Free North Dakota Landlord Forms
Every North Dakota landlord form we publish, organised by the stage of the tenancy it belongs to, each one paired with the North Dakota Century Code section and the deadline that triggers it — including three rules that generic templates get flatly wrong.
Every form linked on this page is free, fillable in your browser, and downloadable as a PDF with no account, no membership and no paywall. North Dakota tenancies run on NDCC chapter 47-16 for the substantive rules and chapter 47-32 for eviction. It is a short code, but three of its provisions differ so sharply from the national template that a form written for “most states” will be wrong in North Dakota.
The short version
- Nonpayment is a two-stage rule. Rent must be unpaid three days after it fell due before the ground exists; then a separate three-day notice of intention to evict must be served.
- Entry is consent-based, not notice-based. North Dakota has no twenty-four-hour rule — the landlord must notify the tenant and receive consent identifying a time certain.
- The move-in condition statement is mandatory and signed by both parties, and it is prima facie proof of condition.
- Month-to-month ends on one calendar month’s notice, given at any time — not pegged to a rent-due date.
- Some grounds need no notice at all, including a tenant who unreasonably disturbs other tenants’ peaceful enjoyment.
- Deposit — one month’s rent, rising to two in two defined situations, held in an interest-bearing account, returned within thirty days, with treble damages for unjustified withholding.
The Three-Day Rent Rule Is Really Two Three-Day Rules
This is the single easiest way to lose a North Dakota eviction, and it is easy because almost every summary collapses the two stages into one.
| Stage | What must happen | Section |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The ground arises | Rent must be unpaid three days after it fell due. Until then there is no ground to evict at all. | NDCC § 47-32-01(4) |
| 2. The notice runs | A three-day written notice of intention to evict must then be served. | NDCC § 47-32-02 |
Serve the notice on the day rent is missed and it is premature, because the ground had not yet arisen. In practice the earliest a North Dakota landlord can be in court is meaningfully later than a bare “three-day state” summary suggests.
North Dakota calls it a notice of INTENTION TO EVICT, not a notice to cure — and the distinction is real. For a lease violation under § 47-32-01(8) the same three-day notice applies, and the statute states no right to cure. Whether a tenant who cures within the three days defeats the action is not answered by the text. We are not going to tell you it is settled when the code does not say so. Draft the notice to state what the breach is and what would remedy it, and you are protected either way.
Some North Dakota Grounds Need No Notice At All
Section 47-32-02 requires the three-day notice only for subsections 4, 5, 6 and 8 of § 47-32-01. The others proceed without any notice, and one of them is far broader than landlords expect:
- Subsections 1, 2 and 3 — forcible or fraudulent entry, and holdover by force.
- Subsection 7 — where “a lessee or a person on the premises with the lessee’s consent acts in a manner that unreasonably disturbs other tenants’ peaceful enjoyment”. No notice is required.
That last ground also carries a procedural sting at the other end of the case: where a judgment rests in whole or in part on disturbance of the peace, the court may not grant the usual hardship stay of execution. Our North Dakota eviction notice laws guide sets out each ground.
Every North Dakota Landlord Form, by Stage of the Tenancy
An alphabetical list is the least useful arrangement, because a landlord arrives knowing what has happened, not what the document is called. The index below is ordered by where you are in the tenancy.
Starting the tenancy
- North Dakota residential lease agreement — the master document. Watch the automatic-renewal clause: it is unenforceable unless the landlord gave written notice of it at least thirty days before expiry, in which case the lease converts to month-to-month.
- Lead-based paint form — required by federal law, not North Dakota law, for any dwelling built before 1978.
- Move-in / move-out condition checklist — this is North Dakota’s statutory property condition statement under § 47-16-07.2. It is required, it is signed by both parties, and it is prima facie proof of condition. See below.
During the tenancy
- Notice to enter the property — drafted to North Dakota’s consent standard under § 47-16-07.3, not to a generic twenty-four-hour rule.
- Rent increase notice — North Dakota prohibits political subdivisions from imposing rent control (§ 47-16-02.1), so the constraint is the notice period, not a cap.
- Late rent notice — a courtesy reminder, and the natural first step in the two-stage rent sequence.
