What Can the Tenant do after Judgment for Possession is Entered?

If the landlord’s complaint is for non-payment of rent, the residential tenant can pay all the rent due and owing, plus proper costs, up till three business days after they are evicted, and the landlord must send a letter or notice to the court dismissing the case with prejudice. The landlord cannot refuse to accept this timely payment from the tenant. The payment must be in certified funds, money order or cash. The landlord does not have to accept the tenant’s payment by personal check. A tenant can make a timely motion to dismiss with prejudice if the landlord failed to provide the required letter or notice to the Court upon their timely receipt of all rent due and owing, plus proper costs, or if the landlord refused to accept this timely offer of full payment.

The landlord can be subject to a statutory penalty of $500 if they fail to accept the full rent due and owing before three business days from the date of the eviction, plus any proper court costs, fail to cooperate with a charitable organization or rental assistance program that had committed to pay the tenant’s rent and/or fails to notify the court to dismiss the case with prejudice.

A tenant can ask the court for permission to stay in the property due to special difficulties or hardship that moving out might cause. If permission is granted, the tenant cannot stay in the property for more than six months, and all rent due, and future rent due during this “hardship stay,” must be paid..

The tenant can also ask for a more temporary stay by asking the court for an Order for Orderly Removal which is typically no longer than 7 calendar days. Finally, a tenant can file a motion to vacate the underlying judgment for possession but that does not typically stop or stay the eviction process unless otherwise ordered by the court. Any of these requests for relief made by the tenant must be done with notice to the landlord and must be made within 10 days from the date of the eviction.