I called to inquire about filing against a commercial tenant with unpaid rent. We notified the tenant two weeks ago with 10 day notice to pay or get evicted.

Today the person at the magistrate's office said we need to give 30 days notice. She kept saying the judge wants a "courtesy" of 30 days notice. When I pressed her on whether "courtesy" means "legally required" she said the judge will be the one deciding the case and she can't give me legal advice.

Can anyone tell me if commercial leases require 30 days notice for eviction or if this particular judge just wants it to be 30 (for understandable reasons)? If it is 30, can we merely give an additional 20 days notice to satisfy the requirement? We would prefer not to have to go into another month with a deadbeat commerical tenant who hasn't paid the rent for four months already.

The tenant in question also did not pick up similiar certified notice of 10 day eviction in March. The history of the tenant's behavior speaks for itself, but we want to be within the law.

First, you need to look at the lease or rental agreement to see under what conditions you can sue for eviction and terminate the lease. You also should read how that notice of unpaid rent, lease termination, eviction is to be handled under the lease. Usually, if the lease is month to month, 30 days notice is sufficient to terminate the lease and it is appropriate to file for eviction if the party is not out at the end of the 30 day notice. So it is hard to answer this because you need to look at the lease that exists now, then use that to determine how to proceed. Seek local legal counsel if you need help with the interpretation.

I have a question about my eviction. I live in Missouri and I have had my lease which was a lease/purchase, since May 1, 2005. I have not been late once with my rent, which was $1200.00 a month. I was even doing repairs on the house that the landlord was technically responsible for. I was unfortunatly arrested for matters that had nothing to do with the property or that were even the landlords concern. I was away from the home for 2 1/2 weeks, in which time the landlord found out and served my children with an eviction notice. I have 3 children ages 18, 14, 3 who lived with me, plus my daughters fiance' who is 23 yrs old. My rent was payed up, and the kids were taking care of the house. He had no reason to evict me. He gave them 2 weeks to get out of the house. They were unable to get everything out in time and now he has put new locks on the doors. I still have furniture and personal items in the house. Is there anything I can do about this creep? Also, I put down a $1200.00 deposit with first months rent of $1200.00, and payed an extra $200.00 a month that was supposed to go towards me buying the house.($1000.00 rent & $200.00 towards purchase= $1200.00) I lived in the home from May - July, so 3 months. Some one please help me!