When the tenant breaches
- Three-day notice to pay rent or quit — served only after rent has been unpaid three days.
- Notice to cure or quit — the three-day notice for a material lease violation under § 47-32-01(8).
- Unconditional quit notice — for the grounds where the statute affords no remedy period.
Ending the tenancy without fault
- Notice of non-renewal — one calendar month’s written notice under § 47-16-15(2), which may be given at any time.
- Tenant notice to vacate — the tenant’s side of the same section. A clause requiring the tenant to give longer notice must be initialled by the tenant, or one month is all you get.
After the tenant moves out
- Security deposit itemisation — the itemised statement § 47-16-07.1(3) requires within thirty days.
- Security deposit return letter — the covering document, delivered or mailed to the last address the tenant furnished.
Entry: North Dakota Is a Consent State, Not a Twenty-Four-Hour State
There is no twenty-four-hour entry rule in North Dakota, and publishing one is a straightforward error. Section 47-16-07.3 allows entry at any time in an emergency, on a reasonable belief of abandonment, or on a reasonable belief of a substantial lease violation. Otherwise entry is “only during reasonable hours, and in a reasonable manner”, and “unless it is impractical to do so the landlord shall first notify and receive the consent of the tenant, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, which consent shall identify a time certain.”
Two practical points follow. The consent is presumed from a failure to object, so a properly drafted notice that names a specific date and time does most of the work. And because the consent must identify a time certain, a notice saying “sometime next week” does not satisfy the section even if the tenant does not object.
Our North Dakota landlord entry laws guide covers the emergency and abandonment routes in more detail.
The Property Condition Statement Is Required, Not Recommended
Section 47-16-07.2 requires a statement of the property’s condition, signed by both landlord and tenant, and it operates as prima facie proof of the condition at the start of the tenancy. That is a stronger status than the informal checklists most landlords use: it shifts the argument at move-out from “whose recollection is better” to “what does the signed statement say”.
It pairs with a rule that runs the other way. Repair and deduct in North Dakota requires the landlord’s agreement under § 47-16-13.1 — a tenant cannot unilaterally repair and deduct the way templates from other states assume. What a tenant can do, where the landlord neglects to repair after notice, is vacate and be discharged from further rent under § 47-16-13. See our North Dakota habitability laws guide.
Security Deposits: One Month, Two in Two Cases, and Interest
| Rule | Value | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Cap | One month’s rent — rising to two months’ where the tenant (a) has been convicted of a felony, or (b) has had a judgment entered against them for violating a previous rental agreement | § 47-16-07.1(1) |
| Pet deposit | Separate, not to exceed the greater of two thousand five hundred dollars or two months’ rent — and not chargeable for a service or companion animal as a fair-housing accommodation | § 47-16-07.1(2) |
| Where it is held | A federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account for the benefit of the tenant | § 47-16-07.1 |
| Interest | Required — the deposit “and any interest accruing” is paid on termination. Exception: no interest where occupancy was less than nine months. No rate is specified | § 47-16-07.1 |
| Return | Thirty days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession — itemisation plus the amount due, delivered or mailed to the last address furnished | § 47-16-07.1(3) |
| Penalty | Treble damages for any deposit money withheld without reasonable justification | § 47-16-07.1(4) |
Two features stand out. The interest requirement is unusual among the plains states, and the nine-month carve-out means a short tenancy carries none — but a ten-month one does. And treble damages is a serious exposure for a state with an otherwise sparse code. Unclaimed deposits go to unclaimed-property reporting after a year. See our North Dakota security deposit laws guide.
Ending a Periodic Tenancy
Section 47-16-15(2) requires at least one calendar month’s written notice, given at any time, from either party — and the phrase “at any time” is doing real work. North Dakota does not tie the notice to a rent-due date the way most states do. The statute then adds that “the rent is due and payable to and including the date of termination”.
- After a change of terms, a tenant may give twenty-five days’ notice effective at the end of the month, § 47-16-15(3).
- Week-to-week is derived, not stated. No section names a week-to-week tenancy. Section 47-16-19 presumes a weekly rate is a one-week hiring and § 47-16-15(1) requires notice at least as long as the term, not exceeding one calendar month — so one week follows from reading the two together. We flag it as derived rather than presenting it as a printed rule.
