Unlawful detainer
This is the legal route for recovering possession, and it is procedural in a way that punishes shortcuts. Where the issue is unpaid rent, it starts with three days notice to quit and a written demand for possession. If the tenancy itself needs ending first, that is a separate step with its own notice: thirty days for a month-to-month arrangement, seven for week-to-week.
Once the case is filed and served, the tenant has five days, not counting Sundays and legal holidays, to file a written objection. If none is filed, the writ of possession issues to the sheriff. If one is filed, the court sets a hearing.
We are not going to publish a figure for how long the whole thing takes. Service and the sheriff’s schedule drive most of it and they vary. We will give you a realistic view for your county when we look at your situation.
What most often goes wrong
Serving a three day notice when the tenancy itself was never terminated. Giving notice by conversation rather than in writing. No proof that notice was actually served. Accepting part of the rent after the notice went out. And, more often than you would think, changing the locks or cutting off a utility, which turns the landlord’s strong position into a weak one.
The 2021 quality standards
Arkansas changed in 2021. For residential leases entered into or renewed after the first of November that year, the law implies a set of minimum standards: running water hot and cold, electricity, drinkable water, plumbing that meets code, a sound roof and building envelope, and working heating and air conditioning where they are provided.
The statute calls these implied quality standards, and that wording is deliberate rather than incidental. The remedy is narrow: the tenant gives written notice, the landlord has thirty days, and if it is not put right the tenant may end the lease and recover the deposit. The tenant is not entitled to withhold rent or set it off against the complaint. If you have received a notice like that, the thirty days matters and it is worth a call early.
Land and boundaries
Fences, access, easements, and deeds that do not say what everyone assumed. These get personal quickly, because the other party is usually a neighbour and will still be one afterwards.
Contracts
Drafting and review. It costs far less to have a contract read before you sign it than to argue about it afterward. Where a dispute cannot be resolved any other way, we litigate it.