In Missouri, an eviction stays on your record on two separate clocks: tenant screening reports must drop it after seven years under federal law, but the underlying court case on Case.net can remain publicly searchable indefinitely because Missouri has no statute allowing civil eviction records to be sealed or expunged. Landlords typically check both sources, so the answer to how long an eviction stays on your record in Missouri depends on which record you mean.
Court Records on Case.net Can Last Indefinitely
Every eviction lawsuit filed in Missouri becomes part of the public court record and shows up on Case.net, the state’s online case management system. Missouri courts follow retention and destruction schedules under Supreme Court Operating Rule 8, and civil case files from associate circuit court are retained, digitized, and microfilmed before any destruction occurs. Once a case appears on Case.net, it remains searchable by the public for years and potentially indefinitely unless a court orders it sealed or removed.
Missouri does not currently have a statute that specifically allows tenants to expunge or seal civil eviction records. The expungement provisions in Chapter 610 of the Missouri Revised Statutes apply to criminal records, not civil landlord-tenant cases.1Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 610.140 – Expungement of Certain Criminal Records Several other states have passed laws allowing eviction record sealing, particularly for dismissed cases, but Missouri has not followed suit. A filing from a decade ago can still turn up in a Case.net search today.
What a prospective landlord sees in that record includes the outcome. If your case was dismissed or you won at trial, the docket reflects that. Pointing it out proactively on rental applications, with a printout from Case.net showing the result, can carry weight that a verbal explanation does not.
Tenant Screening Reports: Seven Years
Federal law puts a hard ceiling on how long tenant screening companies can report eviction information. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, no consumer report may include civil suits or civil judgments that are more than seven years old from the date of entry.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports The Federal Trade Commission has confirmed this applies specifically to housing court cases and tenant background checks.3Federal Trade Commission. Tenant Background Checks and Your Rights A screening report pulled in 2026 should not include an eviction judgment entered before 2019.
The seven-year clock runs from the date of filing or judgment entry, not from when you moved out. If your landlord filed the case in March 2020 but you did not vacate until June 2020, the reporting period started in March. That distinction matters when you are approaching the end of the window and checking whether a screening company is still reporting outdated information.
Private companies that compile this data are regulated as consumer reporting agencies under federal law. Common tenant screening companies include TransUnion’s SmartMove, RentPrep, and CoreLogic’s SafeRent. Each has its own dispute process, but all must comply with the same seven-year rule.
Collection Accounts Tied to Unpaid Rent
An eviction filing or judgment does not appear directly on your credit report. But if unpaid rent or damage charges get turned over to a collection agency, the collection account will show up as a separate negative item and can sit on your credit report for up to seven years.
The clock on that collection account starts 180 days after the date you first fell behind on the underlying debt, not from the date the account was placed in collections.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports That timing catches people off guard. If you stopped paying rent in January and the landlord did not send the debt to collections until August, the seven-year period still runs from roughly July of that first year.
Filings and Judgments Are Treated Differently
The distinction between an eviction filing and an eviction judgment is worth understanding. A filing happens the moment your landlord initiates the lawsuit. Even if the case gets dismissed or you reach a settlement, that filing exists in the court record. A judgment means the court ruled against you and authorized your removal. Landlords and screening companies treat judgments as far more damaging than dismissed filings, but both can appear in searches.
Here is where people get tripped up. A landlord might file an eviction, you might resolve the dispute and stay in the unit, and the case gets dismissed. The filing still sits in Case.net, and automated screening tools often flag any eviction-related case without distinguishing between a judgment and a dismissal. If you are in the middle of an eviction and the landlord offers to settle, ask whether the settlement includes dismissal of the case. A voluntary dismissal is better than a default judgment, even if both result in you leaving the property.
What You Can Do Before Seven Years Pass
Dispute Errors on Screening Reports
Federal law gives you the right to dispute inaccurate or outdated information on any consumer report, including tenant screening reports. If a screening company reports an eviction that was dismissed, misidentifies you as a party to someone else’s case, or includes information older than seven years, you can file a dispute directly with the reporting company. The company must investigate and correct or remove unverifiable information, usually within 30 days.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Start by requesting a copy of your tenant screening report. You are entitled to one free copy per year from each screening company, and you can get an additional free copy any time a landlord denies your application based on the report. The denial notice must identify which company provided the report.
Settle With the Former Landlord
If you still owe money from the eviction, paying or settling the debt will not erase the court record, but it can remove the collection account from your credit report and give you something concrete to show future landlords. Some former landlords will agree to file a stipulated dismissal or satisfaction of judgment if you pay what is owed. A satisfied judgment looks meaningfully better on a screening report than an outstanding one.
Get any agreement in writing. If a landlord verbally agrees to accept partial payment in exchange for reporting the debt as satisfied, that promise is worth nothing without documentation. A short written agreement specifying the payment amount and what the landlord will do in return protects you if there is a dispute later.
Work Around the Record While It Lasts
Landlords willing to consider tenants with eviction histories often require a larger security deposit. Missouri law caps security deposits at two months’ rent, so that is the maximum a landlord can demand regardless of your background.5Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.300 – Damage Deposit, Limitation Some tenants find success by offering to prepay several months of rent, finding a co-signer with strong credit, or renting from individual property owners who do not use formal screening services.