Can I Sue My Landlord in North Dakota?
Yes — in many situations. These are the main claims North Dakota tenants bring, what the law lets you recover, and where to file. Each rule links to the statute or official source. Most claims under the small claims limit can be filed without a lawyer.
Before you sue
- Write down what happened, with dates, and keep photos, texts, emails and receipts.
- Send your landlord a written demand (templates below) and give a reasonable deadline.
- Check the deadline to sue and the court's dollar limit (below).
- If the amount is over the small claims limit, or you are facing eviction, talk to a lawyer or legal aid first.
Your security deposit wasn't returned
| Penalty for withholding | Treble (3x) damages for any security deposit money withheld without reasonable justification Source: N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1(4) |
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| Deposit return deadline | Within 30 days after the lease ends and the tenant delivers possession Mailed or delivered to the last address the tenant furnished. Unclaimed amounts after one year are subject to unclaimed-property reporting (§ 47-30.2-04). Source: N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1(3) |
Free North Dakota security deposit demand letter
You were locked out or your utilities were cut off
| Lockouts & utility shutoffs | ND Attorney General: 'The landlord cannot lock you out, cut off the utilities, or confiscate your belongings.' Eviction requires a court order. |
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Your landlord retaliated after you complained
| Landlord retaliation | No statute — N.D.C.C. chapters 47-16 (leases) and 47-32 (eviction) contain no general rule against landlord retaliation. The only express retaliation bar protects a tenant who ends a lease under the domestic-violence provision; a court may award $1,000 statutory damages plus actual damages, attorney's fees and costs. Retaliation claims outside the domestic-violence provision depend on other law or the lease, not these chapters. Chapter 47-32 text: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t47c32.pdf. |
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Your landlord won't make repairs
| Repair and deduct | Allowed: if the landlord neglects to repair dilapidations within a reasonable time after the tenant's notice, the tenant may repair and deduct the cost from rent, recover it another lawful way, or vacate and be discharged from further rent. No statutory dollar cap. Landlord habitability duties: § 47-16-13.1. Source: N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13 |
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| Withholding rent | No statutory rent-withholding remedy. Per the ND Legal Self-Help Center, failure to make repairs is not a defense to nonpayment of rent, though a tenant who repaired and deducted under § 47-16-13 may dispute the amount owed. Source: No statute; N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13 |
| Mold | No statute — general habitability/repair duty applies. North Dakota has no mold disclosure, remediation or exposure-standard law for rentals; the landlord must comply with applicable building and housing codes affecting health and safety and 'make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.' Mold that makes a unit unfit falls under the general habitability duty; if the landlord does not repair within a reasonable time after notice, § 47-16-13 lets the tenant repair and deduct, recover the cost, or vacate. Local housing codes may add requirements. Source: N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13.1(1)(a)-(b) |
| Pests & bed bugs | No statute — no bed-bug or pest-specific law. The landlord's general duty to keep the premises fit and habitable and common areas clean and safe applies; the tenant must keep the unit as clean and safe as conditions permit, remove garbage, and not damage the premises. No state bed-bug disclosure or inspection rule. Who pays for treatment depends on the lease and on whether the tenant caused the infestation (tenant must repair damage caused by ordinary negligence, § 47-16-10). |
| Heat | Yes. The landlord must supply 'reasonable heat' and keep heating facilities it supplies in good and safe working order, unless the building is not required by law to be equipped for heat or the heat is generated by an installation under the tenant's exclusive control on a direct utility connection. No statewide minimum temperature or heating season is set. Not required when heat is unavailable because of a public-utility supply failure. A landlord gets a reasonable time to fix noncompliance. Local codes may set temperatures. Source: N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13.1(1)(d), (f) |
Free North Dakota repair request letter to landlord
Your landlord entered without notice or invaded your privacy
| Landlord entry notice | Any time in an emergency, or if the landlord reasonably believes the tenant abandoned the unit or is in substantial violation of the lease. Otherwise only during reasonable hours, in a reasonable manner, for inspection, repairs, services, or showings, and (unless impractical) after notifying the tenant and receiving consent for a time certain; consent may not be unreasonably withheld and is presumed if the tenant does not object after notice. No fixed number of hours' notice. Landlord may not abuse access to harass the tenant. Source: N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.3 |
