Arksansas - Where it's a crime to not pay rent.

[sanantone]

If you are one day late, you can be charged with occupying the residence without paying rent. The original form of the law has been ruled unconstitutional.

I'm going based off of this sentence from the article you linked to: "Arkansas alone of all the states terminates tenants’ leases for late payment of rent (even only one day) and makes it a crime if they can’t get moved off the premises within ten days after the landlord gives notice".

Are you saying that the version of the law that is described above has been ruled unconstitutional? Or am I misunderstanding what the article is saying that the law entails? Or is there an additional statute that makes it so that you can be charged with occupying a residence without paying rent after only one day?

I corrected my post. 

I've been late on my rent before because I've had employers that would pay after the holidays instead of before. Thank goodness Texas doesn't have such a draconian law. My lease wasn't terminated; I just paid the late fee that was detailed in the leasing contract.

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At one of the sheriff's departments I worked for, we would get calls all the time from landlords wanting to evict people. We told them to call the constable's office because they handled civil matters in our county. As an urban county, we didn't have time to deal with private party disputes. We also explained to them that the constable deputy was only there to keep the peace. Usually, people would leave after seeing the police. There was no need to give out criminal fines and jail time.