Removing housing barriers through record relief
This article is adapted from "Eviction Record Sealing Strategies, 2025."
Introduction
Eviction filings generate public records that can follow renters for years. These records routinely appear in tenant screening reports, credit histories, and public databases, undermining a tenant's ability to secure future housing and causing long-term harm to their credit.
The impact of an eviction record
This "Scarlet E" can stigmatize tenants regardless of the circumstances or outcome of the court filling. Nationally, most eviction filings do not stem from tenant misconduct. Instead, they result from nonpayment tied to poverty, rising rents, temporary hardship, or unexpected expenses.1
Importantly, eviction filings do not necessarily lead to court-ordered eviction judgments. In many jurisdictions, over half of filed eviction cases are ultimately dismissed without a negative finding against the tenant, but the filing alone can carry the same consequences as an eviction judgment.
Eviction records are publicly available and are easily visible by prospective landlords or collected by data brokers and sold to tenant screening companies. These reports often include incomplete, outdated, or even sealed records and can lead to housing denials even for tenants who have not received a judgment against them or have remedied the situation.2 Sometimes landlords erroneously include the names of minor children on eviction filings, creating public records that can follow them into adulthood.
Sealing vs. expungement
To disrupt this harm, a growing number of jurisdictions are exploring the use of two key tools: sealing and expungement. Eviction sealing removes case records from public view while allowing court personnel, parties, and authorized agencies to retain access. Sealing is usually reversible and is the most widely used form of relief.
Eviction expungement permanently removes or destroys the court record; once expunged, the record is treated as if it never existed.3 For simplicity, we will use the word "sealing" as an umbrella term to cover the range of legal mechanisms for restricting public access to court records and the different terminology that may be applied at the state or local level.
Eviction sealing is a helpful tool that can restore access to stable housing and prevent tenants from being penalized for circumstances such as COVID-related arrears, short-term economic hardship, or landlord retaliation.4 When eviction records are left unsealed, they act as civil penalties that can result in negative consequences related to housing, health, and financial stability.
The role of courts
When courts act to seal these records, they affirm that a dismissed or resolved case should not serve as a lifelong barrier to housing. These benefits must be weighed against the public interest in having access to court records. Eviction sealing mechanisms can also support effective settlement negotiations and create additional incentives for tenants to comply with the terms of a settlement agreement. This can be even more effective when used as part of a court-based eviction diversion or mediation program that encourages early resolution of landlord-tenant disputes.
Courts have an important role to play in ensuring that landlords and tenants have the information and resources they need to effectively navigate court and resolve their disputes.
Overview of statutory frameworks
Courts can work within different statutory frameworks to ensure litigants understand their rights and options related to eviction records and to expand access to record sealing.
Legislative authorization
State laws can explicitly authorize, or sometimes even require, courts to seal eviction records in certain circumstances. Eviction sealing laws often include clear triggers that authorize sealing such as filing, dismissal, satisfaction of judgment, or the passage of a certain period of time since the final disposition was entered in a case.
Court rules & administrative orders
Courts rules or orders may include provisions related to sealing or otherwise limiting access to court records. These may include judicial orders, local rules, and administrative bulletins that direct court staff when and how to seal or restrict access to records.
Court practices & procedures
Many courts have developed plain language, standardized forms to ensure tenants are easily able to request record sealing under the governing laws. Courts can also take steps to simplify court procedures that may serve as barriers to eviction record sealing.
How states are responding
Gain additional record sealing insights
Read our full report, "Eviction Record Sealing Strategies," to examine how courts are working within existing statutory frameworks to limit the long-term harm of an eviction record, when appropriate.
- New America (2023) What Can Court Data Actually Tell Us About Evictions [https://perma.cc/JVN5-XJ6D]
- National Consumer Law Center (2023) Digital Denials: How Abuse, Bias, and Lack of Transparency in Tenant
Screening Harm Renters [https://perma.cc/7K2J-ELDM]; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2022) Tenant
Background Checks Market Report [https://perma.cc/M4CZ-S89K] - National Low Income Housing Coalition (2023) Eviction Record Sealing and Expungement
Toolkit [https://perma.cc/WJ7L-WZMY] - Center for American Progress (2021) Eviction Record Expungement Can Remove Barriers to Stable Housing [https://perma.cc/6MK2-YPH6]
Explore more
Tracking state record relief activities
Courts have a crucial role in dismantling barriers and increasing access to record relief initiatives designed to reduce the collateral consequences of criminal records and support successful reentry.
Reimagining housing court: a framework for eviction diversion
This interim report highlights key findings from 24 jurisdictions and provides a roadmap for courts seeking court-led, community-based housing solutions.
A guide to record relief in state courts
Record relief is a critical tool for reducing the collateral consequences of criminal records and supporting successful reentry. This guide examines the challenges of accessing expungement and sealing, highlights policy solutions, and provides recommendations for courts seeking to improve record relief processes.