Kansas Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

K.S.A. 58-2564(b) gives the tenant 3 days after written notice to pay the rent due. Kansas counts these as three consecutive 24-hour periods running from the moment of service or posting, not calendar days and not business days, so a notice served at 4pm Monday expires at 4pm Thursday, weekends and holidays included. If the notice is mailed, an additional two days are allowed from the date of mailing. The notice must be written and identify the rent owed.

K.S.A. 58-2564(a) requires a single written notice specifying the breach and stating that the agreement terminates on a date not less than 30 days after receipt if the breach is not remedied in 14 days. This is one document that states both deadlines, not a 14-day notice followed by a separate 30-day notice. A good-faith remedy within 14 days avoids termination, and a subsequent similar breach may be terminated with no cure period at all.

K.S.A. 58-2570(b) requires notice stating that the tenancy terminates on a periodic rent-paying date not less than 30 days after receipt. Both conditions must hold, so a notice received on March 20 for rent due on the first cannot end on April 19 and cannot end on April 1 — it ends May 1. In practice this routinely turns a "30-day notice" into 40 to 60 days. Week-to-week tenancies take 7 days. Kansas has no just-cause requirement.

Evictions are filed as Chapter 61 limited actions in the district court of the county where the property sits. The statutory docket fee under K.S.A. 61-4001 is $35 if the amount in controversy is $500 or less, $55 if over $500 up to $5,000, and $101 above that; a court surcharge may apply. Sheriff and service fees are county-set and additional.

Under K.S.A. 61-3805 the summons sets an appearance date not less than 3 nor more than 14 days after it is issued. K.S.A. 61-3806(a) requires the tenant to appear in person or by counsel on that date, or to file a written answer on or before it, and if a trial is needed it must be held within 14 days after the appearance date.

A nonpayment case runs roughly three to five weeks: the 3-day pay-or-quit notice, the separate 3-day notice to leave, filing, an appearance date 3 to 14 days out, and a writ of restitution that must be executed within 14 days of receipt under K.S.A. 61-3808. Lease-violation and no-cause cases run far longer because the notice alone is 30 days or more, and mediation under the 2026 law can add up to another 14 days.

K.S.A. 58-2563 prohibits a landlord from unlawfully removing or excluding a tenant from the premises and from willfully diminishing services by interrupting electricity, gas, water, or another essential service. The tenant may recover possession or terminate the agreement and, either way, recover an amount not more than one and one-half months' periodic rent or the damages actually sustained, whichever is greater, and the landlord must return the recoverable portion of the security deposit if the tenancy ends. Kansas case law also allows punitive damages where the landlord's conduct is wanton and malicious, so the 1.5-month figure is a floor on exposure, not a cap.

Substitute for HB 2357 was signed in 2026 and takes effect July 1, 2026. It amends K.S.A. 61-3806 and 61-3807 so that in evictions governed by the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act the court must consider mediation unless it finds mediation would not materially aid the parties or is impracticable, and if the parties are in mediation the court orders a continuance of up to 14 days without requiring the defendant's usual bond. The act also creates a no-cost procedure for tenants to petition to expunge residential eviction records after a statutory waiting period once any money judgment is satisfied. The notice periods in K.S.A. 58-2564 and 58-2570 were not changed.

Kansas requires two notices, and missing the second one is the most damaging mistake landlords make here. After the K.S.A. 58-2564 notice terminates the tenancy, K.S.A. 61-3803 separately requires a notice to leave the premises delivered at least three days before you file suit, served by personal delivery, by leaving it with any person over 12 residing at the premises, by conspicuous posting, or by mail. Nearly every eviction aggregator presents Kansas as a single-notice state. The second most common failure is day counting: both three-day periods run as consecutive 24-hour blocks including weekends and holidays, with two extra days added when the notice is mailed. Third is ending a month-to-month tenancy on a date that is not a periodic rent-paying date. Whether an LLC or corporation must appear through an attorney in a Chapter 61 eviction is not settled by any current statute we could locate, so confirm with the district court clerk before filing in an entity's name.

• K.S.A. 58-2564
• K.S.A. 61-3803
• K.S.A. 58-2563