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| Cameras & privacy | No landlord-specific statute. Criminal laws apply: surreptitiously installing or using a device to observe, photograph or record events from another's dwelling, or from a place where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and may be undressed, with sexual intent, is surreptitious intrusion (class A misdemeanor; felony for repeat offenses or minor victims). Intercepting oral or wire communications without a party's consent is a class C felony (one-party consent). The surreptitious-intrusion statute requires sexual intent; non-sexual hidden cameras inside a tenant's unit may still give rise to civil invasion-of-privacy claims and breach of the tenant's right to quiet possession (§ 47-16-08). Eavesdropping statute: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t12-1c15.pdf. Landlord entry rules are in § 47-16-07.3. |
You were refused or treated differently because of Section 8 or other income
| Statewide ban on refusing Section 8 / source of income | Yes, for public assistance. Refusing to rent, or setting different terms, because of a person's 'status with respect to public assistance' is illegal. The definition expressly includes being a tenant who receives federal, state, or local subsidies, including rental assistance or rent supplements, so housing vouchers are covered. The law does not cover other lawful income in general. Definition source: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t14c02-4.pdf. The ND Department of Labor and Human Rights enforces this law. |
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Other claims tenants bring in North Dakota
| Constructive eviction (conditions forced you out) | No North Dakota statute uses the term "constructive eviction," but state law lets a tenant move out and stop paying rent when the landlord fails to make repairs. If, within a reasonable time after the tenant's notice, the landlord neglects to repair dilapidations the landlord should repair, the tenant may move out and is then released from further rent and other lease obligations. A tenant may also end a lease early if the landlord does not, within a reasonable time after a request, secure the tenant's quiet possession, put the property in good condition, or repair it. Alternatives under 47-16-13 are to repair and deduct the cost from rent or recover it another lawful way. Whether North Dakota courts also apply a common-law constructive-eviction doctrine is not addressed in the statute. |
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| Covenant of quiet enjoyment | Recognized by statute. A lease binds the landlord to secure the tenant's quiet possession of the property during the lease term against anyone lawfully claiming it. If the landlord fails, within a reasonable time after the tenant's request, to place and keep the tenant in quiet possession, the tenant may end the lease early. The Attorney General's tenant-rights page adds that a landlord cannot lock a tenant out, cut off utilities, or confiscate the tenant's belongings (https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/consumer-resources/tenant-rights/). Source: N.D.C.C. 47-16-08; 47-16-17(1) |
| Injuries on the property | A residential landlord must comply with building and housing codes affecting health and safety, keep the premises fit and habitable, keep common areas clean and safe, and keep supplied electrical, plumbing, heating and other facilities and appliances in good and safe working order, with a reasonable time allowed to fix problems. The statute does not itself set a rule for injury lawsuits; whether a landlord is liable for a particular injury is decided by the courts under negligence law. Talk to a lawyer about any injury claim — filing deadlines apply. Source: N.D.C.C. 47-16-13.1 |
Where and when to sue
| Small claims limit | $15,000. Small claims court hears cases for recovery of money, a mobile home park tenant's civil damages claim under N.D.C.C. 47-10-28(9), or cancellation of an agreement involving material fraud, deception, misrepresentation or false promise, when the agreement's value or the amount claimed does not exceed $15,000. Source: N.D.C.C. 27-08.1-01(1) |
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| Small claims filing fee | $20 to file a small claims action in district court. A filing fee waiver can be requested. Fee waiver request information: https://www.ndcourts.gov/legal-self-help/fee-waiver Source: N.D.C.C. 27-05.2-03(1)(e) |
| Deadline to sue on a written lease | 6 years for an action on a contract, obligation, or liability, express or implied — the same 6-year period applies to written and oral leases. North Dakota does not distinguish written from oral contracts for this limitation period. Source: N.D.C.C. § 28-01-16(1) |
How small claims court works in North Dakota →
Tenant lawyers and free legal aid in North Dakota · North Dakota tenant rights · Suing a landlord in other states
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.