A court order eviction notice, usually titled a writ of possession or writ of restitution, is the document a judge signs after a landlord wins an eviction lawsuit that authorizes a sheriff, constable, or marshal to physically remove you from the property. It sets a hard deadline for you to leave on your own. Miss that date and officers come back to carry out the lockout.
How to Tell a Real Writ From a Fake
Two features separate a genuine court order from a piece of paper a landlord printed: the judge’s signature and the official court seal. Without both, no law enforcement officer will act on it, and it has no legal force against you.
A valid writ also lists the full property address with any unit number, the names of every adult occupant named in the original lawsuit, and the case number the clerk assigned. The most important line is the deadline. It gives a specific date, and sometimes a time, by which you must vacate. That date is your window.
If you need a copy — for an appeal, a housing application, or your own records — the court clerk’s office keeps the writ filed alongside the possession judgment and will usually provide one on request.
Who Serves It and How Much Time You Get
The clerk issues the writ to a law enforcement officer, typically a sheriff, constable, or marshal depending on where you live. That officer, not the landlord, delivers it. Service usually happens one of two ways: the officer hands the notice to someone at the property, or, if no one answers, posts it on the front door and mails a copy to your last known address.
The clock on your deadline runs from service, not from when you first find out about the writ. If the officer posted it on your door while you were at work, you’ve already lost that time. Check the deadline on the face of the document the moment you see it.
Processing between the clerk issuing the writ and the officer arriving to serve it varies. Sometimes it’s a day or two. Sometimes it’s over a week, depending on how busy the agency is.
What You Can Still Do Before the Deadline
You are not necessarily out of options, but every option has a tight deadline, and the deadlines are measured in days.
Ask for a Stay of Execution
A stay of execution is a request to the judge for more time to move. How much time courts can grant varies: some jurisdictions allow only a few extra days, others several weeks. You generally need to file before the move-out date on the writ and bring money to cover rent for the extra days, calculated from the property’s daily rental value. The judge can deny the request even if you do everything right, so keep packing while you wait for an answer.
Move to Set Aside a Default Judgment
If you lost the eviction case because you never appeared at the hearing, you may be able to file a motion to set aside the default judgment. Courts generally require you to show “good cause” for missing court. Valid reasons often include never receiving proper notice of the hearing date, a medical emergency, or a similar circumstance that genuinely kept you away.
Filing the motion does not automatically pause the eviction. You will likely need to ask the judge separately for an emergency order halting enforcement while the motion is decided. Deadlines are strict and vary by jurisdiction, so look up your local rule the day you get the writ.
File an Appeal
Appealing the possession judgment to a higher court is possible, but costly. Most jurisdictions require you to post an appeal bond, a cash deposit or surety guaranteeing the landlord gets paid if you lose. You are usually also required to keep paying rent, either into an escrow account or directly to the landlord, while the appeal is pending. The filing window is often just a few days from judgment, and missing it closes the option permanently.
Know the Limits of Bankruptcy
Filing bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay that halts most collection actions, but evictions are a major exception. If the landlord already obtained a possession judgment before you filed, the eviction can proceed despite the stay.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay Some states let tenants cure a default even after a possession judgment by depositing overdue rent with the bankruptcy court within 30 days, but the process involves multiple precise certifications and filings. If no possession judgment existed when you filed, the automatic stay generally does block the landlord from moving forward, though the landlord can ask the bankruptcy court to lift it.
If You’re Still There When the Deadline Passes
Once the deadline on the writ expires, officers return. If you’ve already left, they confirm the unit is empty and hand it over to the landlord. If you’re still inside, they have authority to physically remove you and anyone else in the unit. A locksmith usually arrives with the landlord and changes the locks on the spot. Going back in after that can get you charged with trespassing.
One point is worth being firm about: only law enforcement acting under a valid court order can legally remove you. Every state prohibits landlords from taking eviction into their own hands. Changing the locks, shutting off utilities, removing doors, or hauling your belongings outside without a writ is illegal, even if you owe months of back rent. If a landlord tries any of this, you can call the police, and you may have grounds for a separate lawsuit against the landlord.
Belongings Left Behind
What happens to things you leave in the unit depends on state law, and the rules vary widely. Most states require the landlord to store your belongings for a set period before disposing of them or selling them, ranging from as little as 10 days to as long as 60. Some states let landlords charge reasonable storage fees, and a few allow a lien on the property to recover those costs.
Commercial tenants get far less protection. In many states, a commercial landlord has no obligation to store what you leave and can move the items to the nearest public area or dispose of them more quickly. If a commercial lockout is coming, getting your property out before the deadline matters even more than in a residential case.
What Follows You After You Move
The court order ends the tenancy, but its consequences last longer than moving day.
The Money Judgment
In a nonpayment case, the court typically awards the landlord both the possession judgment that authorizes the eviction and a money judgment for the unpaid rent. Paying what you owe satisfies the money judgment, and in some jurisdictions, paying before the lockout cancels the possession judgment entirely. If you don’t pay, the money judgment survives the eviction. The landlord can collect through wage garnishment, bank levies, or by selling the debt to a collection agency.
Tenant Screening Reports
Eviction court filings and judgments can appear on tenant screening reports for up to seven years, which makes future rentals harder to secure. If rent debt was later discharged in bankruptcy, the bankruptcy itself can stay on your screening history for up to ten years. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act sets the ceilings on how long this information can be reported, and tenant screening companies are subject to those limits.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Can Information Like Eviction Actions and Lawsuits Stay on My Tenant Screening Record
Credit Reports
The eviction itself does not appear on a traditional credit report. If the landlord sells unpaid rent to a collection agency, though, that collection account shows up and can remain for seven years from when the debt first became delinquent.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports The seven-year clock starts 180 days after the delinquency that led to the collection, not from when the account was placed with the agency.
Sealing or Expunging the Record
A growing number of states let tenants petition to seal or expunge eviction records in certain situations: when the tenant won, when the case was dismissed, when the parties settled outside court, or after enough time has passed since the judgment. Some states seal records automatically when the tenant prevails; others require a formal application. If you believe your record might qualify, your state’s specific rules are worth checking, because a sealed record won’t appear on most future tenant screening reports.