How Long Does It Take to Evict a Tenant? We Analyzed 8,335 Cases. Here's What the Data Says.

Across 8,335 eviction cases we analyzed based on Hemlane's internal data, the typical case resolved in about 6 days. Half of all cases finished even faster than that.

We analyzed eviction cases managed through Hemlane, a property management platform that pairs software with a real team handling rent collection, delinquency, and eviction support. 

Because every case runs on the platform from the first missed payment through resolution, we can measure exactly how long each one took. What follows is the full picture: how long the typical eviction takes, where the long cases come from, what actually drives the difference, and what it means for your own portfolio.

How long do evictions actually take?

The simple average comes out higher, around 24 days, but that figure is pulled up by a small number of cases that drag on for months in court.

We measured the wall-clock time from the day each case opened to the day it closed, across 4,208 cases that were resolved start to finish. Only about 2% ever reached a courtroom, and those few are what make the average look worse than the reality most landlords experience.

The typical case resolved in 6.2 days, with half of all cases finishing faster than that. Here is how the full set breaks down. Read each row as the share of cases that resolved within that many days:

If you manage rentals, the practical takeaway is this: an eviction is usually a fast administrative process that ends in days, not a months-long court case. The drawn-out cases are the exception, and knowing which cases are exceptions lets you plan for them.

Looking for a property management solution that can help you through the entire eviction process? Schedule a demo to see how Hemlane works delinquency and eviction cases early, or start a free account to get going.

Where the slow cases come from: court

The cases that stretch into months are almost always the ones that reach court. They are rare. Of every completed case in the dataset, only about 2% went to full court proceedings. But that small group behaves completely differently from the rest:

Even the fastest 25% of court cases took about seven weeks. The typical court case ran nearly three months, and the slowest 10% pushed past six. So the answer to "how long does an eviction take" really has two answers. For the 98% that resolve administratively, about six days. For the 2% that reach court, plan on two to five months.

The reason the 24-day average exists at all is that those court cases, few as they are, carry enough weight to lift the whole average. Strip them out and the picture is overwhelmingly fast.

Most cases end before a notice is ever served

The other surprise in the timing data is how early most cases close. About 88% of completed cases resolved before a formal eviction notice was even served. They ended at the intake stage or during mediation, when the tenant paid, set up a plan, or moved out without a fight. Only a thin slice progressed to served notice, and a thinner slice past that to court.

That ordering is the practical lesson. The longer a case travels down the path toward court, the longer it takes and the less control you have over the outcome. The cases that resolve fast are the ones that get worked early, before positions harden.

The path matters more than the state

It is tempting to assume your state law sets your eviction timeline. State law sets the ceiling, the worst case if a dispute goes the distance. It does not set the typical case, because most cases never test the ceiling.

Three patterns in the data show what actually drives timing:

• How early the case gets worked. Cases handled through structured early intervention typically resolved in about six days. Cases an owner filed on their own ran closer to seven weeks and reached court far more often. The gap between catching a problem early and waiting to file is larger than the gap between the fastest and slowest states.
• The state itself. The typical resolution ranged from under a day in the fastest states to roughly three weeks in the slowest, and the slow states are slow because their statutes require more court steps, not because their tenants resolve differently.
• How far behind the tenant is. The cases with the largest balances often resolved fastest, because at that point the tenant either pays or moves out without contest. The cases that run longest are the mid-size disputes that still feel resolvable to both sides.

The early-intervention gap and the state breakdown each get a full deep dive in this set.

What this means for your portfolio

Whatever you manage—single-family or multifamily, 10 units or 200—evictions are uncommon. Across all the units Hemlane manages, under 3% had a filing in a year. What matters more than how often they happen is how you handle them when they do arise.

• Resolve cases early, because the gap between an eviction worked at the first missed payment (about 6 days) and one that reaches court (about 83) is the difference between a quick administrative step and a months-long process. 
• The earlier the intervention, the less your timeline depends on your state, your property type, or the size of the balance.

Prevent evictions with Hemlane’s Eviction Shield

Running this process yourself, the correct notice, the right timing, clean records, in every state you operate, is a lot to get right. Hemlane's Eviction Shield does it for you. For $4.95 per month per door, Hemlane's team:

1. Calls the tenant about three days after rent is due to understand the situation.
2. Works out a payment plan and shares resources to get the balance current.
3. If that does not resolve it, serves the proper notice through local process servers, following each state's rules.
4. If a case still needs to escalate, refers the owner to a vetted, affordable local attorney.

Our team has been able to resolve over 90% of Eviction Shield cases to date, recovering more than $90,000 in rent in one month alone across our customers.

Eviction Shield is available on any Hemlane plan and across all 50 states.

About Hemlane

Hemlane is property management software with real people behind it. Where most platforms hand you a tool and leave the work to you, Hemlane pairs the software with coordinated services for operators running anywhere from 10 to 200 units who want to scale without building a full back-office team.

On the delinquency and eviction side specifically, that includes eviction support staffed by a team that works cases early. Eviction Shield triggers on the first missed payment and communicates with the tenant on the landlord's behalf to resolve the balance before it becomes a filing. When a case needs more, Hemlane runs structured mediation rather than handing you a court form. And because the rules differ everywhere, Hemlane maintains a library of state-specific eviction-laws references and lease templates across all 50 states.

The eviction data in this report comes from that model in practice: thousands of cases worked through a structured early-intervention process rather than left to escalate.

Schedule a demo to see how delinquency and eviction support works and what else Hemlane can do.

Start a free account and set up rent collection and lease management today.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average time to evict a tenant? It depends which average you use. The simple average across our cases is about 24 days, but that is pulled upward by a small number of cases that reach court and run for months. The typical case, the one in the middle, is about 6 days, under a week.

How long does an eviction take if it goes to court? Among cases that reached full court proceedings, the typical case ran about 83 days, with the slowest 10% running past 200 days. Court is where the long timelines live, but only about 2% of cases get there.

Why do some evictions take months? Length comes from reaching court. Cases that resolve early, at intake or through mediation, close in days. Cases that progress to served notice and then to court accumulate weeks at each stage, especially in states whose statutes require multiple court appearances.

Can you evict a tenant without going to court? The data shows the large majority of cases resolve without it. About 88% closed before a formal notice was even served, typically because the tenant paid, arranged a plan, or moved out. Court is the exception, not the rule.

How often do evictions actually happen across a portfolio? About 2.9% of active units had a filing over the course of a year, or roughly one filing for every six to seven units annually. For most portfolios the rate is low and steady rather than a frequent crisis.

Methodology

Based on 8,335 eviction cases managed through Hemlane, of which 4,208 were completed and timed. Resolution time is wall-clock days from case creation to completion, including weekends, holidays, and idle periods. Medians are reported alongside means throughout because the distribution is heavily right-skewed. State and severity breakdowns with small sample sizes are flagged as directional where they appear. First-party Hemlane data, June 2026. No third-party data sources.