Missouri Eviction Notice
Missouri eviction notice: no fixed notice for nonpayment (just a demand), but a 10-day notice to vacate for lease violations. Attorney review available.
Introduction
An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord serves on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing an eviction case in court. This page is built around the actual notice document a Missouri landlord fills out and serves, not a general walkthrough of how the eviction process works. Missouri splits the notice itself into two different tracks. For nonpayment of rent, Missouri sets no fixed pre-filing notice period: under Section 535.020, a landlord only needs to have demanded rent that is already due and unpaid before filing a Rent and Possession action, and the one-month notice used for no-cause terminations does not apply. For a lease violation, unauthorized assignment or subletting, waste, or illegal use of the premises (gaming, prostitution, or illegal drugs), Section 441.040 gives the landlord a straight 10-day notice to vacate, with no statutory chance to cure first. Missouri's no-fixed-day-count rule for nonpayment is unusual: most pay-or-quit statutes specify an exact number of days, but Missouri's Rent and Possession statute needs only a demand for rent already due, with no minimum number of days required before the landlord can file suit. Beyond that structural quirk, the notice rules sit across RSMo Chapter 441 (Landlord and Tenant), Chapter 535 (Rent and Possession), and Chapter 534 (Unlawful Detainer). There is no state-mandated notice form, but the notice must be in writing. Once sued for nonpayment, a tenant gets a real second chance: paying all rent owed plus court costs before judgment stops the case. For no-cause endings of a month-to-month or similar tenancy, either side must give one month's written notice; a year-to-year tenancy needs 60 days. Serve the wrong notice for the wrong cause, and the case can be dismissed.
Key Things to Know
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An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord must serve on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing an eviction case in court.
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Missouri sets no fixed notice-day count for nonpayment of rent. A landlord only needs to have demanded rent that is already due, then may file a Rent and Possession action; the demand itself is the only pre-filing requirement. (RSMo Section 535.020)
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A lease violation, unauthorized assignment or subletting, waste, or illegal use of the premises (gaming, keeping a bawdyhouse or brothel, or illegal drug activity) gets a 10-day notice to vacate. Missouri law provides no statutory chance to cure these violations before the deadline. (RSMo Sections 441.020, 441.030, 441.040)
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Ending a tenancy at will, by sufferance, or for less than one year (including ordinary month-to-month) without cause requires one month's written notice; a year-to-year tenancy requires 60 days' written notice. (RSMo Sections 441.050, 441.060)
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The governing law is spread across RSMo Chapter 441 (Landlord and Tenant), Chapter 535 (Rent and Possession, the nonpayment procedure), and Chapter 534 (unlawful detainer, the holdover procedure).
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Missouri's notice statutes require the notice to be in writing but do not prescribe a required delivery method (personal service, mail, or posting), unlike some states' detailed service hierarchies. Landlords commonly use personal delivery or certified mail to be able to prove the notice was given.
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There is no state-mandated notice form. If a tenant is sued for nonpayment under a Rent and Possession action, paying all rent owed plus court costs before judgment stays the case. (RSMo Section 535.160)
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in Missouri, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Eviction Notice guide walks through them.
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Missouri Requirements for Eviction Notice
No fixed pre-filing notice-day count applies to nonpayment of rent. The landlord or the landlord's agent must have demanded rent that is already due and payable, and payment must not have been made, before filing a Rent and Possession action. Giving the one month notice required by Section 441.060 is not required first.
Missouri's notice statutes require the notice to be in writing and given to the person in possession, or for month-to-month terminations, to the other party or that party's agent, but they do not prescribe a required delivery method such as personal service, mail, or posting, and set no order of preference among methods.
There is no government-mandated notice form for the pre-filing notice to vacate itself. In a Rent and Possession case for nonpayment, the tenant may still stop the case by tendering all rent in arrears plus court costs to the landlord on the date judgment is given, which stays further proceedings.
A tenant who assigns or sublets without the landlord's written consent, violates a written lease condition, or commits waste may be given a 10-day notice to vacate the premises. Missouri law does not provide a statutory opportunity to cure these violations before the deadline.
