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I have not been able to pay my rent this month; I know that they have gone to the court house to file; how long do I have?
Anonymous3 views2 answers
I am living in an apartment and I am trying to raise the money as quick as I can so that I do not have to live in my car. I know that the apartment office has told me that they have gone to the courthouse to file an eviction. I have never been though this before as I was married for so many years and this is the first time living in an apartment and this month due to hardship, I can't pay. How long do I have before I have to vacant the apartment after being served; will they padlock my door before that time?
The process with proceed as follows:
The landlord will file eviction papers at the courthouse and that will set your court date (This will generally be approx. 2 weeks from filing). If you have not paid the money you owe (entire month's back rent, and landlord may require next month's rent and the cost of court) then the court will likely enter a judgement of possession for the landlord.
Once a judgement is entered, either party has 10 days from the court date to enter an appeal. If you were to appeal you would have to pay a filing fee; however, this would extend the time until the new court date.
If you do not appeal, then the landlord may file a writ of possession with the sheriff's office to come and change the locks on your apartment. It all depends on how quickly the sheriff's office works, but this will generally be about a week.
I hope this helps and wish you the best.
If they follow the law - you won't have to leave until a Sheriff's deputy comes to escort you off the property. Generally, speaking from the time they file until that happens is roughly 6 weeks give or take. You may be able to extend that a bit if you show up to the hearing and request a continuance. It is improper to request a continuance solely to delay or harass so make sure you have a legitimate reason such as needing time to hire an attorney or to prepare a defense. If you paid a security deposit and the landlord did not provide you with written notice of the deposit being held in an appropriate account and where that account is you can counterclaim and likely cause them to have a bad day.
