fee with the district court clerk before filing.
What a Landlord Cannot Do
§ 78B-6-814 makes it unlawful for an owner to willfully exclude a tenant from the premises in any manner except by judicial process, so changing the locks to keep a tenant out requires the court route; the one carve-out is a unit the tenant has abandoned. Retaliation protection here is much narrower than the bare citation suggests: § 57-22-5.1(10) bars restricting a tenant’s ability to call police, fire, ambulance, or similar public safety services and bars penalizing or evicting a tenant for making reasonable requests for that help. That subsection is the only anti-retaliation rule in the Fit Premises Act or the unlawful detainer part, and it says nothing about complaints over repairs or conditions.
Two crime-victim rights exist side by side, and they don’t cover the same people. Swapping out the locks is available to a wide group — stalking, sexual offenses, burglary, dating violence, domestic violence all qualify, with the tenant paying for the lock. Until January 1, 2027, § 57-22-5.1(1)(b)(ii) leaves out victims of four Title 76 offenses — enticing a minor, sexual battery, lewdness, and lewdness involving a child; the version effective January 1, 2027 (2026 General Session, ch. 445) drops that exclusion. Proof is a police report or a cohabitant-abuse protective order issued after a hearing both sides had notice of (§ 57-22-5.1(2)). Walking away from the lease entirely is a smaller circle: § 57-22-5.1 limits it to domestic-violence victims specifically, and it isn’t free — the tenant must be current on the lease’s obligations (a missed payment, or a breach of the duties not to damage the unit, disturb other renters, or refuse repair access, doesn’t block the exit if it began less than 30 days before the notice, is due to the domestic violence, and the tenant gives evidence of both with the notice — the tenant still owes for it), and must give a court order or a police report showing the tenant is a victim and not the predominant aggressor, written notice, and a fee equal to a month’s rent, then leave within 15 days, paying rent for those days. An ex parte civil protective order or ex parte civil stalking injunction for which a hearing is requested doesn’t count as that court order (§ 57-22-5.1(1)(a)(ii)). Once a landlord has already served an eviction notice, this exit is gone; it only works ahead of that point, not as a counter-move to a filing already underway.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Utah’s non-payment notice 3 business days or 3 calendar days? Business days — a weekend or holiday genuinely extends it. That’s different from the lease-violation notice, which runs on calendar days despite sharing the same “3 days” figure.
Does Utah’s retaliation statute cover a habitability complaint? Not § 57-22-5.1(10). It protects a tenant who asks police, fire, or emergency medical services for help — a complaint about repairs or conditions isn’t on its list.
Can a Utah domestic-violence victim end a lease for free? No — a termination fee equal to one month’s rent is required alongside the written notice and qualifying documentation, and the option disappears once an eviction notice has already been served.