Walk It Through: The Eviction Papers
A petition on the door, new locks, a hearing in magistrate court, and the things that will not fit in the car.
A tenant behind on rent finds a petition for possession and a hearing notice in the mail.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One eviction for back rent. An appeal, a public housing lease, a tenant who is a service member and the rent judgment itself are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- ContinuanceA postponement of an eviction hearing, granted only for cause, and a tenant who gets one pays the rent coming due during it into court.
- Wrongful occupationA tenant staying in a residential rental while behind in rent, in breach of the lease, or having damaged the property, which a landlord may petition the magistrate or circuit court to end.
- Unlawful entry and detainerA suit by a person forcibly or unlawfully turned out of possession, or against one unlawfully holding over, for the premises and damages, brought within three years.
- Abandoned personal propertyBelongings left after a tenant abandons a rental. They may be disposed of only after a posted and mailed notice gives a date not less than thirty days after mailing to remove them.