How to Find Out if You Have an Eviction for Free

To find out if you have an eviction for free, request your file from the tenant screening companies landlords actually use, and search the court records in every county where you’ve rented. Federal law entitles you to one free file disclosure every 12 months from each nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency, and county court websites let you look up civil case filings by name at no cost.¹

Start With Your Free Tenant Screening Report

Tenant screening companies are what landlords check. The report they pull typically comes from a specialty consumer reporting agency, not a credit bureau, and its contents are what decides whether an eviction shows up on your next application. Checking your own file here is the single most useful step.

Each nationwide specialty agency must give you one free file disclosure every 12 months when you ask, and each must maintain a toll-free number or streamlined online process for these requests.² The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes a current list of tenant screening companies with mailing addresses and phone numbers.³ Commonly used names include TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions (SmartMove), Contemporary Information Corp. (CIC), Experian RentBureau, SafeRent Solutions, RealPage (LeasingDesk), AppFolio, and First Advantage. CIC specifically offers a free eviction report disclosure every 12 months on request.

You don’t need to write to every agency on the list. Start with the largest ones, and add any company a past landlord is likely to have used.

Search Your County Court Records Online

Eviction lawsuits are filed in state and local courts, so a search of your state’s court system is the most direct way to see whether a case was filed against you. Most state court sites offer a free case lookup where you can search by name and see the filing date, case type, and outcome.

A few things help when searching:

Search every county where you’ve rented. Eviction cases are filed where the property sits, so if you’ve moved you may need to check several courts.
Try name variations. Cases are indexed by the name on the filing, and a misspelling or a former name can hide a match.
Look for the right case type. Depending on the state, evictions are labeled “unlawful detainer,” “forcible entry and detainer,” or “summary process.”

PACER, the federal court records system, will not help here. It covers federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy cases, and evictions are state-level civil matters.

Visit the Courthouse in Person

When the online system is thin or you can’t find what you need, going to the county courthouse where you rented is another free option. Most courthouses have public-access computer terminals or will run a case search at the clerk’s window. Viewing records is generally free, though some clerks charge a small fee for printed copies.

Bring a government-issued ID and, if you have them, old tenancy papers. An approximate filing date or the landlord’s name speeds the search. If you don’t know which court heard the case, start with the general civil division of the county where you lived.

Why Your Credit Report Probably Won’t Show It

Credit reports are worth pulling, but they’re a weak tool for evictions. The three major credit bureaus removed civil judgments from consumer reports in 2017 under the National Consumer Assistance Plan, so an eviction judgment itself will not appear on your Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion credit report.⁴

What can appear is a collection account. If a former landlord sent unpaid rent or damages to a debt collector, that entry may sit on your report for up to seven years. A collection from a property management company or a landlord is a strong hint that an eviction-related case exists somewhere in court records.

You can pull free weekly credit reports from all three bureaus on a permanent basis through AnnualCreditReport.com.⁵ Equifax also provides six additional free reports per year through 2026.⁶ You can order online, by calling 1-877-322-8228, or by mail.⁷

Filings and Judgments Are Not the Same Thing

This distinction matters. A landlord filing an eviction case and a court ruling against you are two different events, and in many jurisdictions more than half of filed cases are ultimately dismissed without any judgment against the tenant. Screening reports often fail to make the distinction. Some simply flag “eviction record found” without noting whether you won, lost, settled, or the case was dropped.

Even a case you fought successfully, or one your landlord voluntarily dismissed, can follow you if a report treats the filing itself as the mark against you. That’s another reason to pull your screening report: if it lumps a dismissed case in with a judgment, you have grounds to dispute it.

How Long an Eviction Can Show Up

Federal law caps how long negative information can appear on a consumer report. Tenant screening agencies generally cannot report eviction-related records, including civil suits and civil judgments, once they are more than seven years old.⁸ The same seven-year cap applies to collection accounts tied to unpaid rent.⁹

Court records themselves are separate. The case in your county courthouse doesn’t automatically vanish after seven years. It stays a public record unless a court seals or expunges it. The seven-year limit governs only what screening companies and credit bureaus can report.

Disputing an Error You Find

Errors on eviction records are more common than most renters expect. Clerical mistakes, cases attributed to the wrong person, and dismissed cases reported as judgments all show up. Federal law lets you dispute inaccurate information with any consumer reporting agency, and the agency must investigate.¹⁰

Gather documents first. Court records showing a dismissal, a satisfaction of judgment, or proof you weren’t a party to the case are the strongest evidence.
Submit the dispute in writing to the tenant screening agency or credit bureau, identifying the specific item and attaching copies of your supporting documents.
Wait for the investigation. The agency generally has 30 days to complete it, extendable to 45 days if you provide additional information during the review or if you filed the dispute after receiving your free annual report.¹¹
Read the results. The agency must notify you of the outcome within five business days after finishing its investigation, and information that is inaccurate or cannot be verified must be corrected or deleted.¹

If the investigation doesn’t resolve things, you can file a brief statement of your side. The agency must include that statement, or a summary of it, in any future report containing the disputed item.¹⁰

State Laws That Seal Eviction Records

A growing number of states seal or restrict access to eviction records, especially when the tenant wasn’t found at fault. Approaches vary. Some states seal records automatically at the time of filing, keeping them hidden unless the landlord wins. Others seal only after a dismissal or favorable settlement. A few seal automatically after a set period, often three years, regardless of outcome. In other states, the tenant has to file a motion asking a judge to seal.

If your case was dismissed or resolved in your favor, check whether your state offers sealing. A sealed record won’t appear in public court searches and won’t be picked up by tenant screening companies. Even where a motion is required, the process is usually straightforward and can often be done without a lawyer. The clerk of the court that handled your case can tell you whether sealing is available and what to file.

If You Were Just Denied Housing

Sometimes an eviction record surfaces only when a landlord rejects your application. When that happens, federal law gives you a specific right. A landlord who denies you housing based partly or entirely on a tenant screening report must give you a written adverse action notice, including the name, address, and phone number of the screening company that supplied the report and a statement that the screening company did not make the decision.¹²

Once you have that notice, you have 60 days to request a free copy of the report from the screening company that provided it.¹ This is separate from your annual free disclosure and doesn’t count against it. The report shows exactly what the landlord saw, which is often the fastest way to identify whether the problem is an eviction record, a collection account, or something else on the file.

1
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Bulletin re FCRA Streamlined Process Requirement for Consumers
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Reporting Company List
4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Removal of Public Records Has Little Effect on Consumers Credit Scores
5
Federal Trade Commission. You Now Have Permanent Access to Free Weekly Credit Reports
6
Federal Trade Commission. Free Credit Reports
7
Annual Credit Report.com. Home Page
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
9
Federal Trade Commission. Tenant Background Checks and Your Rights
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
11
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does It Take to Repair an Error on a Credit Report
12
Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports What Landlords Need to Know