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There are generally four types of lawsuits landlords typically file against tenants, which are discussed in more detail in the following sections. They are:

• Rent-and-possession – most frequent remedy used when tenants do not pay rent, may allow tenant to stay if they pay. 
• Unlawful detainer – eviction cases when tenants breach leases or stay after their leases expire or are terminated, no pay and stay provisions. 
• Expedited evictions – for illegal drugs, or threatened injury or property damage, much faster to regain possession. 
• Breach of contract – filed against tenants who are no longer in possession of the leased premises, either because they have abandoned the premises or their leases expired, for damages such as unpaid rent or repair costs.

If your tenant’s only breach of the lease is non-payment of rent, and you do not mind if the tenant stays so long as the rent is paid, then a rent-and-possession case will be appropriate. Under Missouri rent-and-possession law, the tenant has the right to continued possession of the leased premises if they pay the rent and court costs before judgment is entered or the entire amount of the judgment within 10 days after the judgment is entered.  Rent-and-possession actions usually arise simply from the non-payment of rent and are governed by Chapter 535 RSMo. To prevail in such a case, the only three things you need to prove are:

• There is rent due and payable
• Demand was made for payment, and
• The tenant has failed to pay

Techincally, a pre-suit demand for rent is not required to be in writing, it is much easier to prove the demand was made if you serve a written notice, particularly if the tenant disputes that demand was made. Most landlords use a written notice to make demand for rent before filing a rent-and-possession case. We have a form available for you to use on our forms below.

You should actually sue everyone occupying the premises (except minors) for rent and possession, even if not all of them signed the lease – with the understanding that those who did not sign the lease will not be legally liable for monetary obligations. This is very important because you can only get a judgment for possession against the named defendants, and the sheriff will only evict the defendants named in the judgment. Naming all occupants also can make it easier to serve the lawsuit in some cases because Missouri law includes roommates as “family members” upon whom service can be made in lieu of direct service upon all defendants.

It is clear under 1997 changes to Missouri statutes that you can include other matters besides non-payment of rent in a rent-and-possession case. For example, you can claim late fees, other amounts owed under the lease, and even attorney’s fees (if you have an appropriate attorney fee clause in your lease). However, if the tenant pays the rent and court costs on or before the date of judgment, the tenant will be entitled to retain possession of the premises; in such a case, you would still be able to get a monetary judgment against the tenant for the other items claimed in the lawsuit.

There is no right to a jury trial in the original trial of rent-and-possession cases, but if a new trial is requested, either side can request that the new trial be heard by a jury. Also, because jury trials are available in unlawful detainer cases, it is strongly recommended that landlords include a prominent clause in their leases whereby both the landlord and the tenant waive the right to a jury trial in any litigation involving the lease. To be clearly enforceable, attention must be drawn to a jury waiver clause in larger bold type immediately adjacent to the signature area on a lease. 

A statutory provision adopted in 1997 provides that if the tenant has allowed someone else to have sole possession of the leased premises without the landlord’s permission, the court can award, in addition to rent due, damages not to exceed twice the rent due.

An unlawful detainer lawsuit should be filed if you want to evict the tenant no matter what – even if the rent is paid. Unlawful detainer is appropriate in any situation where the tenant retains possession of the leased premises after the lease terminates, including:

• The tenant retains possession after the date specified in a written lease for termination of the lease, or the tenant under an oral lease gives written notice that he intends to vacate the premises on a specified date and then fails to do so.
• The tenant retains possession beyond the date specified in a landlord’s properly served notice to terminate an oral lease .
• The tenant retains possession beyond 10 days after you have served a proper notice to terminate a written lease for breach of the lease. 

You can give a notice to terminate a lease for cause 10 days after the notice is served if the tenant does any of the following:

• Breaches (violates) any of the provisions of the lease
• Assigns or transfers their interest in the lease without your written consent
• Causes damage to the premises beyond ordinary wear and tear
• Allows the possession, sale or distribution of illegal drugs on the premises
• Permits the premises to be used for gambling or prostitution

If you want to use unlawful detainer for breaching the lease by failing to pay rent, without a proper lease clause, you must make written demand for payment of rent on the exact day when the rent becomes due and for the precise amount due.  We recommend the following language be in your lease agreement:

Upon lessee’s default or breach in the performance of any condition or covenant of this lease, including tenant’s obligation to pay rent, lessor shall be entitled to terminate this lease by giving written notice to lessee specifying lessee’s default or breach. Lessee agrees that such notice shall constitute sufficient notice to terminate the lease and for lessor to initiate an unlawful detainer action. Lessee waives all other common law or statutory notices.