- On a tenant’s death, the tenancy terminates on the last day of the month following the death, at the option of a surviving lessee or the estate, § 47-16-18.
Serving a North Dakota Notice
Under § 47-32-02 the notice is served and returned as a summons, or, if the party cannot be found, by the sheriff or a process server posting it conspicuously upon the premises. For the summons itself, personal service within the county requires at least three days before the appearance date; service elsewhere, or by any other mode, requires at least seven days. Door-posting is available after a failed attempt that includes one made between six and ten in the evening, supported by affidavit and a mailing.
Do not add three days for mailing on eviction papers. North Dakota Rule of Civil Procedure 6(e)(1) does add three days for service by mail under Rule 5 — but 6(e)(2) says that where service is by mail under Rule 4, which is how eviction papers go out, “the prescribed period begins running upon delivery”. No days are added. This is the exact opposite of the rule in several neighbouring states, and it is a trap for anyone working from a regional template.
What Changed in 2025
North Dakota’s legislature is biennial — there was no 2024 session and there is no 2026 regular session, so the 2025 assembly is the only recent source of change. Two acts landed, both effective 1 August 2025.
| Act | What it did |
|---|---|
| HB 1610 — new § 47-16-20.1 | “A landlord may not charge a tenant a fee to accept cash, a check, or a money order for the payment of rent or any other payment required by the landlord under a lease for real property.” Review any payment-method surcharge in your lease. |
| SB 2238 — new § 47-32-05 | Sealing of eviction records. A tenant evicted for nonpayment or damage, with all claims resolved, may move to seal seven years after the order is satisfied if not evicted elsewhere in that period. A domestic-violence victim evicted because of a domestic-violence incident may move to seal on the assailant’s conviction or on the issuance of a protection order. |
Two other 2025 bills are widely described online as if they had passed. They did not: HB 1272 (deposit amendments plus move-in and post-move-out walk-throughs) failed in the House, and HB 1496 (landlord obligations) failed in the Senate. Neither is law, and a form built to either one is built to a bill.
Which North Dakota Form Do I Need?
- The tenant has not paid rent. Wait until rent is three days overdue, then serve the three-day notice of intention to evict.
- The tenant has broken a material lease term. The same three-day notice under § 47-32-01(8) — and say what would remedy the breach even though the statute does not require it.
- The tenant or their guests are disturbing other tenants. Subsection 7 requires no notice, and it also blocks the hardship stay at judgment.
- Nobody is at fault and you want the tenancy to end. One calendar month’s written notice, given at any time.
- You need to get into the property. Notify and obtain consent, naming a time certain — unless it is an emergency, an apparent abandonment, or a substantial lease violation.
- The tenant has moved out. Itemisation plus the balance within thirty days of termination and delivery of possession, with interest if occupancy ran nine months or more.
How to Fill Out a North Dakota Three-Day Notice
- Check the calendar first. For nonpayment, confirm rent has been unpaid for three days before you serve anything.
- Name every tenant and describe the premises exactly as the lease does.
- State the ground by subsection. Nonpayment sits at § 47-32-01(4); a material lease violation at (8). The notice requirement attaches only to subsections 4, 5, 6 and 8.
- Call it what the statute calls it — a notice of intention to evict.
- State what would remedy the breach where one is capable of remedy. The statute is silent on cure; a clear notice costs nothing and closes the argument.
- Serve it as a summons, or by conspicuous posting through the sheriff or a process server if the tenant cannot be found.
- Do not add days for mailing. Under Rule 6(e)(2) the period runs on delivery.
- Diarise the appearance window — not fewer than three nor more than fifteen days from issuance.
What Happens If the Form Is Wrong
The distinctively North Dakota error is serving the rent notice too early, before the three-day arrears period has run. The notice is not merely weak; the ground did not exist when it was served.
The second is an entry notice written to the wrong standard. A twenty-four-hour notice that never asks for consent and never names a time certain does not satisfy § 47-16-07.3, and entry made on it is entry without the statutory basis.
The third is on the money side: a deposit held in a non-interest-bearing account. The account type is prescribed, and the penalty for withholding without reasonable justification is treble damages.
