Housing issues / eviction

Although we don’t have any information about eviction on our website, if someone is trying to delay an eviction, it’s helpful to inform oneself about the specific notice requirements and steps that need to be taken to complete an eviction. If the landlord or tenant who is filing for eviction doesn’t follow the specific steps, it’s possible that the person being evicted can raise these issues in court and a judge may order the papers to be re-served. However, it’s also possible that a judge may only take the step of ordering the papers to be re-served or the eviction proceeding to be re-filed if the tenant has a valid legal defense to the eviction. You may want to get some advice from a landlord-tenant attorney about your specific situation - you can find free and low cost lawyers on our website. [HYPERLINK]

In regards to looking for a lawyer, I wanted to mention that in recent years, 4 states and at least 15 cities have passed “Right to Counsel” laws, in recognition of the fact that a person is much more likely to be able to keep their home when they have legal assistance in an eviction proceeding. Under Right to Counsel laws, a person at risk of eviction may be able to obtain free legal representation or free legal assistance with their eviction.

To see if there might be free legal eviction assistance in your state or city, you can have a look at this information from the Civil Right to Counsel organization, a national non-profit organization. Even if your city or state isn’t listed here, it may be worth asking the local housing court about whether there is an option to get a free lawyer for an eviction. Please know that WomensLaw is not associated with this organization, and cannot speak to the accuracy of this information - you may consult a lawyer in your state to verify any information.

Last, one more thing to consider is that in some states, being sued for eviction puts the person on a “blacklist” of sorts because that information can be obtained by any future landlord who is considering the person for tenancy - and those landlords might reject the tenant if s/he was formerly evicted. I am not sure if this happens in your state or not but a landlord-tenant attorney should know.