Missouri Landlord-Tenant Laws: Deposits, Repairs, and Eviction

Missouri landlord-tenant laws live mainly in Chapters 441, 534, and 535 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, and they cover security deposits, habitability, notice to end a tenancy, and how an eviction has to move through court.¹ They apply whether the lease is written or spoken. An oral rental agreement is treated as month-to-month, and either side can end it with one month’s written notice.² The sections below walk through what the statutes actually require, and where they leave gaps you should know about.

Security Deposits

A Missouri landlord cannot collect a security deposit worth more than two months’ rent.³ On a $1,200-per-month apartment, that puts the ceiling at $2,400 no matter what the lease says. The cap is statutory and cannot be signed away.

After the tenancy ends, the landlord has 30 days to return the deposit or send the tenant a written, itemized list of deductions with any remaining balance. Deductions are limited to three categories: unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and actual damages caused by the tenant’s failure to give proper termination notice. Wrongful withholding exposes the landlord to double the amount kept.³

The deposit must be held in a federally insured bank or similar institution in a trust account in the landlord’s name as trustee, separate from the landlord’s personal or business funds.⁴ Any interest the account earns belongs to the landlord.

Rent Amounts and Late Fees

Missouri does not cap residential rent, and state law blocks cities and counties from doing so. Section 441.043 prohibits any local ordinance regulating the amount of rent charged for privately owned residential or commercial rental property.⁵ The narrow exceptions are government-owned property, voluntarily subsidized agreements, and property assisted with community development block grant funds.

There is also no statute capping late fees on residential rentals. Whatever the lease says controls. Read the late-fee clause before signing, because nothing in Missouri law will soften it after the fact. And if the lease does not mention a late fee at all, a landlord will struggle to enforce one.

Habitability and the Repair-and-Deduct Remedy

Every residential lease in Missouri carries an implied warranty of habitability, meaning the property must be fit for human occupation.⁶ That translates to working heat, running water, and sound structure at a minimum.

When a landlord ignores a problem that violates a local housing or building code, a qualifying tenant can fix it and deduct the cost from rent under § 441.234.⁷ The requirements are strict, and missing one voids the remedy:

You must have lived in the unit for at least six consecutive months, paid all rent on time during that period, and not received any uncured written notice of a lease violation.
You must give the landlord written notice of your intention to fix the problem at the landlord’s expense. The landlord then has 14 days to act, or must act promptly if the situation is an emergency.
If the landlord responds in writing disputing whether the repair is needed, you must obtain written certification from the local municipality confirming the code violation. The landlord then gets another 14 days from that certification.
The repair cost cannot exceed the greater of $300 or one-half the periodic rent, and can never exceed one month’s rent. Across any 12-month period, total deductions cannot exceed one month’s rent.
After the work, provide the landlord with an itemized statement and receipts, and deduct the cost from the next month’s rent.

You cannot use the remedy for a condition you caused, and no lease can waive these rights.⁷

Ending a Month-to-Month Tenancy

Either side can end a month-to-month tenancy with one month’s written notice, but the timing is more precise than most people assume. The statute says the tenancy ends “upon a periodic rent-paying date not less than one month after the receipt of the notice.”² Two things follow from that language: the notice must be received a full month before termination, and termination must fall on a rent-due date.

Say rent is due on the first and you deliver a termination notice on January 15. The earliest the tenancy can end is March 1, not February 15. The notice has to bridge a full rental period. The rule cuts both ways, tenant to landlord and landlord to tenant.

Mobile home lot tenants who own their home but rent the land get a longer window: the landlord must give at least 60 days’ written notice before the next rent due date, regardless of what the lease says about earlier termination.²

Eviction Must Go Through Court

A Missouri landlord cannot remove a tenant without a court order. Changing the locks, cutting off utilities, or hauling out belongings without a judgment is illegal. The lawful path runs through the Associate Circuit Court.

Filing and Service

The landlord files a verified statement with the court. Nonpayment cases fall under Chapter 535 (rent and possession); holdover tenants and other lease violations fall under Chapter 534 (unlawful detainer).⁸ For nonpayment, the landlord must have already demanded payment before filing.

After filing, the clerk issues a summons that must be served on the tenant at least four days before the court date. The court date cannot be more than 21 business days from when the summons is issued.⁹ Service is made personally to the tenant or to a household member at least 15 years old at the tenant’s home.¹⁰ If the tenant cannot be found, the summons may be posted conspicuously on the property and mailed to the tenant’s last known address, both at least 10 days before the court date. When service happens this way and the tenant doesn’t appear, the court can grant possession but cannot enter a money judgment for back rent.