Court, Costs and Timetable
Evictions are heard in district court under § 47-32-01. The small claims limit is fifteen thousand dollars under § 27-08.1-01(1), but that jurisdiction is “confined to cases for recovery of money” — small claims cannot award possession, so it is not a route to an eviction.
The appearance date is set not fewer than three nor more than fifteen days from issuance. On judgment for the plaintiff the court “shall enter judgment that the plaintiff have immediate restitution”. On substantial hardship the court may stay execution “for a reasonable period, not to exceed five days” — except where the judgment rests wholly or partly on disturbance of the peace, where no stay is available. No counterclaims are allowed except as a setoff.
North Dakota has no mandatory statewide eviction forms. The Legal Self Help Center publishes an eviction packet — a demand for rent or possession, a notice of intention to evict, a summons, a complaint, findings, a judgment, a writ of eviction, an affidavit of identification and a statement of costs — but the packet states in terms that these “aren’t official court forms”. The filing figure in circulation is one hundred and sixty dollars, which comes from that packet rather than from the Century Code, so treat it as guidance and confirm with the clerk of the district court in your county.
What This Page Does Not Have
We would rather scope this honestly than promise documents we do not host. North Dakota landlords also commonly want a rental application, a sublease, a roommate agreement, a commercial lease, a lease-to-own agreement and a rent receipt. Those are not published here as North Dakota-specific forms.
We have also declined to publish a North Dakota-specific military termination rule. A full-text search of chapters 47-16 and 47-32 for “military”, “armed force” and “active duty” returns nothing. North Dakota appears to rely on the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act alone, and inventing a state analogue would be worse than saying so. Nor do we publish a deposit interest rate, because the statute specifies none.
Common North Dakota Landlord Form Mistakes
- Serving the rent notice on day one. Rent must be three days overdue first.
- Using a twenty-four-hour entry notice. North Dakota requires notice and consent, identifying a time certain.
- Skipping the property condition statement. It is required by § 47-16-07.2 and it is prima facie proof.
- Holding the deposit in a plain account. The statute requires a federally insured interest-bearing account for the tenant’s benefit.
- Forgetting interest after nine months’ occupancy. Under nine months, none; at nine months and over, it accrues.
- Adding three days for mailing. Rule 6(e)(2) runs the period from delivery for Rule 4 service.
- Tying the month-to-month notice to the rent-due date. It may be given at any time.
- Relying on an unnoticed automatic-renewal clause. Unenforceable without thirty days’ written notice before expiry.
- Assuming the tenant may repair and deduct. Section 47-16-13.1 requires the landlord’s agreement.
- Charging a fee to accept cash, a cheque or a money order. Prohibited since 1 August 2025.
- Filing an eviction in small claims. That jurisdiction is money only.
Free Fillable Forms Versus the Paid North Dakota Form Sites
North Dakota has the weakest competitive field of any state we have measured. There is no authoritative free state hub in the results at all — no judiciary self-help page ranks, unlike in New Jersey, New Mexico, New Hampshire or Montana. The entire page is commercial template sites, most of them either walled or built as software funnels, and the deepest of them runs to about two thousand eight hundred and fifty words.
None of them explains the two-stage rent rule, the consent-based entry standard, or the fact that no days are added for mailing. Those three things decide whether North Dakota paperwork works, and they are worth more than another copy of a generic lease.
Every form linked from this page is free, fills in the browser, and downloads as a finished PDF. There is no account, no trial and no upsell attached to the documents themselves. What we ask in return is straightforward: if you are about to hand keys to someone, run the screening first, because nearly every dispute described on this page is cheaper to prevent than to litigate.
North Dakota Landlord Forms: FAQ
How many days is a North Dakota notice to pay rent or quit?
Three — but there are two three-day periods. Rent must first be unpaid three days after it fell due before the ground exists under § 47-32-01(4); a separate three-day notice of intention to evict is then served under § 47-32-02. Serving on the day rent is missed is premature.
Does North Dakota require twenty-four hours’ notice before a landlord enters?
No. Section 47-16-07.3 sets no hour count. Outside an emergency, a reasonable belief of abandonment or a reasonable belief of a substantial lease violation, the landlord must enter only during reasonable hours and must “first notify and receive the consent of the tenant… which consent shall identify a time certain”. Consent is presumed from a failure to object.
