Arkansas Mobile Home Park Eviction Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Nonpayment of lot rent: two clocks, two notices

Arkansas gives you two overlapping civil tools for nonpayment, and the safe play is to run them in sequence. Under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, if rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay rent within five (5) days from the date due, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement (Ark. Code §18-17-701). That five-day window is your termination trigger — you cannot treat rent as a default until it is at least five days late.

To actually remove the resident, you file an unlawful detainer suit, and that statute carries its own notice. A resident is in unlawful detainer only if they fail or refuse to pay the rent when due, and after three (3) days' notice to quit and demand made in writing for the possession shall refuse to quit possession (§18-60-304). So the workflow is: wait until rent is 5 days late, serve a written 3-day notice to quit and demand for possession, then file if they don't pay or leave.

The 5-day and the 3-day are not the same notice — they come from two different statutes serving two different jobs. Serve every notice in writing and keep dated proof of delivery. Verbal demands do not satisfy the statute and will hand the resident a defense.

Other violations and ending a month-to-month lot lease

For lease or park-rule violations other than nonpayment, the RLTA requires a cure period. You deliver written notice stating that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than fourteen (14) days after receipt of the notice, if the noncompliance is not remedied in fourteen (14) days (§18-17-701). Give the resident the full 14 days to fix a curable problem before you move to file.

To end a month-to-month lot tenancy with no cause, Arkansas requires at least one full rental period — effectively 30 days' written notice (§18-17-704). No reason is required, but the notice has to be clean and properly delivered.

Once the applicable notice period runs without cure, you proceed by unlawful detainer, exactly as with nonpayment — the only difference is that your predicate is the 14-day violation notice rather than the 3-day nonpayment notice.

The eviction lawsuit: unlawful detainer in Circuit Court

Arkansas's main civil eviction is unlawful detainer under §18-60-301 et seq. After your notice period expires, you file a Complaint in Unlawful Detainer plus a sworn affidavit in the Circuit Court for the county where the lot sits (a district court may have concurrent jurisdiction) — §18-60-306. A Notice of Intention to Issue Writ of Possession is attached to the summons.

The resident has only 5 days (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) after service to file a written objection. If they don't, you can obtain possession by default. If you prevail, the court issues a writ of possession and the county sheriff removes the resident; back rent and damages are decided at trial.

Arkansas also still has a criminal failure-to-vacate statute (§18-16-101): after ten (10) days' notice in writing, a holdover, nonpaying tenant shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, fined $1 to $25 per day. It was struck down as unconstitutional in State v. Artoria Smith (2015) and revived in narrowed form by Act 159 of 2017. Critically, a criminal case produces only a fine, not an eviction order — so use civil unlawful detainer if your goal is to actually clear the lot.

The home itself: the resident owns it, and Arkansas gives you little to lean on

Arkansas has no comprehensive mobile-home-park act. A lot tenancy where the resident owns the home and rents only the pad falls under general law — the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act for notice defaults and the unlawful detainer statute (which expressly covers leased land) for the eviction lawsuit. There is no state-mandated relocation grace period for an occupied home after a writ issues; once the sheriff enforces the writ, the home's owner must arrange to move it.

The one mobile-home-specific statute, §18-16-111, is narrow. It applies only when the home is unoccupied and lot rent is sixty (60) days or more past due. Then you send written certified-mail notice to the resident and any lienholder, and the lienholder has thirty (30) days to remove the manufactured home or mobile home. If it is not removed, the manufactured home or mobile home shall be subject to a lien in favor of the lessor for the payment of all lease or rental payments — allowing the park to eventually take, sell, and apply the proceeds to the debt.

Be honest with yourself about the landscape: Arkansas is among the most landlord-favorable states and residents have thin statutory protections. That cuts both ways — a defective notice or a self-help lockout can still sink your case, and abandoned-home disposal carries title and lien traps. Follow the statute precisely rather than improvising.

Typical timeline in Arkansas

• Day 1 — Rent due date
  Rent goes unpaid. The RLTA gives the resident a 5-day window before you may terminate the tenancy for nonpayment (§18-17-701).
• Day 6 — Serve 3-day notice to quit
  Once rent is at least 5 days late, serve a written 3-day notice to quit and demand for possession — the required predicate for unlawful detainer (§18-60-304).
• About Day 9-10 — File unlawful detainer
  After the 3 days pass without payment, file the Complaint in Unlawful Detainer and affidavit in Circuit Court, with a Notice of Intention to Issue Writ of Possession (§18-60-306).
• Roughly 5 days to object
  The resident has 5 days (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) after service to file a written objection, or you can take possession by default.
• Writ of possession
  If you prevail, the court issues a writ and the county sheriff removes the resident; back rent and damages are resolved at trial.
• Other curable violations
  For rule violations other than nonpayment, substitute a 14-day cure notice (§18-17-701) for the 3-day nonpayment notice before filing.
• Unoccupied home, 60+ days past due
  Separately, §18-16-111 lets you send certified notice and start a 30-day removal clock before a rent lien attaches to an abandoned home.

Operator best practices in Arkansas

• Build a relationship with an Arkansas MHP attorney
  There is no mobile-home-park act to lean on, and unlawful detainer has strict pleading, affidavit, and writ-of-possession steps. Keep local counsel who files these regularly to review your notices and complaints before you serve them.
• Run the two nonpayment clocks in order
  Wait until rent is 5 days late (§18-17-701), then serve a written 3-day notice to quit (§18-60-304). Skipping or blending either step gives the resident a defense.
• Always paper the notice
  Serve every notice in writing and keep dated proof of delivery — certified mail or a process server. Verbal demands do not satisfy the statute.
• Never use self-help
  No lockouts, utility shutoffs, or towing an occupied home. Arkansas bars self-help eviction; only a court writ enforced by the sheriff can remove a resident.
• Use civil eviction, not the criminal statute, to recover the lot
  The §18-16-101 failure-to-vacate charge yields only a fine and carries constitutional baggage. Unlawful detainer is the tool that actually clears the lot.
• Handle abandoned homes by the book
  For an unoccupied home 60+ days behind, follow §18-16-111 exactly — certified notice to resident and lienholder, 30-day removal window, then the rent lien — before selling or disposing of it.
• Offer cash-for-keys
  A negotiated move-out payment is common market practice and is often faster and cheaper than a contested unlawful detainer, especially when the resident owns a home that is expensive to relocate.
• Keep clean per-lot rent and notice records
  Your affidavit must be signed by someone with personal knowledge of the grounds, so accurate ledgers and notice logs can make or break the case.