Most jurisdictions donu2019t require that you replace a copy of the lease that the tenant has lost or otherwise misplaced.Itu2019s generally a good business practice to do so.I typically charge a copying fee to replace the lease copy, if the tenant lost it.As others have noted u2022 if thereu2019s a loophole, thereu2019s a loophole, whether they have a copy of the lease or not.A notice to quit is not an eviction notice, and you have to have a court order to evict. Before you can evict, you have to meet legal requirements in your notice to quit, in most jurisdictions, this requires sending registered mail, and may also require additional notice.This is going to vary drastically depending on your local landlord/tenant laws.Generally, you should probably contact a local landlords association and/or an attorney specializing in landlord/tenant disputes.If the tenant wants to fight you on this, they just have to show up in court for the eviction proceeding and contest it. At that point, you are going to have to prthe court with a copy of the contract u2022 the lease u2022 and the court will prit to the tenant anyway, so you really arenu2019t going to successfully pull a fast one on the tenant. The court will likely grant a continuance or schedule a date so that the tenant has time to respond, once they have a copy of the lease.In other words, by withholding the copy of the lease, you are simply delaying how long itu2019s going to take you to get them out, if you want them gone. Itu2019s not in your interest.