Vermont Eviction Record Sealing — How to Clear It (2026)

✓ Law Verified August 2026

A Vermont eviction record can block apartment applications for years — often regardless of how the case actually ended. This guide answers the question directly for Vermont: whether a sealing law exists here, exactly how to use it if it does, and the real alternatives if it does not. Verified against official Vermont sources as of August 2026.

No Vermont Eviction Record Sealing Law Yet — What You Can Still Do

Vermont has no sealing or expungement statute for eviction records, but you may still have options. 1) If the judgment was entered by default because you did not appear or did not file a written answer, you may be able to file a motion to set aside the default judgment under Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) in the Superior Court Civil Division where the case was filed;

V.R.C.P. 60(b) motions based on mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, or newly discovered evidence must be filed within 1 year of the judgment, while motions based on a void judgment or other reasons must be filed within a reasonable time. Vacating the judgment does not erase the docket entry, but it removes the eviction judgment itself, which is what most screening companies report.

2) You can appeal an eviction judgment to the Vermont Supreme Court by filing a notice of appeal within 30 days of entry of judgment under Vermont Rule of Appellate Procedure 4.

3) Many tenants negotiate before judgment: ask the landlord to accept a stipulated dismissal or a move-out agreement in exchange for vacating by a date certain or paying an agreed amount, so the case ends without an eviction judgment against you. Get any agreement in writing and filed with the court.

4) Use the FCRA dispute steps above to remove wrong or stale entries. 5) Contact Vermont Legal Aid or Legal Services Vermont at 1-800-889-2047 for free help; the Vermont Court Self-Help program also assists Civil Division litigants. 6) Write a short honest explanation letter for future landlords and offer references, proof of on-time rent payments, and a larger deposit if you can.

Check with your court, because rules and forms can change.

Why A Vermont Eviction Record Follows You — and For How Long

An eviction case becomes a public court record the day it is filed — even if you won, even if it was dismissed, even if you moved out voluntarily before the hearing. Tenant screening companies copy these records in bulk and resell them to landlords, which is how a Vermont eviction record from years ago can quietly sink a rental application today.

Under federal reporting rules these records generally stop appearing on screening reports after seven years, but the public court file itself can remain searchable far longer unless it is sealed.

That is why the filing itself, not just the outcome, is what matters — and why sealing laws are spreading state by state. Most landlords never read the court file; they read the one-line summary a screening company sells them. Getting the Vermont eviction record sealed, corrected, or accurately described is what changes that one line.

Check Your Vermont Eviction Record First

Before filing anything, find out what your Vermont eviction record really looks like to a landlord. Search the online case index for the court where the eviction was filed, and request your file from the major tenant screening companies — you are entitled to it.

Tenants are often surprised in both directions: some discover the case they worry about was never reported, others find a case they had forgotten, or one that is not even theirs.

Knowing exactly what appears, and how it is described, tells you whether to pursue sealing, a dispute, or both.

Screening reports are also where errors live. A dismissed case reported as an eviction, an old address matched to the wrong person, or a paid judgment still shown as owing are all fixable — and fixing the report is sometimes faster than any court process in Vermont.

Your Federal Rights Against Tenant Screening Companies

Vermont eviction cases are filed in the Superior Court Civil Division and appear in tenant screening reports sold by consumer reporting agencies, so the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act is your main tool.

If a screening report shows an eviction that is wrong, belongs to someone else, was dismissed, was decided in your favor, or is older than 7 years, send a written dispute to the screening company under 15 U.S.C. 1681i.

The company must reinvestigate and respond within 30 days (extended to 45 days if you send extra documents during the 30-day window), must forward your dispute to the source within 5 business days, and must delete or correct anything it cannot verify. Send the dispute by certified mail and attach proof such as the docket sheet, dismissal order, or judgment from the Superior Court Civil Division that handled the case.

Civil judgments and most eviction items cannot be reported after 7 years under 15 U.S.C. 1681c.

If a landlord denies your application, raises your rent or deposit, or requires a cosigner because of the report, that is an adverse action under 15 U.S.C. 1681m and the landlord must tell you which screening company was used; you then have 60 days to request a free copy of that report from the company.

You are also entitled to a free copy from each nationwide specialty tenant screening agency once every 12 months under 15 U.S.C. 1681j.

Ask the screening company to add a 100-word statement of dispute to your file if the reinvestigation does not go your way, and file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Vermont Attorney General Consumer Assistance Program if the company will not fix a verified error.

Timing matters more than tenants expect. If you are apartment-hunting right now, start the screening-report disputes today — they run on federal deadlines and cost nothing — while any Vermont court process moves in parallel. If the move is months away, that is enough time for most sealing petitions, vacated judgments, or corrected reports to finish before a landlord ever pulls your Vermont eviction record.

Worth watching in Vermont: Two Vermont bills have proposed eviction record relief and neither became law. S.91, introduced February 26, 2025 by Sen.

Tanya Vyhovsky and referred to the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs, would let a tenant petition to expunge an eviction record after 5 years if there is no later eviction judgment, all money owed from the prior case is paid, and the court finds expungement serves the interests of justice;

it would also create a right to counsel in eviction cases, a State Rental Housing Registry, and an Office of the Tenant Rights Advocate.

S.91 received an introduction and walk-through in committee on April 4, 2025 and has not passed. H.772, the 2026 landlord-tenant bill, as introduced would have made all records of a newly filed ejectment complaint confidential; that provision did not survive, and the bill died on the Senate floor on May 27, 2026 on a 15-15 tie broken by a no vote from Lt. Gov. John Rodgers.

There are no county pilot sealing programs in Vermont.

Vermont does have criminal record expungement and sealing under 13 V.S.A. chapter 230, but that chapter does not cover civil eviction or ejectment cases. Vermont’s Odyssey Public Portal lets the public search civil case records, and eviction filings remain visible unless a judge restricts access under the Vermont Rules for Public Access to Court Records.

Official Vermont Sources & Resources

• Vermont Courts Self-Help: vermontjudiciary.org/civil/landlord-tenant
• Vermont Statute: legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/chapter/09/137
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
• Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex

Taking Control of Your Vermont Eviction Record

A Vermont eviction record is not a life sentence — it is a document, and documents can be sealed, corrected, or accurately explained. The tenants who struggle longest are usually the ones who never look at what their Vermont eviction record actually says, so start by pulling the court file and your screening reports.

Whether Vermont offers sealing or only the federal dispute route, acting on the Vermont eviction record beats hoping landlords will not check — they almost always do. A short, honest cover letter to a prospective landlord explaining the circumstances can also do real work while the record process runs.

This Vermont eviction record guide was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Sealing laws are changing fast — new states pass them every year, so re-check before relying on this page.

More Vermont Tenant Rights Guides

• Vermont Tenant Rights
• Vermont Eviction Process
• Vermont Security Deposit Law
• Vermont Rent Increase Laws
• Vermont Repairs & Habitability
• Breaking a Lease in Vermont
• Eviction Timeline Calculator
• All 50 States

Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.