If you need to make demand for rent see the form below.

If you want to evict a tenant even if the tenant cures the breach or breaches of the lease be sure to use the form below if your tenant:

• assigns or transfers his interest in the lease without your written consent,
• causes damage to the premises beyond ordinary wear and tear,
• allows the possession, sale or distribution of illegal drugs on the premises, or
•  permits the premises to be used for gambling or prostitution

If you want the right to evict if the tenant refuses or fails to correct a lease violation, then use the "right to cure" form blow.

There is a constitutional right to a jury trial in an unlawful detainer action. To avoid the substantial additional time and expense involved in a jury trial, it is strongly recommended that your lease include a clause whereby both you and the tenant waive the right to a jury trial in any litigation involving the lease. To be clearly enforceable, attention must be drawn to a jury waiver clause in larger bold type immediately adjacent to the signature area on a lease. Remedies in 

an unlawful detainer case are:

• Possession of the leased premises
• Rent that was unpaid before the termination date of the lease
• Twice the fair rental value for the period after termination of the lease during which the tenant remains in possession
• Reimbursement for damages to the premises in excess of ordinary wear and tear
• Late fees and other charges owed under the lease
• Attorney’s fees and litigation expenses if you have a clause in your lease authorizing them
• Court costs

Missouri law provides that if the tenant has allowed someone else to have sole possession of the leased premises without the landlord’s permission, the court can award, in addition to rent due, damages not to exceed twice the rent due.

Expedited evictions are allowed by statute. Missouri statutes 441.710 – 441.880 RSMo cover this process. It can be used to remove non-tenants as well as tenants from leased property.

Expedited Evictions are allowed for any one or more of the following grounds:

• An emergency situation exists whereby eviction by other means would, with reasonable certainty, result in imminent physical injury to other tenants or the landlord, or physical damage to the landlord’s property costing more than 12 months rent. 
• Drug-related criminal activity has occurred on or within the property leased to the tenant.
• The property leased to the tenant was used in any way to further, promote, aid or assist in drug-related criminal activity.
• The tenant, a member of the tenant’s household or a guest has engaged in drug-related criminal activity either within, on or in the immediate vicinity of the leased property.
• The tenant has given permission to or invited a person to enter onto or remain on any portion of the leased property knowing that the person had been removed or barred from the leased property pursuant to the provisions of the expedited eviction statutes.
• The tenant has failed to promptly notify the landlord that a person whom the landlord previously had removed from the property has returned to, entered onto or remained on the property leased by the tenant with the tenant’s knowledge.

No advance notice is necessary to file for expedited eviction unless the perpetrator of the illegal activity is someone other than the actual tenant. If the perpetrator is someone other than the tenant, then you must give 5 days written notice to the tenant setting out the provisions of §441.750 RSMo. and specifying the grounds for expedited eviction. You can then file for expedited eviction against the tenant after 5 days unless the tenant delivers written notice to you within the 5-day period that the tenant has either: (1) sought a protective order, restraining order, order to vacate the premises, or other similar relief against the perpetrator, or (2) reported the illegal activity to a law enforcement agency or county prosecuting attorney in an effort to initiate a criminal proceeding against the perpetrator. There is a form neform below for this notice. 

If you prove that the tenant was personally responsible for one or more of the grounds for expedited eviction, the court will order the tenant evicted.

If someone other than the tenant was the perpetrator and you prove one or more of the grounds for expedited eviction, but the tenant proves that he or she in no way furthered, promoted, aided or assisted in the illegal activity, and that he or she did not know or have reason to know the activity was occurring or was unable to prevent the activity because of verbal or physical coercion by the perpetrator, then the court can order the perpetrator excluded from the property but cannot evict the tenant. If the tenant cannot prove these defenses, however, the tenant can also be evicted.

The court can order the expedited eviction enforced by a law enforcement agency within a number of days specified by the court.

Expedited eviction can be pursued even if criminal prosecution has not been commenced, will not be commenced, has not been concluded, or has been concluded without a conviction. In any event, relevant evidence obtained in good faith by a law enforcement officer is admissible in an expedited eviction proceeding. If a criminal proceeding involving the drug-related criminal activity has resulted in the conviction of the tenant or another defendant in the expedited eviction case, the conviction can be introduced in evidence in the expedited eviction.

