Being Evicted

In an eviction, a law enforcement officer, like a Marshal, or Sheriff, comes to the home, changes the locks, or removes belongings, and makes the tenant and their family leave.

It is illegal for a landlord or owner to change the locks and evict a tenant if they have lived in the home for over 30 days. Only a Marshal or Sheriff can evict a tenant after the landlord has gone to court and won a judgment against the tenant.

If the landlord changes the locks without a court order it is a crime, call the police, 911.

 

Notice of Eviction

If the landlord wins a judgment against the tenant, they will get a 14-day Notice of Eviction from a Marshal or Sheriff. This tells a tenant be evicted from your home in at least 14 days. This can happen when you miss your court date. You can call the number on the Notice of Eviction and ask when your eviction will happen. It must take place on a business day, no weekends, and must be done during daylight hours.

You may have more notice if you live in a mobile home and rent space in a mobile home park from the park owner or operator. You may have a 30-day Notice of Eviction for a nonpayment case, or a 90-day Notice of Eviction for a holdover case.

Rent Demands, Termination Notices and Notices of Petition and Petitions differ from a Notice of Eviction. Getting these papers means that the landlord plans to start, or started, a case against you. Read the papers you get. Only the 14-day Notice of Eviction means you are being evicted.

 

Stopping an Eviction and Staying an Eviction

To stop or stay an eviction you need to ask the court in writing by filling out an Order to Show Cause and bringing it to the courthouse soon. If the Judge signs the Order to Show Cause with a stay of the eviction, this will stop the eviction after you deliver the court papers to the landlord and Marshal until you come back to court on the new court date.

Read How to Ask the Court for Something to learn about Orders to Show Cause. If the landlord got a default judgment against you because you missed your court date, you can ask the court to cancel the judgment and let you defend the case.

Read Vacating a Default Judgment and use the Court’s DIY Forms Program to get the court papers you need.

It may be hard to stop the eviction if the landlord has a judgment against you after a trial, or if you didn’t keep promises you made in the settlement. But the court has the power to stop the eviction for a period (stay the eviction) or stop the eviction and cancel the judgment, before the Marshal does the eviction.

The court can stay the eviction for up to 1 year if the tenant can prove that they cannot find a similar home in the same neighborhood, or that moving would cause extreme hardship. Factors include things like, a serious illness or how it would affect children in the home to change schools. If the court stays the eviction, the tenant must pay the rent to continue living in the home.

In a nonpayment case if the tenant pays the full rent owed in Court, before the Marshal does the eviction, the Court must cancel the warrant of eviction. The landlord can try and convince the court that the tenant didn’t pay the rent in bad faith and the eviction should still take place.