How to Evict a Tenant in Indiana: Notice, Filing, and Hearing

To evict a tenant in Indiana, a landlord has to serve the right written notice, file a possession case in small claims court after the notice period runs out, win a judgment, request a Writ of Possession, and let the county sheriff carry out the removal. Every step is mandatory. Indiana law bars “self-help” tactics like changing locks, removing doors, or shutting off utilities, and a landlord who uses them can be sued by the tenant.¹

Start With a Legal Reason

You need a recognized ground before you serve any notice. The common ones:

Nonpayment of rent.²
Lease violations such as unauthorized pets, exceeding occupancy limits, or property damage. The lease itself usually sets the cure period and process.
Criminal activity on the property.
Holdover tenancy, where the lease had a set end date and the tenant stayed past it without permission.³
Ending a month-to-month tenancy without cause, which is allowed as long as you give proper notice.⁴

Serve the Correct Written Notice

The type of notice and how long it runs depend on why you’re ending the tenancy.

Nonpayment of Rent: 10-Day Notice

When a tenant misses rent, Indiana requires at least 10 days written notice before the tenancy is terminated. The tenant can stop the eviction by paying everything owed before the 10 days expire. If the lease sets a different agreed notice period, the lease controls.²

Month-to-Month: One Month of Notice

To end a month-to-month tenancy without cause, give the tenant a full month of written notice. This applies to any tenancy at will with no fixed end date.⁴

Lease Violations: Follow the Lease

Indiana does not set a single statutory cure period for lease violations other than nonpayment. The lease itself typically spells out how much time the tenant has to fix a violation and what happens if they don’t. A judge will look at those terms when deciding the case, so follow the lease’s notice and cure process closely.

When No Notice Is Required

You can go straight to court without a written notice in a few situations: holdover tenants after a lease with a set end date, tenants at sufferance who never had a valid lease, tenants who committed waste on the property, and cases where the lease required rent in advance and the tenant refused to pay it.³

How to Deliver the Notice

Indiana law recognizes three delivery methods, in order of preference:

Hand the notice directly to the tenant.
If the tenant can’t be found, give it to another person living at the property and explain what it says.
If nobody is home, post it in a visible spot on the premises.⁵

Include the tenant’s full name, the property address, the specific reason, the deadline to comply or vacate, and a statement that eviction proceedings will follow if the tenant does not respond.

File the Eviction Case in Small Claims Court

Once the notice period runs out without the tenant curing or leaving, file the eviction in small claims court. Indiana small claims courts handle possession claims with a monetary judgment cap of $10,000.

Forms and Evidence

Forms vary slightly by county. You will generally need a complaint for possession (sometimes titled “Notice of Claim for Possession of Real Estate”) and a summons, available from the county clerk or the court’s website. Include:

The full legal names of the landlord and every tenant on the lease
The complete property address
The legal reason for the eviction
The date the notice was served
The amount of any unpaid rent or damages claimed

Bring the signed lease, the eviction notice with proof of how it was delivered, and records of rent payments and communications about the dispute. This is your evidence at the hearing.

Filing Fees

The base filing cost is $87, which covers court costs, document storage, and administrative fees. Sheriff service of process runs another $28, bringing the standard total to $115. Add $10 for each additional tenant named as a defendant.⁶

If the Landlord Is a Business Entity

If you own the property through an LLC, corporation, or other entity, Indiana small claims rules let a full-time employee, officer, or member represent the entity in court without an attorney for claims up to $6,000. For claims above that, the entity must be represented by an attorney.

The Court Hearing

After the complaint is filed, the court schedules a hearing and issues a summons, which is typically served by a sheriff or process server. As the landlord, you have the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning the judge must find your version more likely than not.

Walk the judge through your documentation: the lease, the notice, proof of service, and records of the violation or unpaid rent. The tenant has the right to appear and present evidence too. Common defenses include improper service of the notice, failure to maintain the property in habitable condition, and retaliation.⁷

If the judge rules for you, the court issues a judgment for possession. If you claimed unpaid rent or damages, the judgment may include a monetary award up to the $10,000 cap.

Get the Writ of Possession

A judgment alone does not put you back in the property. After winning, request a Writ of Possession (sometimes called an Order of Possession) from the court clerk. That document authorizes the county sheriff to physically remove the tenant.

Once the sheriff serves the writ, the tenant has 48 hours to leave voluntarily. If they are still there after that window, the sheriff will oversee the removal of the tenant and their belongings. Only law enforcement can carry out this step. A landlord who tries to remove a tenant without the writ is committing the same illegal self-help eviction Indiana law prohibits.

Handle Any Belongings Left Behind

After a court awards possession, ask the court for a separate order allowing removal of any personal property the tenant left. You cannot simply throw it away.⁸

If the tenant fails to collect their belongings by the date in the court’s order, deliver the property to a warehouseman or court-approved storage facility. That facility holds a lien on the non-exempt property covering storage, transportation, insurance, and preservation costs. The tenant can reclaim the property at any point before sale by paying those expenses. If the tenant never appears, the facility can eventually sell the property to satisfy the lien.⁹

What Can Stall or Block an Eviction

Even with a valid ground, some circumstances will stop an eviction cold.

Retaliation

Indiana defines a retaliatory act as any landlord action taken in response to a tenant exercising a protected right, including raising rent, cutting off services, threatening eviction, or filing to evict. If the tenant shows the eviction was triggered by something like a complaint to a housing authority, a court may block it.¹⁰

Fair Housing

Federal law bars eviction based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. Selectively enforcing lease terms against families with children while ignoring the same conduct by other tenants is one example of what’s prohibited. Tenants with disabilities are also entitled to reasonable accommodations.¹¹

Active-Duty Military Tenants

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protects active-duty servicemembers and their dependents. A landlord cannot evict a servicemember from a residence with monthly rent of $10,542.60 or less (the 2026 adjusted threshold) without a court order. A court can stay eviction proceedings for at least 90 days if the servicemember’s ability to pay has been materially affected by military service. A knowing violation is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison.¹²¹³

Tenant Appeals

A tenant who loses in small claims court has 30 days from the judgment date to appeal.¹⁴ The appeal moves the case to a higher court for a new look at the evidence and can delay final possession while it plays out.

Collecting Unpaid Rent

Winning money in the judgment does not guarantee collection. If the tenant doesn’t pay voluntarily, you can pursue standard remedies like wage garnishment. If you hire a collection agency or attorney, that collector must follow the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which prohibits harassment, false statements, and other abusive tactics.¹⁵

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 32 Property 32-31-5-6
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-1-6 – Rent Refusal or Neglect to Pay
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-1-8 – Notice to Quit When Not Necessary
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 32 Property 32-31-1-1
5
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-1-9 – Service of Notices
6
State of Indiana. 2025 Court Costs and Fees by Case Type
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8-5 – Landlord Obligations
8
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-4-2 – Liability Abandoned Property Court Order Allowing Removal by Landlord
9
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-4-4 – Lien on Nonexempt Property
10
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8.5-4 – Retaliatory Act
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 3604 – Discrimination in the Sale or Rental of Housing and Other Prohibited Practices
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress
13
Federal Register. Notice of Publication of Housing Price Inflation Adjustment
14
State of Indiana. Small Claims Manual
15
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Your Tenant and Debt Collection Rights