Johnson County Landlord-Tenant Law

Kentucky landlord guide — courthouse info, local rules & HB128 eviction procedures for Paintsville, Van Lear, Flat Gap, Thelma & Johnson County

Johnson County Rental Market Overview

Johnson County was established on February 24, 1843 from parts of Floyd, Lawrence, and Morgan counties and named for Richard Mentor Johnson, the ninth Vice President of the United States under Martin Van Buren (1837–1841) and a celebrated Kentucky war hero who claimed credit for killing the Shawnee leader Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames in 1813. The county seat, Paintsville, was established the same year and takes its name from the paint markings that Cherokee and Shawnee hunters left on trees along Paint Creek, a tributary of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. Paintsville recorded a 2020 population of approximately 3,521 and serves as the commercial and judicial hub for the county and surrounding Big Sandy region. Johnson County covers approximately 264 square miles of rugged eastern Kentucky coalfield terrain and recorded a 2020 census population of 22,188 residents.

Johnson County sits along the US-23 Country Music Highway, the northeastern Kentucky corridor that produced an extraordinary concentration of country music talent. Paintsville is the hometown of Tom T. Hall (“The Storyteller”), and the broader Big Sandy region is associated with Loretta Lynn (Van Lear), Patty Loveless, and Billy Ray Cyrus, among others. The county’s economy has been shaped primarily by coal, which has undergone significant contraction since the 2010s. Today the rental market is anchored by Paintsville ARH Hospital (Appalachian Regional Healthcare), the county school system, Big Sandy Community and Technical College, county government, and some remaining coal-adjacent employment. All residential evictions are Forcible Detainer actions filed in District Court at the Johnson County Justice Center, 230 Court Street, Paintsville, KY 41240. Kentucky’s HB128 (2023) governs all residential leases made on or after its effective date.

Johnson County Local Rules & Landlord Procedures

Last verified: March 2026 · Source: Kentucky Court of Justice — Johnson County

Kentucky State Law Framework

⚡ Quick Overview

7

Days Notice (Nonpayment)

14

Days Notice (Violation)

21-35

Avg Total Days

$75

Filing Fee (Approx)

💰 Nonpayment of Rent

Notice Type 7-Day Notice to Pay or Vacate

Notice Period 7 days

Tenant Can Cure? Yes

Days to Hearing 3-7 days

Days to Writ 7 days

Total Estimated Timeline 21-35 days

Total Estimated Cost $125-$300

⚠️ Watch Out

Kentucky URLTA applies ONLY in specific adopting counties (including Jefferson/Louisville, Fayette/Lexington, and ~20 others). Non-URLTA counties use common law forcible detainer (KRS §383.200-383.285), which may have different procedures. The 7-day nonpayment notice under §383.660(2) requires payment of the FULL amount owed - accepting partial payment may restart the notice period. Tenant can cure by paying within the 7-day period. If the same nonpayment recurs within 6 months, landlord can issue 14-day unconditional quit. Late fees: no statutory cap, but Hemlane and others report 10% industry standard. Security deposit max: 1 month per KRS §383.580(1).

📜 Eviction Laws Main 📊 Compare This State

Underground Landlord

📝 Kentucky Eviction Process (Overview)

1. Serve the required notice based on the eviction reason (nonpayment or lease violation).
2. Wait for the notice period to expire. If tenant cures the issue (where allowed), the process stops.
3. File an eviction case with the District Court. Pay the filing fee (~$75).
4. Tenant is served with a summons and has the opportunity to respond.
5. Attend the court hearing and present your case.
6. If you prevail, obtain a writ of possession from the court.
7. Law enforcement executes the writ and removes the tenant if necessary.

⚠️ Disclaimer: This page provides general information about Kentucky eviction laws and does not constitute legal advice. Eviction procedures can vary by county and may change over time. Local jurisdictions may have additional requirements or tenant protections. For specific legal guidance, consult a qualified Kentucky attorney or local legal aid organization.

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Underground Landlord

🔍 Reduce Your Risk Before Signing a Lease: Kentucky landlords who screen tenants carefully before signing a lease significantly reduce their risk of ending up in eviction court. Understanding tenant screening in Kentucky — including background checks, credit history, income verification, and rental references — is one of the most cost-effective steps you can take to protect your rental property. Before you ever need Kentucky's eviction process, proper tenant screening can help you identify red flags early and avoid problem tenancies altogether.

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Tom T. Hall, Paint Creek, and HB128: Johnson County Kentucky Landlord Law

Tom T. Hall grew up in Olive Hill and began his career playing in eastern Kentucky honky-tonks before Nashville made him famous. But Paintsville claimed him, and Johnson County claims the broader legacy of US-23 — the Country Music Highway — a stretch of northeastern Kentucky that produced Loretta Lynn from Van Lear, Patty Loveless from Pike County, Billy Ray Cyrus from Flatwoods, and a half-dozen other artists whose combined record sales run into the tens of millions. The highway itself is a secondary US route running northeast through the Big Sandy region from Ashland toward the Virginia border. The concentration of musical talent it produced is one of those American cultural accidents that nobody quite planned — a convergence of Scots-Irish ballad tradition, Baptist church singing, coal camp entertainment culture, and the particular loneliness of the hollows that shaped a generation of voices.

