Eviction Expungement - Do it Yourself

Authored By
Education for Justice
Last Updated
01/2024

This page has forms to ask the court to expunge an eviction case. Expungement means removing the record of a court case from the public view. If your eviction court case is expunged, then someone searching court files can’t find a record of your eviction case. Courts sometimes expunge eviction cases, but it might be hard to get an expungement.

There are 3 types of expungement: inherent authority, statutory, and mandatory. Read the Expunging an Eviction Case fact sheet to learn about the types of expungement. 

Expungement Forms

You can choose one of two different Eviction Expungement forms to use to file a Motion to Expunge your Eviction Case:

      OR

Mandatory Expungement Request

For some Mandatory Expungements, you can get an expungement without filing a motion. To ask for this kind of Mandatory Expungement, fill out the Mandatory Expungement Request to explain why you qualify for a mandatory expungement and bring it to the court clerk to file it into the case. 

The types of Mandatory Expungement that you do not have to file a motion for are: 

  1. You won your case “on the merits” which means the court considered the facts and the law and decided you should not be evicted
     
  2. The court dismissed the landlord’s case for any reason, including for example, bad service
     
  3. You and your landlord agree to the expungement
     
  4. It has been 3 years since the eviction was ordered
     
  5. The property was in foreclosure or contract for deed cancellation

    The eviction case was only about you staying at the property too long (holdover), not about nonpayment of rent or breaking your lease (breach), and 

    At least one of these is true:
    1. The foreclosure redemption period or time for contract cancellation is over. You moved out before the eviction case was served.
       
    2. You were a tenant during the foreclosure redemption period or contract cancellation period. Your lease began after the landlord’s mortgage or contract for deed began. You didn’t get proper notice about your lease ending, OR you were given proper notice to end your lease, but the eviction case started before the date the notice said you needed to move.