Idaho Law Blog
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney
The first step in the judicial process of an eviction is to serve the required written notices as prescribed by the applicable law. Idaho’s landlord and tenant laws contain several notice requirements for various situations. The law is designed to allow the defaulting party to be made aware of a problem and provides an opportunity to the defaulting party to fix the problem before the non-defaulting party has a right to seek assistance from a court. Tenants are given this right to notice in several instances and the failure of the landlord to provide adequate notice is frequently raised by tenants.
Perhaps the most important notice tenants have a right to receive is the eviction notice. Whether it is a 3-day notice for a typical rental or a 20-day notice for mobile home park space rental, the landlord’s actions in providing proper notice is critical to his right to proceed with an eviction.
The failure of a landlord to provide proper notice eliminates his ability to evict the tenant. According to the Idaho Supreme Court, until written notice is given the non paying tenant is not viewed by the law as unlawfully detaining the rented premises. State v. Johnson, 110 Idaho 5126, 716 P.2d 1288 (1986). During court eviction proceedings, tenants often testify that they never received any notice. In this instance, the burden is upon the landlord to provide proof that property written notice was in fact given to the tenant. If a landlord fails to provide this proof then the court will dismiss the eviction proceedings and the landlord will have to start the eviction process all over again.
Thus the failure of a landlord to properly serve the required written notices may altogether eliminate that landlord’s ability to evict the tenant. The remaining steps in the judicial process of an eviction, as prescribed by applicable law, are simple and are described in detail below.
If you have any questions about the eviction process, we can help. Call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Landlord and Tenant Law and Real Estate attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your Idaho Landlord and Tenant Law and Real Estate questions and will help you solve your Idaho Landlord and Tenant Law and Real Estate needs.
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