✓ Law Verified August 2026
A North Dakota eviction record can block apartment applications for years — often regardless of how the case actually ended. This guide answers the question directly for North Dakota: 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 North Dakota sources as of August 2026.
In This North Dakota Guide:
How the North Dakota Sealing Law Works
| The law | Senate Bill 2238 (69th Legislative Assembly, 2025), signed by Governor Kelly Armstrong on March 26, 2025, creating a new section of N.D.C.C. chapter 47-32 codified as N.D.C.C. 47-32-05, titled “Sealing of records – Nonpayment of rent – Damage to property – Victim of domestic violence.” Exact effective date UNVERIFIED against the enrolled bill; North Dakota bills passed in the 2025 regular session without an emergency clause generally take effect August 1, 2025. |
| Who qualifies | Two tracks. Track 1 (nonpayment or property damage): you may be able to ask the court to seal an eviction record entered against you for nonpayment of rent or for damage to the property, if all applicable judgments have been satisfied — the landlord paid and any court amounts paid — and you have had no new eviction during the 7-year period after the case. Track 2 (domestic violence): if you were evicted as a result of being a victim of domestic violence, you may be able to ask for sealing immediately, where the perpetrator has been convicted, or where a domestic violence protection order, disorderly conduct restraining order, or sexual assault restraining order has been issued against the perpetrator. Whether a dismissed case or a case you won is separately covered is UNVERIFIED — the reported coverage of 47-32-05 is written around these two tracks, so ask the clerk or a legal aid attorney about a dismissal. |
| Automatic or petition | PETITION. Sealing is not automatic in North Dakota. The tenant must apply to the court that handled the eviction and ask it to seal the file; the judge decides. Reporting on the new state laws describes North Dakota tenants as requesting sealing through court forms and processes at the judicial officer’s discretion, so no outcome is guaranteed even when you meet the criteria. |
| Waiting period | 7 years (84 months) after the eviction case for the nonpayment-of-rent or property-damage track, measured after the judgment is satisfied, with no new eviction during that period. 0 days for the domestic violence track — sealing can be requested immediately once the conviction or qualifying protection/restraining order exists. |
| Cost | UNVERIFIED. North Dakota’s court fee schedule effective July 1, 2025 sets a 160 fee for certain motions and raised the district court civil filing fee to 160, but no fee specifically for a motion to seal an eviction record under 47-32-05 was verifiable. Ask the clerk of district court whether a fee applies, and if you cannot afford it, file the North Dakota filing fee waiver forms (application to proceed without payment of fees) available on the courts website. |
Step by Step: Sealing Your North Dakota Eviction Record
1) Get your case number and county from the North Dakota court records search or the clerk of district court. 2) Confirm the judgment is satisfied — get a satisfaction of judgment filed by the landlord, or proof of payment, because unpaid rent or damages from the original filing must be resolved.
3) Ask the clerk of district court in the county where the eviction was filed for the current motion/petition to seal an eviction record under N.D.C.C. 47-32-05; the ND Legal Self Help Center eviction page is where forms are posted as they are released.
As of this research a dedicated statewide sealing form was not visible in the Legal Self Help Center eviction materials, so many tenants file a written motion citing 47-32-05.
4) Attach proof — satisfaction of judgment or payment records, or for the domestic violence track a certified copy of the conviction or the protection/restraining order. 5) Serve a copy on the landlord (or the landlord’s attorney) as required for motions in the case. 6) The judge may rule on the papers or set a hearing; check with your court on whether it wants a hearing.
If you cannot afford a lawyer, contact Legal Services of North Dakota or the ND Legal Self Help Center.
What sealing actually does: Sealed eviction records in North Dakota are made confidential, not destroyed — the file stays with the court but is removed from public access, so it should no longer appear in the public court record that tenant screening companies scrape and resell. Practical effect for many tenants is that the case stops showing up in routine background checks over time.
Exceptions apply: courts, parties, and certain officials may retain access under North Dakota Supreme Court Administrative Rule 41 governing access to court records. Sealing by the court does not by itself erase data a screening company already collected — you may still need to dispute it directly with the screening company (see below).
Whether North Dakota law lets you legally answer “no record” to a rental application after sealing is UNVERIFIED; do not assume it does.
Why A North Dakota 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 North Dakota 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 North Dakota eviction record sealed, corrected, or accurately described is what changes that one line.
Check Your North Dakota Eviction Record First
Before filing anything, find out what your North Dakota 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.
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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 North Dakota.
Your Federal Rights Against Tenant Screening Companies
Tenant screening companies are consumer reporting agencies under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. 1681 and following. If a landlord denies you, raises your deposit, or charges you more because of a screening report, the landlord must give you an adverse action notice naming the screening company.
You are then entitled to a free copy of that report if you request it within 60 days of the adverse action, and you are separately entitled to one free file disclosure every 12 months.
Dispute wrong or outdated information in writing with the screening company, attaching proof — a dismissal order, a satisfaction of judgment, or a sealing order. The company must reinvestigate within 30 days (extendable to 45 days if you send extra documents during the 30-day window), must forward your dispute to whoever supplied the data, and must delete or correct information it cannot verify.
Also dispute directly with the landlord or debt collector who furnished the data.
Civil judgments generally cannot be reported after 7 years from entry, so an old eviction judgment past that window should be removed on request. Ask for a corrected report to be sent to anyone who pulled your file in the last 6 months (last 2 years for employment purposes).
If the company will not fix it, you can complain to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the North Dakota Attorney General’s consumer protection division, and the FCRA allows private lawsuits.
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 North Dakota 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 North Dakota eviction record.
Worth watching in North Dakota: SB 2238 passed 35-12 in the Senate and 88-5 in the House with bipartisan sponsorship (Senators Ryan Braunberger, Jeff Barta, Claire Cory; Representatives Austin Foss, Mary Schneider) and was signed March 26, 2025. Access to sealed and confidential court files is governed by North Dakota Supreme Court Administrative Rule 41, at https://www.ndcourts.gov/legal-resources/rules/ndsupctadminr/41. No county pilot sealing programs in North Dakota were found.
North Dakota’s Legislative Assembly meets in odd-numbered years, so no 2026 regular session bill exists; any follow-up sealing legislation would come in the 2027 session. Additional pending sealing bills: NONE found.
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Official North Dakota Sources & Resources
- North Dakota Courts Self-Help: ndcourts.gov/legal-self-help/eviction-for-tenants
- North Dakota Statute: ndlegis.gov/cencode/t47c32.pdf
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
- Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex
Taking Control of Your North Dakota Eviction Record
A North Dakota 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 North Dakota eviction record actually says, so start by pulling the court file and your screening reports.
Whether North Dakota offers sealing or only the federal dispute route, acting on the North Dakota 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 North Dakota 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 North Dakota Tenant Rights Guides
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- North Dakota Eviction Process
- North Dakota Security Deposit Law
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- North Dakota Repairs & Habitability
- Breaking a Lease in North Dakota
- Eviction Timeline Calculator
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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.