eviction

/ɪˈvɪkʃɪn/

/ɪˈvɪkʃən/

Other forms: evictions

An eviction is when a renter or tenant is forced to move out by a property owner. If you don't pay rent for months, you run the risk of eviction.

It's most often a landlord who brings an eviction against someone who's renting an apartment or house. In most states, an eviction follows some kind of legal action — the landlord usually has to prove that the tenant hasn't paid rent or isn't following the terms of the lease. The Late Latin root of the word eviction is evictionem, "recovery of property by judicial decision."

Definitions of eviction

1. noun

   the expulsion of someone (such as a tenant) from the possession of land by process of law
   synonyms: dispossession, legal ouster

   types:

   ouster

   a wrongful dispossession

   actual eviction

   the physical ouster of a tenant from the leased premises; the tenant is relieved of any further duty to pay rent

   retaliatory eviction

   an eviction in reprisal for the tenant's good-faith complaints against the landlord; illegal in many states

   type of:

   due process, due process of law

   (law) the administration of justice according to established rules and principles; based on the principle that a person cannot be deprived of life or liberty or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards
2. noun

   action by a landlord that compels a tenant to leave the premises (as by rendering the premises unfit for occupancy); no physical expulsion or legal process is involved
   synonyms: constructive eviction

   type of:

   coercion, compulsion

   using force to cause something to occur