The Hearing, Pay-and-Stay, and Appeal

At the hearing the judge decides whether to grant possession. In a nonpayment case, a tenant who pays all rent owed plus court costs on the day of judgment can stop the eviction.¹¹ Satisfying the money judgment and paying costs before the judgment becomes final also stays execution for possession.

A tenant who loses can appeal, but must post a bond within 10 days of the judgment to stop the landlord from executing the eviction while the appeal is pending.¹² The bond has to cover damages, costs, and rent owed. Without it, removal can proceed even while the appeal is technically open.

Writ of Possession

Once the judgment is final and no bond has been posted, the landlord can request a writ of execution. The officer serving the writ must deliver possession to the landlord within five days.¹³

Abandoned Property

When a tenant disappears, the landlord cannot simply throw out what is left behind. Property is legally abandoned under § 441.065 only when all four of the following are true:¹⁴

The landlord reasonably believes the tenant has left and does not intend to return.
Rent has been due and unpaid for at least 30 consecutive days.
The landlord has posted a written abandonment notice on the property and mailed it to the tenant’s last known address by both first-class mail and certified mail with return receipt requested.
The tenant has failed to pay rent or respond in writing within 10 days of both the posting and the mailing.

The notice itself must state that the landlord believes the property is abandoned and that belongings will be removed unless the tenant responds in writing within 10 days. Only after all four conditions are met can the landlord remove and dispose of possessions without liability.¹⁴ Skipping a step exposes the landlord to a claim for the value of what was tossed.

Required Disclosures

Missouri’s own disclosure list is short, but federal lead-based paint rules fill the biggest gap. For housing built before 1978, a landlord must, before the tenant signs:¹⁵

Provide the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home.”
Disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards, including location and condition of painted surfaces.
Share available testing reports or assessments.
Include a signed lead warning statement attached to or inserted into the lease.
Keep a signed copy of the disclosure for at least three years from the lease start date.

The rule exempts housing built after 1977, rentals of 100 days or less, zero-bedroom units unless a child under six lives there, and housing designated for elderly or disabled persons.¹⁵

Missouri also requires the landlord to give the tenant the name and address of the person managing the property, plus an address for receiving notices and legal process.¹⁶

Discrimination and Retaliation

The Missouri Human Rights Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, disability, or familial status, and protects people associated with someone in a protected class.¹⁷ Retaliating against someone for filing a complaint, assisting an investigation, or testifying is separately unlawful. Complaints go to the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, and the state protections run alongside the federal Fair Housing Act.

On broader landlord retaliation, though, Missouri has no comprehensive statute protecting residential tenants who report code violations or otherwise assert their rights. Tenants have raised retaliation as a defense in eviction cases, but Missouri offers thinner protection here than states with express retaliation statutes.

Landlord Entry and Privacy

Missouri has no statute setting a minimum notice period before a landlord enters a rental. Entry is controlled by the lease. Standard leases often adopt a 24-hour notice for non-emergency entries such as inspections or showings, but that is contractual, not statutory. If your lease is silent on entry, your protection comes from the common-law doctrine of quiet enjoyment, which gives you the right to use your home without unreasonable interference. Enforcing it means arguing common-law principles rather than pointing to a Missouri code section.

1
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 441.005 – Definitions
2
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 441.060 – Tenancy at Will, Sufferance, Month to Month, How Terminated
3
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.300 – Security Deposits, Limitation
4
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.300 – Security Deposits, Limitation
5
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 441.043 – Prohibited Ordinances and Resolutions, Exceptions
6
Justia. King v Moorehead
7
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 441.234 – Tenant May Deduct Cost of Repair of Rental Premises From Rent, When – Limitations
8
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.020 – Procedure to Recover Possession
9
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.030 – Upon Return of Summons, Cause to Be Heard
10
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 506.150 – Summons and Petition, How Served
11
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.160 – Tender of Rent and Costs on Judgment Date, Effect
12
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.110 – Appeals, Defendant to Furnish Bond to Stay Execution
13
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.040 – Upon Return of Summons, Cause to Be Heard
14
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 441.065 – Abandoned Property
15
US EPA. Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards
16
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 535.185 – Tenant to Be Furnished Address of Person Managing Property
17
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Discrimination