Oklahoma had more than 45,000 evictions filed in each of the past four years, which critics blame on the weakness of the state’s Landlord-Tenant Act. However, a set of new bills has been proposed for the 2026 legislative session to amend the law and better support renters.
Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, drafted Senate Bill 1209, which would exclude weekends and holidays from Oklahoma’s eviction timeline, aligning the eviction docket with other civil procedures that exclude weekends and holidays.
“It’s specifically to exclude weekends and holidays from the timeline,” Kirt said. “That’s true for all types of civil procedure, but currently, the Landlord Tenant Act is excluded from that, so it has its own timelines. Rather than changing the Landlord Tenant Act, what we want to do is just remove that exclusion so that it is following civil procedure.”
Timeline
During the last legislative session, Kirt introduced the bipartisan Senate Bill 128, which sought to extend the days between a summons and a court hearing from three days to seven. The bill narrowly passed, but was vetoed by the governor.
Oklahoma’s eviction timeline is one of the fastest in the nation, which contributes to the state having the nation’s sixth-highest eviction rate of evictions as of 2023, which reflects the most recent available data.
There were 47,224 evictions filed in 2025, 775 fewer than 2024 and 953 fewer than this decade’s peak in 2023, when 48,197 evictions were filed.
“If you are seeking legal help or advice, or if you are trying to seek rental assistance, it is nearly impossible to do it in that short of a timeline,” Kirt said. “And those places aren’t open on the weekends either.”
In Oklahoma County, 43% of tenants are locked out of their homes within 10 business days of an eviction being filed, if a judgment is received at the initial hearing, according to a Shelterwell report.
Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma reported that 40% of 2024 cases were dismissed before trial by the landlord, indicating that the dispute had been resolved outside of court. That suggests that with additional time, more cases could be resolved without eviction or involving the court.
“If a tenant is going to pay that back rent, it’s going to happen before there is a judgment,” Kirt said. “Because once there’s a judgment and an order for repossession of that home, those people are trying to figure out how to pull together the money to find another place to live.”
A judge can issue a money judgment, requiring a tenant to pay the back rent, damages or court fees.
“I was really fascinated talking with the Apartment Association, how many of the property managers and landlords cited the need for increased wages,” Kirt said. “They know that a lot of their tenants are not getting paid enough to cover their rent.”
Minimum Wage
Sen. Nikki Nice, D-Oklahoma City, filed Senate Bill 1268, which would raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $13 an hour.
A similar state question will be on the ballot in June. State Question 832 would raise the state’s minimum hourly wage in stages from $7.25 to $15 by 2029.
A National Low-Income Housing Coalition study found that a quarter of Oklahoma renters meet the qualifications to be considered extremely low-income.
Those renters earned at or below 30% of the area’s median income, or about $30,000 for a 4-person household. The coalition also found just 38 affordable homes available per 100 extremely low-income renters. That’s slightly higher than the national average of 35 affordable and available properties per 100 renters.
Oklahoma has an estimated shortage of 84,718 affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters. In addition, there’s a shortage of landlords willing to lease to people on rental assistance, making it harder for extremely low-income renters to find housing.
Eighty-three percent of extremely low-income renters in Oklahoma are working, disabled or elderly.
An Oklahoma Watch investigation found that increasing the minimum wage could reduce Oklahoma’s eviction rates and alleviate the burden on extremely low-income renters.
“Eviction is not just a symptom of poverty; it is a cause of poverty,” Kirt said.
Childhood Evictions
Alongside working, disabled and elderly people, children are also largely affected by evictions in Oklahoma.
During the 2022-2023 school year, Oklahoma schools reported that 24% of children statewide were chronically absent. America’s Health Ranking found that 3% of students in Oklahoma were homeless or facing housing instability in 2022, ranking the state among the 10 states with the highest percentages of housing instability among students in the United States.
ImpactTulsa found that areas with high absenteeism rates overlapped with eviction hot spots. That report inspired Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, R-Oklahoma City, to conduct an interim study about the root causes of chronic absenteeism and its effects on a child’s future.
One of the most startling statistics from ImpactTulsa was that the highest percentage of children evicted were in pre-k and kindergarten, Pogemiller said.
“What a vulnerable age to have to go through that,” she said.
An Oklahoma Watch investigation found that some initiatives were underway at the district level to address the correlation between absenteeism and homelessness, but Joe Dorman, CEO of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, said more needs to be done at the state level.
Pogemiller said SB1209 would assist families.
“The window is the lowest hanging fruit to at least provide opportunities for people to have time to figure out either a process to stay in their home or to leave their home,” Pogemiller said. “People don’t understand that the window is not only chaotic, but it’s not a reasonable amount of time to gather their belongings before they are evicted.”
Oklahoma’s Landlord Tenant Act
Even though legislatures and advocates have characterized extending the eviction process as a tiny measure, it is still an uphill battle to get it passed.
“This eviction timeline change is just a tiny stopgap measure; in no way do I think this solves the whole problem,” Kirt said.
Despite last year’s bill having bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed it.
“This bill would also do the opposite as intended,” the governor’s veto message said. “Instead of assisting renters in arrears, it would incentivize landlords to specifically not rent housing units to low-income households, for risk of greater eviction costs.”
Sabine Brown, Housing Senior Policy Analyst for Oklahoma Policy Institute, said the Landlord-Tenant Act favors landlords and often harms tenants.
“The Landlord Tenant Act was written in the 70s and is very weighted in favor of the landlord,” Brown said. “There have not been any major changes to it, and in Oklahoma, renters lack a lot of protections that they have in other states.”
Since its introduction, Oklahoma’s Landlord Tenant Act has undergone very few changes.
One of the most recent changes was the addition of deduct-and-repair measures, which allow renters to make repairs to the property if the landlord has not after receiving written notice, and to deduct the cost of those repairs from the rent.
“In Oklahoma, renters lack a lot of protections that they have in other states,” Brown said. “One of the most notable is that we are one of only six that don’t protect a tenant against landlord retaliation. It is also really hard for tenants to hold a negligent landlord responsible.”
Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, told Oklahoma Watch he has a bill that was carried over from last year that would address retaliation against tenants from landlords.
The quick timeline, few tenant protections and low filing fees make it easy for landlords, especially corporate landlords, to evict a tenant.
“There is very little skin in the game for large corporate landlords,” Pogemiller said.
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
