Howard County Arkansas Landlord-Tenant Law: Renting in Nashville After Husqvarna — What Property Owners Need to Know About a Market in Transition
There is a particular challenge that faces landlords in small rural counties when a major employer disappears: the tenant pool contracts, income documentation becomes more complicated, and the difference between a careful screening process and a hasty one becomes the difference between a stable tenancy and a problem that unwinds over months. Howard County, Arkansas experienced that challenge in acute form when Husqvarna — the Swedish outdoor power tool manufacturer that had operated in Nashville for decades and employed more than 700 workers across two facilities — announced in July 2023 that it would close its Nashville operations by the end of 2024. For a county of just 12,785 people, the loss of 700-plus direct jobs represented a seismic economic event, one that rippled through the local housing market, the retail economy, and the rental market in ways that are still actively working themselves out as of early 2026.
Understanding that context is not just interesting background for landlords operating here — it is essential operational knowledge. This guide covers what happened, what is replacing those jobs, who makes up the Howard County rental market today, and how Arkansas landlord-tenant law applies to every residential lease in the county.
The Husqvarna Closure: What It Means for Landlords Right Now
Husqvarna had operated in Nashville for many years, assembling weed-eaters, edgers, blowers, and other outdoor power tools at a facility that ultimately grew to include a production plant on South 4th Street and a 350,000-square-foot warehouse facility built in 2017 after the company consolidated operations from Shreveport, Louisiana, and De Queen. The company drew workers not just from Nashville itself but from across southwest Arkansas, including from Hempstead and Nevada counties, and supported associated businesses including Mission Plastics and Jan-Eze Plating that depended on Husqvarna contracts.
The closure announcement came as a complete surprise to local officials. The mayor of Nashville described it as something no one saw coming. The company cited a strategy to consolidate production in Brazil, China, and Orangeburg, South Carolina, framing the decision as a push toward robotics and electrification. For the workers, the practical reality was a phased wind-down over roughly 15 months, with layoffs proceeding in tranches as production slowed. The city of Nashville and Howard County Judge immediately mobilized, traveling to Little Rock to meet with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to begin a replacement employer search. The Developing Howard County (DHC) group was created directly in response to the announcement.
For landlords, the immediate practical implication is straightforward but critical: do not assume that an applicant who previously worked at Husqvarna is currently employed. The facility is closed. If an applicant’s employment history shows Husqvarna as a prior employer, treat it as prior employment and verify their current income source explicitly. Ask where they are working now, request recent pay stubs from the current employer, and confirm the position is full-time and active. The Husqvarna closure resulted in a significant displacement of experienced manufacturing workers into a county with a limited number of replacement positions; some workers found employment at Tyson Foods’ Nashville poultry plant, some relocated, and some are still navigating the transition.
What Is Replacing Husqvarna: Cantex, CertainTeed, and the Recovery Effort
The most significant early replacement employer is Cantex Inc., which has moved into the former Husqvarna warehouse facility — the 350,000-square-foot building built in 2017 and purchased by Wisconsin-based Phoenix Investors in summer 2024. Cantex’s arrival was celebrated as a major win by Nashville Mayor Larry Dunaway and the DHC group, and the company’s president expressed enthusiasm about integrating the Nashville facility into Cantex’s manufacturing operations. How many jobs Cantex will ultimately bring to the facility, and on what timeline, will determine how much of the Husqvarna employment gap is genuinely closed. As of early 2026, this transition is still in progress.
CertainTeed Gypsum, a Saint-Gobain company and producer of wallboard, remains one of Howard County’s largest ongoing industrial employers and was not affected by the Husqvarna closure. CertainTeed’s Nashville operation draws on local gypsum deposits and provides stable W-2 manufacturing employment. For landlords screening CertainTeed workers, standard manufacturing income verification applies: base hourly wage multiplied by a standard 40-hour week, two to three recent consecutive pay stubs, and confirmation of full-time employment status. Wallboard demand, like brick demand, tracks construction market cycles, so evaluate base wage rather than peak overtime gross.
Tyson Foods’ poultry processing plant in Nashville was identified by city officials as one of the primary landing spots for displaced Husqvarna workers. The poultry plant has been operating in Nashville independently of the Husqvarna situation and represents a stable employment anchor for the county. Tyson processing workers are W-2 hourly employees; confirm full-time status and evaluate consistent base wages across two to three pay periods.
