Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Tennessee

File a detainer warrant in the General Sessions Court in the county where the property is located. If you go the General Sessions Civil Court Clerk's office, the folks there should be able to walk you through it. You can ask that the tenants be evicted, as well as request a judgment for any past-due rent.

It depends upon the terms of your lease, if there is a written lease agreement. If there is a written lease agreement, you are required to follow the terms of the lease with respect to defaults by the tenant. Many leases will contain a "waiver of notice and demand" provision that specifies in the event the tenant has breached the lease, the landlord is able to immeidately proceed with the eviction of the tenant without sending any sort of notice to the tenant. This does not mean that you have the right to go in and remove the tenant's possessions from the rental unit. However, it does mean that in such a case, you can proceed with the filing of a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action in the General Sessions Court for the county where the property is located.

If however, the lease does not contain a "waiver of notice and demand" provision, but instead requires the lessor (landlord) to send a notice to the tenant giving the tenant (lessee) an opportunity to cure the default, the landlord must then strictly comply with the notice terms before filing the FED. This includes the manner in which the notice is given. Some leases require written notices to be hand-delivered, others require written notice by certified mail, etc.

Finally, if there is no provision of any sort that waives notice to the tenant or sets forth any sort of notice to the tenant to cure the default, the landlord is required, under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of Tennessee, to send a written notice to the tenant giving the tenant 14 days to cure the default. The written notice must further specify that in the event the tenant fails to cure the default, the lease will terminate in 30 days and the landlord will then proceed with the judicial eviction action if the tenant does not vacate. There is an exception however, to this 14/30 day written notice. The exception is if the current breach is the very same type of breach or default by the tenant within the last six months; i.e., the failure to timely pay rent. In such a case the written notice to the tenant can specify that the default (failure to pay rent and late fees) must be cured within 14 days and if not, the lease will terminate in 14 days meaning the tenant must vacate during that 14 day period. Once again, should the tenant fail to cure the default and fail to vacate, the FED can then be filed with the General Sessions Court.