What a Landlord Cannot Do in Missouri
The main limits Missouri law puts on landlords — lockouts and utility shutoffs, entering without notice, retaliation, deposits, fees and discrimination — each with the statute or official source.
In short: a Missouri landlord cannot evict without a court order, cannot punish a tenant for asserting legal rights where state law protects them, and must follow the state's rules on entry, deposits and fees shown below.
| Lockouts & utility shutoffs | Prohibited. A landlord who removes or excludes a tenant or the tenant's property without judicial process and court order, or removes doors or locks, is guilty of forcible entry and detainer. The same applies to willfully interrupting essential services (electric, gas, water, sewer) unless done for health or safety reasons. Tenant can sue under Ch. 534, which awards double damages and double monthly rents/profits until restitution. Exception: abandonment procedure under RSMo 441.065. Damages: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=534.330 Source: RSMo 441.233; 534.330 |
|---|---|
| Landlord entry notice | No statute — entry and notice before entry are governed by the lease. No section of the landlord-tenant (Ch. 441), forcible entry and unlawful detainer (Ch. 534) or rent-and-possession (Ch. 535) chapters sets a landlord right of entry or an entry-notice period. In a code-enforcement nuisance case, an owner's inability to get access despite good-faith efforts is a defense (RSMo 441.560). Chapter lists: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=534 and https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=535. |
| Landlord retaliation | No general statewide anti-retaliation statute for residential tenants. No section of Chs. 441, 534 or 535 bars retaliation against residential tenants. Fair-housing retaliation rules and local ordinances may apply. Whether courts recognize a common-law retaliatory-eviction defense is not settled by statute. Chapter lists: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=534 and https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=535. |
| Security deposit limit | Landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit of more than two months' rent. Pet deposits are excluded from the definition of 'security deposit' (535.300.8). Since 28 Aug 2025, RSMo 441.043 bars cities/counties from limiting security deposit amounts. Source: RSMo 535.300.1 |
| Penalty for withholding | Tenant may recover twice the amount wrongfully withheld. Annotation on the Revisor page cites PDQ Tower Services v. Adams, 213 S.W.3d 697 (Mo. App. W.D. 2007): double-damages provision does not apply to commercial tenants. Source: RSMo 535.300.6 |
| Late fees | No statute — no cap or grace period; late fees are governed by the lease. No section of Chs. 441, 534 or 535 caps late fees or requires a grace period. The Attorney General's guide advises tenants to check the lease for late fees and grace periods. Chapter lists: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=534 and https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=535. |
| Rent control / increase limits | Statewide preemption. Counties and cities, including charter governments, may not enact, maintain, or enforce ordinances regulating the rent charged for privately owned residential or commercial rental property. Exceptions: property the locality owns, voluntary agreements for subsidized properties, and CDBG-assisted properties. Amended by H.B. 595 & 343 (2025), effective 28 Aug 2025. It now also bars local rules that: require landlords to accept housing-assistance income; restrict tenant screening (credit, eviction or criminal history); limit security deposit amounts; or require a tenant right of first refusal. Source: RSMo 441.043 |
| Statewide ban on refusing Section 8 / source of income | No. Missouri has no statewide ban on refusing voucher holders. Since 28 Aug 2025, cities and counties (including charter governments) are also barred from enacting, keeping, or enforcing ordinances that stop landlords from refusing tenants whose rent is paid partly with federal or other housing assistance. Local ordinances protecting recipients of veterans' benefits remain allowed. The ban covers 'maintain' and 'enforce', so it reaches existing local ordinances. Whether the state Human Rights Act (RSMo Ch. 213) lists source of income was not separately checked. |
| Cameras & privacy | No landlord-specific statute. It is the crime of invasion of privacy to knowingly photograph, film or otherwise create an image of someone, without consent, while they are fully or partly nude in a place where they would reasonably expect privacy. It is also a crime to create images under or through someone's clothing. This is a class A misdemeanor, and a class E felony if the image is distributed, more than one person is captured, or it is a repeat offense. Recording conversations is lawful if the recorder is a party or one party consents (one-party consent). 542.402: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=542.402. Missouri has no statute on landlord entry; the lease governs. Source: RSMo 565.252; RSMo 542.402.2 |
| Other rental fees | No statute. No Missouri statute limits move-in, convenience, or online-payment fees or requires all-in rent disclosure. In a rent-and-possession case, other lease charges may be joined to the claim but are not treated as rent and cannot by themselves support an order for possession. Absence finding based on the Chapter 441/534/535 section lists. |
Can I sue my landlord in Missouri? · All Missouri tenant rights
General legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and local rules can differ; check the linked official source or talk to a lawyer about your situation.