Notification

• Every state requires your landlord to notify you before beginning an eviction. Most states require a three- or five-day notice, and if you make up the back rent in that time, you can stay. If you've missed more than one payment, the law may allow your landlord to send an "unconditional quit" notice; in that case, paying the rent won't prevent eviction. A few states allow landlords to issue such notices on the first missed payment.
  
  

Eviction

• Even you don't pay the rent by the deadline in the notice, your landlord still needs a court's approval to evict you. He will have to serve you with a court summons and a complaint, so you'll know the date of the court hearing and can show up to defend yourself if you choose. If the judge rules against you, your landlord will present the county sheriff with a writ of possession authorizing the sheriff to remove you. Until then, you're entitled to stay in your rental property.
  
  

Defenses

• If you believe you're entitled to stay, you can use the hearing to fight the eviction. If you show the landlord didn't give you written notice, it will force her to start the legal process over again. Another defense is to prove you had grounds not to pay: If your landlord refuses to fix a problem for instance, some states let you deduct the cost of a repair person from the rent. Even if your state allows this, it only works as a defense if you followed state procedure to the letter.
  
  

Considerations

• If you aren't paying because the landlord increased your rent, the law may be on your side. In cities with rent-controlled apartments, there are limits to how much your rent can go up; everywhere else, there's no legal limit to how much you can pay, but the law may still protect you. Landlords can't increase rent in the middle of a lease unless the right is written into the lease; in most states, month-to-month tenants are entitled to at least 30 days' written notice before an increase. If your landlord doesn't follow the law, you can't be evicted for not paying the increase.