Is a move-in condition statement required in North Dakota?
Yes. Section 47-16-07.2 requires a statement of the property’s condition signed by both parties, and it stands as prima facie proof of the condition at the start of the tenancy.
What is the security deposit cap in North Dakota?
One month’s rent, rising to two months’ where the tenant has been convicted of a felony or has had a judgment entered against them for violating a previous rental agreement, § 47-16-07.1(1). A separate pet deposit may not exceed the greater of two thousand five hundred dollars or two months’ rent, and may not be charged for a service or companion animal as a fair-housing accommodation.
Does North Dakota require interest on a security deposit?
Yes. The deposit must be held in a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account for the tenant’s benefit, and the deposit “and any interest accruing” is paid on termination. No interest is due where the period of occupancy was less than nine months. The statute specifies no rate.
How long does a North Dakota landlord have to return a deposit?
Thirty days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession — the itemisation and the amount due, delivered or mailed to the last address the tenant furnished, § 47-16-07.1(3).
What is the penalty for wrongly withholding a North Dakota deposit?
Treble damages on any deposit money withheld without reasonable justification, § 47-16-07.1(4).
How much notice ends a month-to-month tenancy in North Dakota?
At least one calendar month, in writing, from either party — and it may be given at any time rather than being tied to a rent-due date, § 47-16-15(2). Rent is due to and including the date of termination. A clause requiring the tenant to give longer notice must be initialled by the tenant.
Does North Dakota add days when an eviction notice is mailed?
No. Rule 6(e)(1) adds three days for service by mail under Rule 5, but Rule 6(e)(2) provides that where service is by mail under Rule 4 — the rule that governs eviction papers — “the prescribed period begins running upon delivery”.
Are there North Dakota grounds that need no notice at all?
Yes. Section 47-32-02 requires the three-day notice only for subsections 4, 5, 6 and 8. Subsections 1, 2 and 3 (forcible or fraudulent entry, holdover by force) and subsection 7 — where a lessee or a person on the premises with their consent acts in a manner that unreasonably disturbs other tenants’ peaceful enjoyment — require none.
Does North Dakota cap late fees?
No. A full-text reading of chapters 47-16 and 47-32 finds no late-fee cap and no statutory grace period, so the lease governs. Since 1 August 2025, however, a landlord may not charge a fee to accept cash, a cheque or a money order for rent or any other payment required under the lease.
Can a North Dakota eviction be filed in small claims court?
No. The small claims limit is fifteen thousand dollars under § 27-08.1-01(1), but that jurisdiction is confined to cases for the recovery of money and does not reach possession. Evictions go to district court under § 47-32-01.
Related North Dakota Guides
- North Dakota landlord-tenant laws — the full statutory overview.
- North Dakota eviction notice laws — every ground and its notice status.
- North Dakota security deposit laws — the account, the interest and the treble penalty.
- North Dakota lease termination laws — one calendar month, given at any time.
- North Dakota breaking lease laws — early termination and the domestic-violence route.
- North Dakota rent increase laws — and why rent control is prohibited.
- North Dakota late fee laws — no cap, and the new payment-method fee bar.
- North Dakota landlord entry laws — the consent standard in detail.
- North Dakota habitability laws — repair, and the right to vacate.
- North Dakota pet and ESA laws — pet deposits and assistance animals.
- North Dakota tenant screening laws — background checks and sealed eviction records.
Published by Tenant Screening Background Check · Editorial Team
Established 2004. Our editorial team has spent two decades helping landlords and property managers run lawful tenant screening and follow state landlord-tenant codes across all fifty states. North Dakota publishes its code only as chapter PDFs, so for this page we extracted chapters 47-16 and 47-32 in full and read them — which is how we can say there is no twenty-four-hour entry rule, no late-fee cap, and no state military termination provision, rather than repeating what other pages assume.
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Last reviewed 2026. This page is general information about North Dakota landlord-tenant law, not legal advice. North Dakota’s legislature meets biennially and two acts took effect on 1 August 2025. Several 2025 bills widely described online as law in fact failed. Court filing figures come from a self-help packet rather than the Century Code and vary by county. Confirm the current requirements with the clerk of your district court or with a North Dakota attorney before you serve a notice or file a case.
