Table of Contents

• What Happens If You Lose the Eviction Case (“Unlawful Detainer”)?
• What Are Your Options After Losing the Eviction Case?
  • Move out
  • Ask for more time to move
  • Ask the court to reverse the eviction if you were not able to answer the complaint
• Additional information if your eviction was because of unpaid rent

Introduction

If you lose your eviction case, it’s very hard to delay or stop the eviction even if you or someone in your household has disabilities. Even if you can exercise these options, it may not be likely that you’ll be able to keep your housing. Your best chance to stop the eviction is to plan ahead- review paperwork carefully and get legal advice when you receive an eviction notice or court papers for eviction; pay attention to all deadlines; attend any court hearings; put together all your evidence for trial.

What Happens If You Lose The Eviction Case (“Unlawful Detainer”)?

1. If you went to court for a hearing, the judge (or jury) will make a decision (called a “judgment”). If you did not file an Answer to the Unlawful Detainer on time, the court can issue a “default judgment” against you. This means that you have lost the eviction case. If the judge (or a jury) decides the landlord/property manager has the right to evict you, you lose the eviction case. In both situations, the court will give the landlord/property manager documents called a “Judgment for Possession” and a “Writ of Possession”. This allows the landlord/property manager to take the next steps to get you out of your home. They may also order you to pay money to the landlord/property manager (this money can be for back rent, damages, penalties, and costs, like filing fees and attorney fees).

• The landlord/property manager takes the Writ of Possession to the Sheriff’s office. This gives the Sheriff authorization to come to lock you out of your home after giving you a written warning.
• The Sheriff will come to give you a “Notice to Vacate” (written warning to leave your home). This gives you 5 days to move. If you don’t move, the sheriff will come back to remove you from the home and lock you out.

What Are Your Options After Losing The Eviction Case?

You have three options:

1. You can move out,
2. ask for more time, or
3. ask the court to reverse the eviction.

You can get ready to move out and be out before the date on the Sheriff’s Notice to Vacate.

You can ask for more time from the landlord and/or the court:

• Ask the landlord/property manager for more time to move – Sometimes the landlord/property manager may be willing to give you more time. It is best to ask the landlord/property manager for more time as soon as possible. It is also best to ask for a specific amount of time to finish moving. But you should know that the landlord/property manager may not be legally required to give you more time.
• If you need more time to move because of your disability (or a household member’s disability), you can ask for more time as a “reasonable accommodation”. For more information about asking for reasonable accommodations, see resource: Housing Discrimination Based on Disability - Your Rights and Options
• Ask the Court for more time to move – You can file with the court a Request for a Stay of the Writ of Execution. We recommend that you get legal advice as soon as possible if you want to try to do this. You don’t need to have a lawyer in order to file this—you can file it by yourself.
  1. You must file the Request with the court and arrange to give the documents to the landlord/property manager before the deadline on the Sheriff’s Notice to Vacate.
  2. You will have to pay a daily rental rate for the extra days you are requesting. The money is generally paid to the court clerk to hold for the landlord/property manager.
  3. The maximum amount of extra time to move is 40 days from the date the judgment was entered, unless the landlord/property manager consents to more time, (California Code of Civil Procedure Section 918(b)). But whether your request is approved and how much time you get will depend on the circumstances and the judge.

You may be able to ask the court to reverse the eviction so that you can continuing living in your home:

• If you lost by default judgment because you did not file an Answer or missed your court date:
  • You can file a motion to set aside (this means to cancel) the judge's order. There are strict deadlines to do this, and you need a legal reason to do it. Having no place to go if you get evicted is not enough of a reason. We recommend that you get legal advice as soon as possible if you want to try to do this.
  • A set aside is only allowed in certain situations. For example, you may be able to get a set aside if you missed your court date because of your disabilities, or you had to go to the hospital on that date and you were unable to call the court to let them know. Another example is the Unlawful Detainer papers were not served correctly and you missed the deadline to file an Answer. Even if you think you have a good reason, the judge may not agree to set aside the decision.
  • You can file for a set aside for up to 6 months after the judgment was entered. However, if you wait to file the set aside, you’re out of the home and your landlord/property manager has already rented the home to someone else, you will not be able to move back in.
  • There are no court forms, so you have to write the motion in a specific legal format required by the court.
  • If lost by default judgment because you did not file an Answer, you will need to attach an Answer - Unlawful Detainer-Eviction (Form UD-105) to the Motion to Set Aside.
  • You only get one chance to ask for a set-aside, so it is important that you include all the relevant information and follow the court’s rules for the filing.
  • If you need the judge to make a decision before you are evicted, you will also need to ask the judge to make a decision quickly. This type of request is through an “Ex Parte motion”. There are special rules for how you do that. We recommend that you get legal advice as soon as possible if you need to do this.
  • If you ask for a set-aside, you have the option of asking the court for more time before you have to move at the same time by filing the request for the Stay of Execution of the writ of possession along with the Motion to Set Aside.

If you lost because the Judge did not follow the law:

• You can file an Appeal of the judgment. Appeals are very technical and are not just based on you disagreeing with the judge’s decision. We recommend that you get legal advice as soon as possible if you want to do this. An appeal of an unlawful detainer is a legal process where a party who lost an eviction case requests another court review the decision. Click here for the Notice of Appeal/Cross-Appeal—Limited Civil Case form.
• An appeal is a challenge of the judge's ruling on whether or not the judge followed the law. If you win the appeal, this may prevent the eviction or it may just delay it. Depending on the circumstances, you may have to re-do the eviction trial.

Note: Filing an appeal or a motion to set aside alone will not stop the eviction after an eviction judgment. The only way for a tenant to stop or delay the eviction is to ask for the Stay of Execution at the same time as filing the appeal or motion to set aside.

Additional information if your eviction was because of unpaid rent.

If your eviction case was because of unpaid rent, you may have one more option so that you can keep your housing: you can pay the amount of the judgment if the court decides to give you this option.

Payment Option 1: Pay everything you owe:

If you decide to pay everything you owe make sure your landlord/property manager files an “Acknowledgment of Satisfaction of Judgment” (form EJ-100). This is proof you paid the debt.

Payment Option 2: You can also try to negotiate a payment plan or a settlement with the landlord.

• Offer an agreement with the landlord/property manager to be placed on a payment plan or offer to pay an amount that is less than the amount the court says you owe (landlords/property managers will sometimes be willing to accept less if you agree you will pay it right away and in full). Note: the landlord/property manager usually does not have to agree to this.
  • If your landlord/property manager will agree to a payment plan, put your agreement in writing about how much you’re going to pay and when. You and the landlord/property manager (or their lawyer) should sign and date the agreement.
  • If your landlord won't agree to a payment plan, you can try filing papers asking a judge to let you do a payment plan. This is called filing a motion. There's no court form for this, so you may need help to do it correctly. There are deadlines if you want to do this. Contact your local Legal Aid, Law Library, and court Self-Help Center to see if they can help.

If you cannot pay or decide not to pay the amount of the past due rent the court says you owe.

You will not be able to keep your housing. Also, keep in mind that if you decide not to pay the judgment amount of the past due rent, your landlord/property manager may have legal options to get the money from you. This may also damage your credit and can hurt your chances of renting another place.

In certain circumstances you can stop or limit what is being taken out of your paycheck or bank account.

• Certain types of payment are exempt and cannot be taken to pay off a judgment to a landlord/property manager. An example of payments that are exempt from this type of judgment are Social Security benefits and welfare payments.
• You can file a Claim of Exemption to stop or limit these payments from being taken. Click here to learn how to make a claim of exemption for wage garnishment.