You can continue collecting rent from a tenant while an expedited eviction case is proceeding. 

If the court finds that the tenant or another person should be evicted or excluded from the leased premises, the court must postpone the eviction or exclusion if the tenant or other person asks for a postponement and proves six points to the court’s satisfaction: (1) the person is a drug user and drug-dependent and will promptly enter a court-approved drug treatment program, or the tenant did not aid or assist in the drug-related criminal activity; (2) the drug-related activity did not occur within 1,000 feet of a school and did not involve the sale or distribution of drugs to minors; (3) a weapon or firearm was not used or possessed in connection with the drug-related activity; (4) the court has not issued and will not issue an order to protect witnesses in the case; (5) the person has not previously received a postponement of eviction or exclusion in an expedited eviction case; and (6) the postponement will not endanger the safety, health or well-being of the surrounding community or the landlord. If you submit an appropriate written request to the court, the court will notify you if a request for postponement is filed and give you the opportunity to participate in any hearings on the postponement. 

If the court grants the postponement, the tenant will be placed on “probationary tenancy” for 6 months or the remaining lease term, whichever is shorter. The court can specify conditions for the probationary tenancy to protect the landlord and those living nearby and to further the purposes of the expedited eviction law. Conditions that can be imposed include periodic drug testing, community service, and participation in a treatment program.

If  the tenant no longer occupies the leased premises, then any claims you may have against the departed tenant may be pursued as ordinary contract claims.

Typical claims that are pursued in such cases include:

• Unpaid rent and other charges called for in the lease such as late-payment fees and utilities.
• Reimbursement for damages to the premises in excess of ordinary wear and tear
• Attorney’s fees and litigation expenses if you have a clause in your lease authorizing them
• Court costs

Counties do vary a bit on procedures, but most are at least similar to this outline. 

First, as with any lawsuit we file a  “petition” with the court. Landlord-tenant cases are filed in the Associate Division of the Circuit Court, which has statutory jurisdiction over rent-and-possession, unlawful detainer and expedited eviction cases. We will need a signed  “verification” to submit with the petition, which is a sworn statement that the allegations made in the petition are true to the best of your knowledge.

A filing fee must be paid when the petition is filed. The filing fee is actually an advance deposit toward anticipated court costs. When the case is over, if you win a judgment against the defendant and can collect the judgment, you will also be entitled to recover the actual court costs.

After the petition is filed and the filing fee is paid, the next step is “service” of the lawsuit on the defendant(s). It is a fundamental principle in our system of justice that you cannot obtain legal relief against another person through the courts unless that person is aware of the case and has an opportunity to respond. The “summons” served on the defendant along with a copy of the petition will notify the defendant of the initial court date. Service of the lawsuit can be done by a sheriff’s deputy who personally delivers the summons and petition to the defendant or a member of the defendant’s family at the residence. If you want faster service, you can ask your attorney to have the court appoint a private process server to serve the lawsuit, this may be more expensive but also may be more reliable.

Both rent-and-possession and unlawful detainer cases can also be served by “posting” and mail – that is, by affixing a copy of the summons and petition on the door of the leased premises and mailing a copy to the defendant. The posting must be done by a sheriff’s deputy or special process server, and the mailing must be accomplished by you or your attorney. The downside to posting is that you cannot obtain a monetary judgment against the defendant – only a judgment for eviction – unless the defendant personally appears in court in response to the lawsuit.

A rent-and-possession, unlawful detainer or expedited eviction lawsuit must be served on the defendant at least four days before the initial court date (called the “return date”) specified in the summons. A contract action must be served at least 10 days before the initial court date. Your attorney must appear on the initial court date or risk dismissal of the case.  

There are three typical results of the initial court appearance:

• If the defendant does not appear, the court will enter a default judgment against the defendant.
• If the defendant appears and does not dispute the allegations in the petition, the court will enter a consent judgment against the defendant.
• If the defendant appears and disputes the allegations in the petition, the case will be set for trial.

In eviction cases, if the defendant disputes the petition at the initial court appearance and is still in possession of the leased premises, the court usually sets a trial date one to two weeks later and informs the parties on the spot. However, if the defendant has vacated the premises by the time of the initial court appearance, the court will set the trial at a later time and notify the defendant by mail; in this event, the trial typically takes place three to six weeks after the initial court date.

