Evicting a Tenant

After you start the case, don’t miss your Court date or the case will be dismissed. The tenant has the right to ask the Court to postpone the case for at least 14 days if the tenant is not ready for court. This is called an adjournment. If this happens, you will get a new court date.

In a non-payment case the tenant has 10 days to answer the petition from the date they were served.

If the tenant does not answer the case, you can hire a NYC Marshal to begin the process of obtaining a default judgment and warrant of eviction because the tenant did not answer the case.

In a holdover case, the case is given a court date when the case is filed with the court.
When you come to Court:

• The landlord and tenant may agree on how to settle the case,or
• If the case cannot be settled it may go to trial, or
• If the tenant does not show up the landlord will have a chance to prove their case at an inquest

 

When Can an Eviction Happen

You can only evict a tenant after receiving a judgment from the court. The judgment tells the tenant how much money he or she is ordered to pay or when he or she must move out.

The judgment has a date when you can get a warrant of eviction and the earliest date the warrant can be used by the Marshal.

If you don’t get a judgment, you can’t evict the tenant.

In a nonpayment case, if the tenant pays all the money owed, the tenant gets to stay.

The tenant may also make a Motion to ask the court to dismiss the case or to give the tenant a judgment. If the tenant wins, the case is over, and you can’t evict the tenant.

Sometimes, the case is dismissed, but the case can start again. This is called a dismissal without prejudice. For example, if the landlord did not give the tenant enough days in a notice, the court can dismiss the case, but you can give the tenant a new notice and then start a new case.

 

Getting a Warrant

After you get a judgment, you must hire a NYC Marshal. Only a NYC Marshal (or the NYC Sheriff) can ask the Court Clerk to issue a warrant of eviction.

After the warrant of eviction is issued, the Marshal will be able to evict the tenant based on the earliest execution date established by the judge. The NYC Marshals have their own fee for this.

 

Notice of Eviction

The Marshal or Sheriff will deliver a Notice of Eviction to the tenant. This tells the tenants that unless they move out by the date on the notice, the Marshal will evict them. If the tenants do not move out, they will be evicted.

The eviction must take place on a business day, during the day. The tenant can ask the court to stop the eviction by filing an Order to Show Cause. If this happens, the landlord will have to go back to court to tell the court why the eviction should be allowed.

In a non-payment case the tenant may show proof that the rent was paid or ask for more time to pay. In a holdover case the tenant may ask for more time to move out. The Judge will decide if the eviction will be delayed or stopped. If the tenant cannot prove to the court that they are asking in good faith, you may be able to continue with the eviction.