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No Eviction, No Repossession, No Foreclosure Without a Judge — and a Rent Ceiling of $1,200

During military service a landlord may not terminate a service member’s tenancy for nonpayment of rent where the rent is less than $1,200 a month, and a court may stay a possession action for up to three months. A creditor may not repossess under an installment contract or foreclose a mortgage entered into before service without a court order, and doing so knowingly is a serious misdemeanor. Dependants may claim the same relief on application to a court. The subchapter’s own definition section limits all of it to state-status duty of at least thirty consecutive days.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Eviction for nonpayment barred below $1,200 monthly rent; up to a three-month stay; no repossession or foreclosure without a court order

The $1,200 is the statutory rent ceiling on the eviction protection, not a payment to anyone. Above that figure the protection in subsection 1 does not apply, though the discretionary stay in subsection 2 is not written with a rent limit.
The weight reflects the cost of an eviction or a repossession avoided — moving, a deficiency balance, and the credit consequence — rather than any sum received.
The figure has not been indexed. It is the number the section carries as enacted, which is why it now bites in fewer tenancies than it once did.

Who is entitled to it

You have a service connection, which is where these sections start.
You are in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: Raise it in the action; §29A.104 relief runs to thirty days after discharge

1Check the rent against the ceiling first. The bar on terminating for nonpayment applies where the rent on the premises occupied is less than one thousand two hundred dollars per month. A court may still allow an eviction or recovery of property under chapter 646 or 648.
2Ask for the stay separately. In any action affecting the right of possession the court may, on its own motion, stay the proceedings for not longer than three months, or make any other order it determines reasonable and just — unless it finds your ability to pay the agreed rent is not materially affected by military service.
3The landlord is not left without a remedy, and saying so early usually helps: where a stay is granted the owner of the premises may apply for relief similar to that given service members under §§29A.102 through 29A.104.
4On an installment contract for real or personal property including a motor vehicle, entered into before you entered service, the creditor may not terminate or repossess for nonpayment or breach during service without a court order. Knowing repossession outside that route is a serious misdemeanor.
5On a mortgage entered into before service, the same bar applies to foreclosure. To come within §29A.103 you must establish four things: the obligation is secured by a mortgage, trust deed or similar security on real or personal property; it originated before you entered service; you owned the property before service began; and you own it at the time relief is sought.
6Use §29A.104 for the wider stay. A member may apply at any time during service, or within thirty days after discharge or termination of service, for relief on any obligation incurred before service — and while a stay holds, no fine or penalty accrues for failure to comply with the obligation.
7A dependant is covered, but by a different route: §29A.100 gives dependants the benefits of §§29A.101 through 29A.105 on application to a court, unless the court thinks the dependant’s ability to comply has not been materially impaired by the member’s service.
8The governor may order an allotment of a member’s pay in reasonable proportion to discharge the rent of premises occupied by the member’s dependants. It is rarely used and worth naming if a family is stranded.

Form: No application form — raise the sections in the possession, repossession or foreclosure action
File with: The Iowa district court hearing the action
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThe $1,200 is widely quoted as though it were a benefit amount. It is a ceiling, and it works against the tenant: at or above $1,200 a month the flat bar in subsection 1 falls away and you are left with the court’s discretionary stay. Anyone repeating it as "Iowa pays $1,200" has read it backwards.

CorrectionThe penalties are not symmetrical, and that matters when you are deciding what to put in a letter. Taking part in an eviction outside §29A.101 is a SIMPLE misdemeanor; knowingly repossessing under §29A.102 or foreclosing under §29A.103 is a SERIOUS misdemeanor.

CorrectionThese sections are constantly described as a state version of the federal act available to any servicemember. §29A.90 says otherwise: as used in this subchapter, "military service" means full-time national guard duty or state active duty as defined in §29A.1, for at least thirty consecutive days, commencing on or after 12 April 2012, and "service member" means a member of the military forces of the state performing that service. A member on federal Title 10 orders looks to the federal act instead.

Worth knowing§29A.105 states these sections apply notwithstanding any contrary provision of state law, naming Titles XIII, XIV and XV. That is what stops the ordinary landlord and tenant law in chapter 562A, or the mobile home park law in chapter 562B, from being read as an override.

Worth knowingThe pre-service origin requirement is the usual stumbling block. §§29A.102 and 29A.103 both reach only obligations entered into BEFORE entry into military service. A car financed after you enlisted is outside them.

Known gapWhether Iowa courts have read the $1,200 ceiling against total rent or the member’s share where the tenancy is shared was not researched this session, and the section does not say.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.