# North Carolina — Landlord retaliation presumption period by US state

For North Carolina, presumption period is 12 months; what the presumption does is a tenant may raise the affirmative defense of retaliatory eviction; example of a protected activity is A good faith attempt to organize, join, or become otherwise involved with, any organization promoting or enforcing tenants' rights; statute is N.C.G.S. § 42-37.1, recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** North Carolina _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Presumption period:** 12 months _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **What the presumption does:** a tenant may raise the affirmative defense of retaliatory eviction _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Example of a protected activity:** A good faith attempt to organize, join, or become otherwise involved with, any organization promoting or enforcing tenants' rights _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Statute:** N.C.G.S. § 42-37.1 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> (b) In an action for summary ejectment pursuant to G.S. 42-26, a tenant may raise the affirmative defense of retaliatory eviction and may present evidence that the landlord's action is substantially in response to the occurrence within 12 months of the filing of such action of one or more of the protected acts described in subsection (a) of this section.

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### Example of a protected activity

> (5) A good faith attempt to organize, join, or become otherwise involved with, any organization promoting or enforcing tenants' rights.

### Statute

> § 42-37.1. Defense of retaliatory eviction.

## Source

- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_42/GS_42-37.1.html

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2027-09-02.
Part of [Landlord retaliation presumption period by US state](https://referencesource.org/landlord-retaliation-presumption-period-by-state/).