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To begin a 7 day eviction for non-payment of rent
you must send a written notice of a specific type. The courts would tell you this is
a jurisdictional requirement. What that means is that the District Court does not
even have the jurisdiction to hear your case unless you have sent the notice. The
notice must be of a very particular form, approved by the Supreme Court. You can use
the form in Word format which is located here. 
Or you can use the Adobe .pdf version which is located here.  |
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| The top of the document should read Demand for Possession - Non-Payment of Rent. |
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| In the top box you will put the tenant's name and address. There is a line to type in your name as landlord and the amount of rent owed. Include only the rent which is due up to that point in time. Do not include the rent which will be due next week or the balance still due on the security deposit which they promised you they would pay the month after they moved it. |
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| The .pdf version also has a box for an address different than the mailing address. This might come in handy if you were evicting a commercial tenant and wanted to mail the notice to the company headquarters, but in most situations you will find yourself in you will leave this box blank. |
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| The .pdf version has two pages. You will mail to the tenant the page that says "How To Get Legal Help" You will keep the one that says "Proof of Service". The Word version simply combines both into one page so you will need two copies, one for you and one for the tenant. |
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| You may either hand the notice to the tenant in person or you may mail it to them by regular mail. You may not tape it to their door or stick in in their mail box. I recommend you do not mail it by certified mail. They may simply refuse delivery and then they can prove they did not get the notice. |
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| You have now notified the tenant that if they fail to move or pay the rent within 7 days you have the right to take them to court in summary proceedings. What do you do if they do not either move or pay the rent? |
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| You will need two documents. You can download
the complaint in .pdf form here
and the summons in .pdf form here
. Make sure you are using the complaint form which says "Non Payment of
Rent" if you used the Notice which said "Non Payment of Rent". |
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| On the top of both documents you will see several boxes. In the upper left corner, in the empty space before the words "Judicial District" you will insert the District number. You can find that on this web site under "Courts" by looking up your county. For example, Ottawa County is the 58th Judicial District. So we would type 58th in the upper left box. In the upper right corner you will see a box that says Case Number. The court will assign you a case number. Some counties use the format 06 - case number - LT, others use LT-06-case number. The LT tells the court's computer system it is a landlord/tenant case, the 06 would be the year of filing. Next you type in the court's address and phone number. |
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| Next there is a box for the Plaintiff's name, address and phone number. That is you, the landlord. There is also a box for the Plaintiff's attorney. Since you have gotten this far, I am assuming you aren't using one. If you are, go bowling and make him fill this out! Finally, there is a box for the Defendant. This is the tenant's name address and phone number. |
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| Paragraph 1 of the complaint reminds you that you will need a copy of the lease, if you have one and a copy of the 7 day notice that you sent the tenant. Now would be a good time to complete the "Proof of Service" on the notice and get it notarized. Paragraph 2 would be the name of the property owner, which is likely your name. Paragraph 3 is the property rented by the tenant. Likely this will be the same as the tenant's address. |
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| Paragraph 4 has spaces for the monthly or weekly rental rate, when it is due, the last date the tenant has paid to, and how much is owed. If, for example, you were filling out this form on March 1st, it might read a: Rental rate $500.00 per month. b. Payable on the 1st. c. Rent is paid through January 31. d. Total rent now due is $1,000.00. e. Other money is due: $82.75 for utilities. |
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| Paragraph 5 would apply if this were subsidized housing. About the only program that might be involved if you are handling your own evictions might be the MSHDA voucher program. |
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| Paragraph 6 MUST be checked. I don't know why they even made it optional in the form. Paragraph 9 should never be checked. As a landlord you do not want the extra time and expense of a jury trial. Paragraph 10 should always be checked unless you have already started a law suit to collect this rent owed you (and if you have, why are you starting another?). |
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| So far you have asked for a judgment of possession (throwing the tenant out if they don't pay). It is likely you would also like to have a money judgment, so you can try to collect your money if the tenant moves out instead of paying. If so, you would check Paragraph 12 and fill in the amount of rent owing per month (or week). In a few situations you might not want to check Paragraph 12, but usually you will. You might not bother if you want to save a few dollars on filing fees and you know the tenant is completely uncollectable. Otherwise I recommend it. A judgment is good for ten years and I get calls regularly from people who say, "You took a judgment against me five years ago and I want a car loan and they say I have to pay you before I get it." If nothing else, it allows future landlords who run credit checks an opportunity to know they shouldn't rent to this tenant. |
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| Date and sign the complaint. |