Nonpayment of lot rent
How you evict a lot tenant for nonpayment in Kentucky depends entirely on whether your park sits in a jurisdiction that has adopted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA). In an adopting jurisdiction, KRS 383.660(2) requires a written 7-day notice before you can terminate the tenancy — the rent must be unpaid and the tenant must fail to cure within seven days of your written notice of nonpayment and intent to terminate.
The statute is explicit: If rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay rent within seven (7) days after written notice by the landlord of nonpayment and his intention to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within that period, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement (KRS 383.660(2)).
Outside URLTA-adopting jurisdictions — which is most rural Kentucky, where many parks are located — there is no automatic 7-day statutory grace period. Your lease controls the cure period and manner of termination, backstopped by the general forcible-entry-and-detainer statutes in KRS Chapter 383. Put a clear nonpayment default-and-cure clause in every lot lease so the deadline is not left to guesswork.
Other lease violations
For lease violations other than nonpayment, KRS 383.660(1) (in URLTA-adopting jurisdictions) requires a written 14-day notice that specifies the breach: the landlord may deliver a written notice to the tenant specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than fourteen (14) days after receipt of the notice. If the breach is not remedied in fifteen (15) days, the rental agreement shall terminate as provided in the notice. The tenant is entitled to an opportunity to cure a remediable violation.
Important correction for Kentucky: the statute uses fourteen (14) days for the termination date — it does NOT use the 30-day termination period found in the model URLTA that many other states adopted. Verify every notice against the actual Kentucky text rather than a generic URLTA template. If substantially the same violation recurs within six (6) months, KRS 383.660(1) lets you terminate on at least 14 days' written notice without giving a fresh chance to cure.
Outside URLTA-adopting jurisdictions, KRS 383.660 does not apply; the notice and cure terms come from your lot lease, and possession is still obtained through a forcible detainer action.
Filing a forcible detainer action
Once the notice period expires with no cure or payment, the lawful route to possession is a forcible detainer action filed in the District Court of the county where the park is located (KRS Chapter 383; KRS 383.200 defines forcible detainer and KRS 383.210 covers issuance of the warrant and summons). Kentucky does not permit self-help — no lockouts, no utility shutoffs, no moving the home.
The court issues a summons, the tenant is served, and a hearing is set, commonly within a couple of weeks of filing. Bring the lot lease, a payment ledger, and proof that your written notice was served and expired. A forcible detainer action decides possession of the LOT only; to collect unpaid lot rent, damages, and fees you must file a separate civil suit.
If you prevail, the court enters a forcible detainer judgment. The tenant generally has 7 days to vacate (and 7 days to file an appeal/traverse). If the tenant neither leaves nor appeals within that window, the court issues a warrant of possession directing the county sheriff to remove the tenant and restore possession to you.
What happens to the resident-owned home
Be clear-eyed here: Kentucky has no mobile-home-park-specific statute governing what happens to a resident-owned home after an eviction. There is no dedicated home-removal grace period, and no statutory lien-and-sale or abandoned-home procedure of the kind some other states have enacted. After a forcible detainer judgment, the tenant typically has 7 days to vacate the lot before the sheriff acts — but that window is to leave the lot, not a protected period to relocate a home.
Because the home is the resident's personal property and Kentucky also has no statute dictating how to handle personal property left behind after an eviction, the disposition of a home an owner abandons is governed by your lot lease and by what a court would find reasonable under the circumstances. Given that moving a home can cost several thousand dollars, abandonment is common. Protect yourself by writing explicit lease terms on removal deadlines, storage, disposal, and abandonment before a dispute ever arises.
Typical timeline in Kentucky
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Confirm URLTA status firstcheck whether your city, county, or urban-county government has adopted URLTA under KRS 383.500 — it changes every deadline below.
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Serve written notice7 days for nonpayment (KRS 383.660(2)) or 14 days for other lease violations (KRS 383.660(1)) in URLTA areas; the lease-specified period in non-URLTA areas.
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Notice period expires with no payment or curethe tenancy is terminated.
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File a forcible detainer complaint in the District Court for the county where the park sits; the court issues a summons and sets a hearing.
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Hearing and judgment, usually within roughly two weeks of filing.
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Tenant has 7 days after the judgment to vacate the lot (and 7 days to appeal).
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If the tenant remains, a warrant of possession issues to the sheriff, who removes the tenant.
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File a separate civil suit to recover unpaid lot rent, damages, and fees.
Operator best practices in Kentucky
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Build a relationship with a Kentucky MHP attorneynotice periods and remedies differ by jurisdiction, and an early phone call is cheaper than a defective eviction.
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Verify your jurisdiction's URLTA adoption status before serving any noticethe 7-day and 14-day URLTA deadlines apply only in adopting cities/counties (e.g., Louisville-Jefferson, Lexington-Fayette, Covington); elsewhere the lease and general forcible-detainer statutes control.
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Cite the correct law on your noticesKRS 383.660 in URLTA areas, not KRS Chapter 219, which only covers health and sanitation licensing of parks and has nothing to do with eviction.
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Always use written notice with the tenant's name, lot address, the specific breach, and the cure deadline, and keep proof of service.
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Put default, cure, home-removal, storage, and abandonment terms in every lot lease, because Kentucky has no MHP-specific removal or abandoned-property statute to fall back on.
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Never use self-helplockouts, utility shutoffs, or moving the home are unlawful; possession comes only through a forcible detainer judgment and the sheriff.
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Consider cash-for-keys as a faster, lower-cost alternative to a contested forcible detainer and a stranded homeit is common market practice and often cheaper than a vacant, abandoned unit.