The statutory basis for every notice type on this page and the court process that follows if the tenant does not comply: Chapter 441 (Landlord and Tenant, notice and termination rules), Chapter 535 (Rent and Possession, the nonpayment procedure), and Chapter 534 (Forcible Entry and Detainer / Unlawful Detainer, the holdover procedure).
Distinct from the cause-based notices above: ending a tenancy at will, by sufferance, or for less than one year, including ordinary month-to-month tenancies, without cause requires one month's written notice. Ending a year-to-year tenancy without cause requires at least 60 days' written notice before the end of the year.
Illegal use of the premises, including prohibited gaming, keeping a bawdyhouse or brothel, or illegal possession, sale, or distribution of controlled substances, voids the lease. The landlord may then give a 10-day notice to vacate under the same no-cure procedure used for lease violations.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the cause. For nonpayment of rent, Missouri sets no fixed notice period at all: a landlord only needs to have demanded rent that is already due before filing a Rent and Possession action (RSMo Section 535.020). For a lease violation, unauthorized assignment or subletting, waste, or illegal use of the premises, the landlord must give a 10-day notice to vacate (RSMo Section 441.040). For a no-cause ending of a month-to-month or similar tenancy, one month's written notice is required (RSMo Section 441.060).
Almost never without some form of notice, but the type varies by cause. Nonpayment of rent needs only a demand, not a fixed-day written notice, before filing (RSMo Section 535.020). One case does skip notice entirely: if the lease has a fixed, certain end date, no notice to quit is required when that date arrives, because the term simply ends on its own (RSMo Section 441.070).
A written Missouri eviction notice should identify the landlord and tenant, state the rental property address, give the reason for the notice (nonpayment demand, lease violation, illegal use, or no-cause termination), state the applicable deadline, and be dated. Missouri's statutes require the notice to be in writing (RSMo Section 441.060) and, for a lease-violation or illegal-use notice, that it be a notice to vacate the premises (RSMo Section 441.040); the Chapter 535 rent-and-possession route instead requires a demand for rent that is due, followed by a verified statement filed with the court (RSMo Section 535.020).
No. Missouri has no government-mandated notice form or required statutory wording for the pre-filing notice to vacate. A landlord can write their own notice, so long as it is in writing and, depending on the cause, states the required elements: the 10-day vacate deadline for a lease violation or illegal use (RSMo Section 441.040), the one-month deadline for a no-cause termination (RSMo Section 441.060), or the rent demand for a nonpayment case (RSMo Section 535.020).
None of them, under the statute itself. A lease violation, unauthorized assignment or subletting, waste, or illegal use of the premises gets a straight 10-day notice to vacate with no statutory right to fix the problem first (RSMo Section 441.040). Nonpayment of rent works differently: there is no cure right in the notice itself, but once a Rent and Possession action is filed, the tenant can still stop the case by paying all rent owed plus court costs before judgment (RSMo Section 535.160).
It depends on the notice type. For a 10-day notice to vacate (lease violation or illegal use), count 10 days from the date the notice is served (RSMo Section 441.040). For a no-cause termination of a month-to-month or similar tenancy, the deadline is one month after the tenant receives the notice, landing on a periodic rent-paying date (RSMo Section 441.060); a year-to-year tenancy needs 60 days before the end of the year (RSMo Section 441.050). For nonpayment, there is no day-count to calculate: the deadline is simply whenever the landlord chooses to file after making the rent demand (RSMo Section 535.020).
If the tenant doesn't pay, vacate, or otherwise respond by the applicable deadline, the landlord's next step is to file a Rent and Possession action (for nonpayment) or an unlawful detainer action (for a lease violation, illegal use, or holdover) in the associate circuit court for the county where the property is located. The notice itself does not remove the tenant; a court judgment is required first.
The landlord or the landlord's agent should sign and date the notice, since the date of service is what starts the clock on a 10-day or one-month notice period (RSMo Sections 441.040, 441.060). Missouri's statutes require the notice to be in writing but do not prescribe a signature block or a specific proof-of-service format, so landlords commonly note the method and date of delivery on their own copy to be able to show when the notice period began.