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Eviction Process in Oklahoma


If you are being evicted in the state of Oklahoma, you may not know how to proceed.  Learning about the eviction process in Oklahoma can help you understand your rights and options under the law.  After reading this guide, you will understand the steps involved in the eviction process in Oklahoma and how long each step will take.

Getting Notice

Before your landlord can proceed with the eviction process in Oklahoma courts, he is legally required to serve you proper notice.  The amount of notice required by Oklahoma law depends on why you are being evicted.

If you are being evicted due to a failure to pay rent (which is the most common reason for Oklahoma evictions), you will be given a Notice to Pay Rent or Quit which gives you five days to pay your past-due rent along with reasonable late charges.

Your landlord can also give you a 10-day notice if you have been violating the provisions of your lease agreement in a way that impacts the health or safety of others.  This 10-day notice gives you ten days to cure the breach, and if you do not do so within 10 days, you must leave the premises by the fifteenth day after being served with the notice.

If you have done something to destroy the property, this is called “committing waste” in the eviction process in Oklahoma and your landlord does not need to give you time to correct the issue.  Instead, you will simply be informed with a Notice of Termination that your tenancy is ended immediately and you must remove your belongings.

Court Filings and Hearings

If you do not leave the premises or respond adequately to the notice you have been given, your landlord can go to small claims court to begin the next part of the eviction process in Oklahoma.  A lawsuit for eviction, called a “forcible entry and detainer” suit, will be filed against you.

You will be served with a copy of the court's summons, which detail what you are being accused of and when your court date is.  The landlord may not serve you this paperwork himself or herself, but must have it done by a private process server or the sheriff's department.

You are not required to attend the eviction hearing, but if you fail to appear, your landlord will win the eviction lawsuit automatically and the eviction process in Oklahoma will continue.  You may be able to win at your eviction lawsuit if you can prove your landlord acted improperly.  Consulting a lawyer who has experience with the eviction process in Oklahoma can help you to understand your full range of legal options.

Writ of Execution

If you lose at the hearing, the judge grants an eviction order and will give you two days to remove your belongings and yourself.  If you fail to do this, your landlord can go back to the court and ask for the final step of the eviction process in Oklahoma.  This final step is when the sheriff comes to the premises and forcibly removes you by whatever means necessary.

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