The Indiana 10-day notice
Indiana Code 32-31-1-6 lets you end a lease when the tenant refuses or neglects to pay rent, on not less than 10 days’ notice. Two exceptions control everything else: the parties may have agreed otherwise in the lease, and the tenant can stop the termination by paying the rent in full before the notice period runs out.
Read your lease before you serve anything. A lease that sets a different notice period, or waives notice, changes the clock, and a judge will look at it. If you take partial payment during the 10 days, be clear in writing whether you are waiving the notice.
Some tenancies need no notice to quit at all. Under 32-31-1-8 these include a lease for a set period that simply ends, a tenant at sufferance, and a tenant at will who commits waste.
Other ways an Indiana tenancy ends
Indiana has no just-cause eviction law, and local governments can’t add one. State law preempts local regulation of leases and landlord-tenant terms, and IC 32-31-8.5-6 voids any local ordinance on landlord retaliation. Deposits, entry and the preemption details are on our Indiana landlord-tenant law page.
- Month-to-month: notice equal to the rental period, so one month, for tenancies of three months or less that roll from period to period (IC 32-31-1-4).
- Week-to-week: one week’s notice under the same section.
- Lease violations other than rent: the Indiana Code sets no separate cure period, so the lease’s default clause governs the notice.
- Holdover after a fixed term: no notice is required when the lease ends on its stated date (IC 32-31-1-8).
The Indiana court case, step by step
Evictions are filed in the county where the property is located, usually on a small claims docket. Wayne County’s 2026 notice of claim form shows the typical structure: a possession hearing first, and a separate damages hearing later for rent and damage.
A tenant with a claim against you, such as repair costs, can file a counterclaim, and the Wayne County form requires it to reach you at least seven days before the hearing. Bring the lease, the served notice, proof of service and a current rent ledger to the possession hearing.
- File a notice of claim for possession, rent due and damages, attaching the lease or stating there is none.
- Serve the tenant with the claim and hearing date. Under IC 33-29-2-7, a tenant who wants a jury must file a written request within 10 days of receiving notice of the claim, which moves the case off the small claims docket.
- Attend the possession hearing. If the tenant fails to appear, the court may enter a possession order and a damages judgment against them.
- Get the possession order with the date the tenant must leave.
- Return for the damages hearing, where the court sets what either side owes. Bring the ledger, move-out photos and repair invoices.
Getting possession before final judgment
Indiana’s ejectment chapter offers a faster route to the unit. With the complaint, or any time before judgment, you can file an affidavit stating that you are entitled to possession, that the tenant is unlawfully holding it, and the property’s estimated value and rental value (IC 32-30-3-1).
The clerk then issues an order to show cause. The hearing may be held no earlier than five business days after the tenant is served, and the order must tell the tenant they can file affidavits, testify, or file a written undertaking to stay delivery of the property (IC 32-30-3-2). After the hearing, the court decides with reasonable probability who is entitled to possession and can issue a prejudgment order of possession, including when the tenant doesn’t appear (IC 32-30-3-5). Courts generally require the landlord to post a bond first.
Emergency possessory orders after the 2025 changes
An emergency possessory order under IC 32-31-6 moves faster still. A landlord can petition when a tenant has committed or threatens to commit waste, when a tenant or guest has committed a crime affecting the health and safety of another tenant, the landlord or the landlord’s agent, or when a tenant gave materially false information to get the lease (IC 32-31-6-3). The crime and false-information grounds came from House Enrolled Act 1115, effective July 1, 2025.
The petition must be sworn and describe the specific immediate and serious injury, loss or damage (IC 32-31-6-4). The court must review it immediately and schedule a hearing within three business days of filing (IC 32-31-6-5).
Lockouts and retaliation in Indiana
Except under a court order, IC 32-31-5-6(c) bars a landlord from changing locks, adding a device that keeps the tenant out, removing doors, windows, fixtures or appliances, or interrupting electricity, gas, water or other essential services. Emergencies, good-faith repairs and necessary construction are the only service exceptions. A locked-out tenant can seek its own emergency possessory order, heard within three business days, ordering possession returned.
Indiana’s retaliation chapter, IC 32-31-8.5, bars retaliatory acts after protected tenant activity, but it keeps your right to file when the tenant is behind on rent and hasn’t cured within the time in IC 32-31-1-6 or the lease, when a holdover follows a fixed term, or when you act in good faith before the protected activity (IC 32-31-8.5-5).
Federal rules that apply in Indiana
If the building has a federally backed mortgage, such as a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or FHA-insured loan, or takes part in a covered federal housing program, Section 4024(c) of the CARES Act, at 15 U.S.C. 9058(c), bars requiring a tenant to leave until 30 days after a notice to vacate. The 120-day moratorium expired in 2020, but the 30-day text remains in the statute and courts have split on whether it still applies. Serving 30 days at a covered building is the safer course.
Before a default judgment, file the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act affidavit on military service (50 U.S.C. 3931).
Indiana eviction timeline
The statutes fix the notice and the earliest hearing dates. The court sets the regular possession hearing and the move-out date.
| Step | Deadline | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Rent notice | At least 10 days, unless the lease says otherwise or rent is paid in full | IC 32-31-1-6 |
| Month-to-month termination | One rental period | IC 32-31-1-4 |
| Tenant’s jury request | Within 10 days of notice of the claim | IC 33-29-2-7 |
| Show-cause hearing for early possession | No earlier than 5 business days after service | IC 32-30-3-2 |
| Emergency possessory order hearing | Within 3 business days of filing | IC 32-31-6-5 |
| Possession hearing | Set by the court | Local small claims practice |
| Damages hearing | Separate, later date | Local small claims practice |
Worked example: the fastest regular path on a $1,250 unit
Assume a 20-unit building in Indianapolis with a unit at $1,250 a month, about $41.10 a day. Rent is due Sunday, March 1, 2026. You serve the 10-day notice on Monday, March 2, and the tenant has until Thursday, March 12 to pay in full.
You file on Friday, March 13 with a possession affidavit, and the order to show cause is served Monday, March 16. Five business days later, the earliest hearing date is Monday, March 23. We assume the court grants prejudgment possession after you post a bond and sets a move-out date 7 days out, Monday, March 30, plus a $1,000 attorney fee.
That is 30 days without rent, or $1,233, and $2,233 with the attorney. Each extra week on the court’s calendar adds about $288 in lost rent on this unit.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Days without rent | 30 |
| Lost rent | $1,233 |
| Assumed attorney fee | $1,000 |
| Total | $2,233 |
| Each added week | $288 |
Alternatives, and selling with a case pending
Because the tenant can cure by paying in full within 10 days, a payment plan only works if you put it in writing and say how it affects the notice. Where you want the unit back, cash for keys with a firm date can save the cost of the damages hearing and a judgment you may never collect.
You can sell an occupied Indiana building with an eviction pending. Leases continue with the buyer without tenant consent, so hand over the notices, court filings, possession orders and tenant estoppel certificates. Agree in the contract who will attend the damages hearing and who keeps any judgment.
Selling your Indiana apartment building to Skyline
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units nationwide, including occupied buildings with problem tenants or evictions in progress. We buy directly and price the building as it is, with the rent roll and any open cases in view.
Send the address and unit count through the form on this page or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours.