Johnson County was established in 1843, named for Richard Mentor Johnson, the ninth Vice President whose political career was built largely on his claimed role in killing Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames. Johnson’s campaign slogan — “Rumpsey Dumpsey, Colonel Johnson killed Tecumsey” — is one of the stranger entries in American political history, but it worked well enough to get him elected, and Kentucky honored him by attaching his name to this county in the Big Sandy watershed. The county seat of Paintsville takes its name from a more poetic origin: the paint markings — symbols and designs left on trees by Cherokee and Shawnee hunters — that early Anglo settlers found along Paint Creek when they arrived. Paintsville recorded about 3,500 residents in 2020 and functions as the county’s commercial hub, sitting at the confluence of Paint Creek and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River.

The Big Sandy Rental Market After Coal

Johnson County’s story through the 20th century was coal’s story: underground mines following the Appalachian seams, company towns, union organizing, the economic rhythms of a resource extraction economy. The county’s 22,188 residents in 2020 represent a significant decline from the population that coal employment sustained at its peak. The contraction of the 2010s accelerated trends that had been developing for decades, and Johnson County today is working through the same post-coal transition that has defined eastern Kentucky broadly — navigating from an economy organized around a single extractive industry toward something more diversified and more durable.

For landlords, the practical effect of this transition is a rental market that is smaller and more economically mixed than it was a generation ago. Paintsville ARH Hospital is the county’s most significant anchor employer, serving the medical needs of a multi-county region and employing physicians, nurses, technicians, and administrators at income levels that make ARH workers among the most reliable rental applicants in the market. Johnson County Schools employs a substantial workforce of teachers and support staff. Big Sandy Community and Technical College, which has a campus in Paintsville, contributes faculty, staff, and student demand. County and state government provide additional stable public employment. Screen these applicants with standard documentation and apply your income ratio consistently.

A meaningful share of the rental pool receives transfer payments — Social Security disability, veterans’ benefits, and similar income sources that are stable but fixed. These can be entirely adequate for rental qualification purposes; apply your income ratio to the documented transfer payment amount the same way you would to wage income. Request award letters or benefit statements as verification, and request bank statements showing consistent monthly deposits if needed. Disability and veterans’ benefits are typically direct-deposited with the same regularity as a paycheck.

Creek Hollows, the Levisa Fork, and Flood Risk

Johnson County’s terrain is the rugged creek-and-ridge topography of the Big Sandy watershed. The Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy runs through the county from south to north, and Paint Creek, Mud Creek, Blaine Creek, and dozens of smaller tributaries drain the surrounding ridges into the main stem. Nearly all of the county’s buildable land — and most of its housing stock — is in the narrow creek bottoms and hollows where these waterways have created the limited flat ground that human habitation requires.

That geography creates real flood risk. The Big Sandy watershed has a history of significant flood events, and the Levisa Fork in particular has seen major flooding in wet years. A creek bottom property that sits comfortably in a dry summer can be inundated in a wet spring. Before renting any property along the Levisa Fork, Paint Creek, or other county waterways, verify flood zone status through FEMA’s flood map service, check the property’s flood history with the current owner or county records, and disclose known flood risk to prospective tenants in writing. HB128’s habitability duty covers structural integrity and weatherproofing — in a flood-adjacent location, that obligation extends to drainage management, foundation conditions, and the moisture and mold consequences of periodic high-water events.

HB128 in Paintsville

All residential evictions in Johnson County are Forcible Detainer actions filed in District Court at the Johnson County Justice Center, 230 Court Street, Paintsville, KY 41240, phone (606) 789-4725. Paintsville is a small city; parking is available near the justice center on Court Street. Call ahead to verify current civil hearing dates and filing requirements before making the trip. Bring your lease, notice with proof of service, and complete payment and communications records. The 14-day nonpayment notice must fully expire before filing; the 14-day cure period and 30-day minimum termination period apply for lease violations.

HB128 compliance in Johnson County: written 14-day notice to pay or vacate for nonpayment; 14-day notice to cure or quit for violations, termination no sooner than 30 days; one month’s written notice for month-to-month termination; security deposits at two times monthly rent maximum in a separate account, returned within 30 days with itemized deductions; $250 or 2x penalty for improper withholding; nonwaivable habitability across 13 categories; 24-hour advance notice for standard entry; self-help eviction prohibited at three times periodic rent. Lead paint disclosure required for virtually every rental in the county — the housing stock is overwhelmingly pre-1978. Get the signed acknowledgment in your file before the tenant moves in.

Tom T. Hall wrote story songs — detailed, observational accounts of ordinary lives in specific places. The best landlord practices have something of that quality: specific documentation of specific conditions in specific units, at specific dates, with specific signatures. The story of a tenancy is told in the paper trail. Make sure yours is worth reading.

This guide is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. HB128 applies to leases made on or after its effective date; prior Kentucky law governs older leases. Consult a licensed Kentucky attorney for guidance specific to your situation. Last updated: March 2026.