When you rent a place to live, you have certain property rights to the home.  You have the right to the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the home.  You have the right to keep your personal property items at the home.  When your landlord wants to end your lease and evict you, he or she must comply with the terms of the lease. Many leases are verbal agreements between the owner and renter (tenant) to rent the home on a month-to-month basis. In those situations, landlords can usually end the lease for any non-discriminatory reason with 30 days’ notice. Written leases normally allow the tenant to remain in the home for the duration of the lease (for example, one year) as long as the tenant pays rent and follows the other terms of the lease. A written lease is usually required if the parties get government rental assistance. If the parties get government rental assistance, the landlord normally must have a good reason to evict the tenant even after the lease term expires.  Before a landlord can terminate the lease and evict you from the home, the law requires that the tenant be given notice.  The landlord must then file a legal case in court against the tenant. The Court will give the landlord a “Writ of Possession” or court order that allows the local Sheriff’s Department to remove the tenant if the landlord is legally entitled to that.

Your landlord may try to coerce you to leave the home outside of the court system.

These kinds of acts by the landlord are called “self-help eviction” and are generally illegal.  Typical examples of self-help eviction are: 

• terminating any of your utility services, including electricity, gas, and water;

• changing the locks or use other devices to lock you out of the home;

• removing your personal property items from the home;

• entering the inside of the home at odd hours and without your permission;

• taking items from your mailbox without your permission;

• calling you, texting you, or otherwise telling you to get out combined with threats of violence or vulgar language.

Arkansas law prohibits the eviction of tenants by any means outside the court system.  The Arkansas Supreme Court has held that a landlord cannot take back rental property occupied by another except by first resorting to legal process.  The law prohibits self-help action by the landlord.  But even if the landlord does self-help acts, that alone does not alone give the tenant an enforceable right to keep living in the home or have the landlord arrested.

If the landlord only shuts off your utilities, there are things you should try to do on your own.

You can call the Police or Sheriff’s Department for assistance.  If law enforcement will not assist you, then you can turn the utilities back on if they were turned off in a simple manner.  For example, if the landlord turned off the water by turning off the valves inside the home, you can turn them back on.  If the landlord turned the electricity off by turning the switch in the fuse box off, you can turn it back on. 

Landlords will more often contact the utility provider and tell them to shut off the service at your address.  What you can do depends on how the service provider reacts to the landlord’s request.  Gas and electricity are usually provided by utility companies.  You should contact these companies directly to see if they will reconnect the service and put the account in your name if it is not already.   In a few cities, however, gas and electricity are provided by a local utility agency that is either part of the city government or has a close legal relationship with the city government.  Almost all water service is provided by such agencies or independent rural water associations.  You should contact the office of the utility provider and request the service be reconnected.  If they refuse to and the utility is part of the city government, you can contact the Mayor’s office or the utility’s Chairman of the Board or the local Fire Chief.  Some cities have a Building Code and have a Building Code Enforcement Officer to enforce these Codes.  Any of these companies, agencies, or officials may be able to assist with getting the utilities reconnected or telling the landlord to do what is necessary to resume service.  Many law enforcement officers, companies, city agencies and officials may decline to help you and tell you the following:  "Sorry, that's a civil matter."  Even if they tell you this, don't give up!  In many cases, the tenant is first denied assistance and later gets help. 

Local legal aid programs may be able to help tenants with all of these issues at no cost. You may need an attorney if you cannot resolve these issues on your own or you have been served with legal paperwork related to an eviction.

If you live in Arkansas and need more information, call our Helpline at 501-376-3423 (toll-free at 800-950-5817), Monday thru Friday, 9-11 am and 1-4 pm.

AUTHOR: BEN SEAY, STAFF ATTORNEY FOR THE CENTER FOR ARKANSAS LEGAL SERVICES