Legal Aid of North Carolina

Legal Aid of North Carolina is the statewide nonprofit law firm that gives free civil legal help to people with low incomes. It covers eviction, unsafe housing, domestic violence, public benefits, and more. Apply by phone at 1-866-219-5262, weekdays 9 to 3, or online anytime through the JusticeHub portal, where you can create an account, upload documents, and track your case. Housing discrimination has its own line: 1-855-797-3247.

Start with the rule that protects you today: your landlord cannot lock you out or cut your utilities to force you out. That is illegal self-help. In North Carolina, only a court process, called summary ejectment, ending with the sheriff, can remove a tenant. If the locks change without a court order, that is exactly what Legal Aid exists to fight.

An eviction case is a small claims hearing, and showing up is half the battle. The landlord must file court papers and win before getting any eviction order. Skipping court usually means losing by default. Bring your lease, receipts, photos, and any texts with the landlord, and apply to Legal Aid the day the papers arrive.

If you lose, the clock becomes everything. You have 10 calendar days after the magistrate's judgment to appeal, weekends and holidays included, or 13 days from entry if the order was mailed. The $150 appeal fee can be waived if you are indigent, which includes people on SSI, Work First, or food stamps. Miss the window and the landlord can get a Writ of Possession sending the sheriff. Even then, you get 7 days to retrieve belongings, 5 if the property is worth under $500.

For information you can use right now, the self-help library is open to everyone. It includes an Eviction Guide, an Eviction Defense Manual, a video on appealing an eviction judgment, and a free Tenant Rights Clinic, no income screen required. It is the fastest way to understand your rights while an application processes.

Round out the help. 2-1-1 finds local rent and utility funds that sometimes end a dispute faster than any defense, and applications for food, cash, and Medicaid run through ePASS at epass.nc.gov. Help is screened by income and legal need, with housing and safety near the top, so apply rather than assume you earn too much.