In rent-and-possession, unlawful detainer and expedited eviction cases, the statutes require service of the summons and petition on the defendant at least 4 days before the initial court date. Typically the initial court date is set approximately 3 weeks after the filing of the suit to allow sufficient time for service. The initial court date will have to be delayed if the lawsuit cannot be served at least 4 days before that date.

Summonses are only valid for 30 days after issuance. If they cannot be served within that time frame, a new summons will have to be issued, leading to further delay. Assuming reasonably prompt service of the lawsuit on the defendant and no unusual delays, the following are typical time frames to obtain a judgment in landlord-tenant cases:

• Uncontested case (default or consent judgment) – 3-4 weeks average
• Contested case (trial required): Possession at issue: 5-7 weeks average
• Possession not at issue (only monetary damages sought ): 6-10 weeks average

Landlords occasionally encounter a situation in which trespassers or other unauthorized persons are living in or frequenting the landlord’s property. If a trespasser has not been given permission by anyone (including other tenants) to live on the property, the police likely will assist in removing the person without the landlord having to sue for eviction, but the police may require that the person first be given a trespass notice. There is a form for this below.

Occasionally situations arise in which a tenant gives permission to a person to live at a landlord’s property. Even if the tenant had no legal authority to give such permission (and under most leases the tenant would not have such authority), the police generally would not treat the person as a trespasser and remove him without court action. Another situation that sometimes occurs is that a person living at a landlord’s property is really nothing more than a “squatter,” but for some reason the police decide not to treat the person as a trespasser. In either of these situations, the landlord must serve a “demand for possession” on the unauthorized person and then can immediately file suit for unlawful detainer if the person fails to vacate. There is a form for demand for possession below. Occasionally a situation arises in which a person who originally had permission to occupy premises is no longer so authorized. A common scenario is the situation where an owner of real estate invites a person to live at there and later decides to withdraw the invitation after the person has lived there for a period of time (e.g., woman invites man to live with her, man moves in, they don’t get along, woman wants man to leave, and man refuses). The man in this example is known in the law as a “tenant at will.” A Missouri statute requires a written notice to terminate a tenancy at will. See the form for termination of tenancy at will. 

Abandoned Premises

Occasionally a tenant will simply abandon leased premises and leave items of his or her personal property behind. When this occurs, the tenant typically cannot be located, so you cannot file a lawsuit to determine your right to remove and dispose of the tenant’s personal property.

You will want to post a "notice of abandoned property" on the premises and wait 10 days beofre taking any action.  The premises will be deemed abandoned if rent is due and has been unpaid for 30 days, and the landlord has a reasonable belief that the tenant has vacated and intends not to return. 

To use this procedure, the landlord must post a written notice in specified form on the premises and mail the same notice to the last-known address of the tenant by both first-class and certified mail, return receipt requested. If the tenant then fails within 10 days to either pay rent or respond in writing stating the tenant’s intention not to abandon the premises, the landlord can remove and dispose of the tenant’s property without liability to the tenant. 

 A "cash for keys" agreement is an arrangement where a landlord pays a tenant to voluntarily move out of a rental property, rather than going through the legal process of eviction. The tenant agrees to vacate the premises by a specified date in exchange for a lump sum of money. This can be a faster and more cost-effective way for landlords to regain possession of their property. Here's a more detailed look at what a cash for keys agreement involves:

• Voluntary Move-Out:The core of the agreement is that the tenant agrees to move out willingly, avoiding the need for a formal eviction process. 
• Financial Incentive:The landlord offers a cash payment to the tenant to encourage them to vacate the property. 
• Specifics in the Agreement:The agreement should clearly outline the amount of the cash payment, the move-out date, and any specific requirements for the condition of the property, such as leaving it "broom clean". 
• Potential Benefits:For landlords, this can save time and money by avoiding eviction proceedings, while for tenants, it offers a cash payment and avoids a negative mark on their rental history from an eviction. 
• Considerations:While cash for keys can be beneficial, it's important for landlords to understand their rights and responsibilities, and for tenants to be aware of the terms of the agreement and their potential legal options.

In essence, a cash for keys agreement is a negotiated solution to ensure a smooth and efficient move-out, benefiting both the landlord and the tenant.  A suggested for is available for use below.