Nashville, Arkansas — Where Dillard’s Began
The economic history of Nashville, Arkansas carries one extraordinary footnote: in 1938, a young businessman named William T. Dillard opened his first retail store here. That store became Dillard’s Department Stores, now one of the largest department store chains in the United States with hundreds of locations across the country. The first store is long gone, but the origin story — a national retail empire begun in a small southwest Arkansas town that most Americans couldn’t find on a map — says something about the entrepreneurial character of the place. The Howard County Museum in Nashville preserves county history including this commercial heritage, housed in the early-twentieth-century First Presbyterian Church building in Eastlake architectural style.
The 1983 Dinosaur Trackway Discovery
In 1983, researchers discovered near Nashville what was then identified as the world’s largest collection of dinosaur footprints — thousands of tracks left by sauropods (large, long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs) preserved in the rock formations of southwest Arkansas. The Nashville sauropod trackway became a significant paleontological site, and casts of the tracks were distributed to museums and institutions across the state. The discovery added an unexpected layer of scientific and tourist significance to a county better known for timber and peaches, and it remains one of Howard County’s most distinctive claims to fame.
The Cossatot River, Dierks Lake, and Outdoor Recreation
Howard County’s most spectacular natural asset is the Cossatot River, a southwest Arkansas waterway that drops rapidly through a series of ledges, holes, and technical rapids as it descends from the Ouachita Mountains. The Cossatot River State Park–Natural Area protects a 12.5-mile stretch of the river and is considered one of the most technically challenging whitewater rivers in the southern United States. Kayakers and canoeists from across the region travel to the Cossatot for Class III through Class V rapids depending on water levels, and the river draws a dedicated paddling community that supports seasonal lodging demand near the park access points. The adjacent Gillham Lake, formed by Gillham Dam on the Cossatot River, provides flatwater fishing and camping contrast to the whitewater upstream.
Dierks Lake, to the north of Nashville, is another popular fishing and recreation destination in the county. The town of Dierks, named for the Dierks Lumber Company that once dominated the region, sits along the lake and has its own small residential and rental market distinct from Nashville. Properties near Dierks Lake or the Cossatot River access points carry modest STR potential for fishing, paddling, and outdoor recreation visitors; verify any permit requirements before listing.
Howard County’s Peach History and Agricultural Base
Nashville was once the center of one of Arkansas’s most significant peach-growing regions. The sandy loam soils of the Ouachita foothills proved ideal for peach cultivation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the peach industry grew from a few farm plots in the 1880s into a substantial commercial enterprise by the mid-1910s. At its peak in 1950, Nashville-area orchards produced more than 400,000 bushels of peaches from 425 orchards. Devastating weather events in 1952 and 1953 destroyed the majority of the crop in back-to-back years, and most farmers converted their orchards to cattle and poultry land rather than replanting. A handful of family-operated pick-your-own peach operations still survive in the county, but the commercial peach industry is largely a memory. Today, cattle and broiler chicken production are the dominant agricultural activities.
For landlords, the agricultural tenant population in Howard County — cattle farmers, poultry contract growers, and the occasional small-scale orchard operator — should be screened using two years of federal tax returns rather than single pay stubs. Farm income is inherently variable, and a single peak year should not be the basis for a multi-year lease qualification.
Arkansas Landlord-Tenant Law in Howard County
All residential rental relationships in Howard County are governed entirely by statewide Arkansas law, with no local modifications. The governing statutes are A.C.A. §§ 18-16-101 through 18-16-108 and the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007, A.C.A. §§ 18-17-101 et seq. There is no local rent control, no just-cause eviction requirement, and no landlord licensing requirement in Nashville or Howard County.
For nonpayment of rent, serve a written 3-day notice to vacate after rent is at least 5 days past due. For lease violations, provide a 14-day notice to cure or quit identifying the specific breach. Month-to-month tenancies require 30 days’ written notice to terminate; week-to-week require 7 days. Security deposits are capped at two months’ rent for landlords with six or more rental units and must be returned with itemized deductions within 60 days of lease termination. Arkansas imposes no default implied warranty of habitability; tenants have no repair-and-deduct remedy. Abandoned property may be disposed of after termination. Self-help evictions are prohibited.
All evictions in Howard County are filed with Circuit Clerk Angie Lewis, Howard County Courthouse, 421 N. Main St., Nashville, AR 71852, (870) 845-7500 Ext. 5. Howard County is a wet county.
This guide is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Arkansas landlord-tenant law is governed by the Arkansas Code Annotated and applies statewide, with no local rent control or just-cause eviction requirements in Howard County. Consult a licensed Arkansas attorney or contact the 9th West Judicial Circuit Court Clerk at (870) 845-7500 for guidance specific to your situation. Last updated: March 2026.
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