Eviction Question

[Scott Weaner]

I am going through my first eviction. I received the following email from my lawyer today:

"We just received confirmation that your tenant filed Bankruptcy. Therefore we cannot proceed with the eviction at this time. Tenants must begin making their monthly payments on time beginning in December. If they fail to do so, please contact us."

This is in NJ. Can anyone explain what this means? Is this just another tenant ploy to stay longer for free? 

EDIT: I want to add that the lease expired in July, and the tenant is now on an automatic MTM agreement as per the original lease. I wonder if that makes any difference.

[John Sanderson]

@Scott Weaner

Sorry if I'm reading incorrectly, but your tenant is in NJ, correct?

I can't say much for NJ, since I've only dealt in PA, but your lawyer can probably give you more information.

However, in PA(my knowledge is of Harrisburg specifically), if a person files for bankruptcy, any eviction proceedings are stalled until the bankruptcy is resolved. I imagine it's very similar in NJ, but it is absolutely a method someone can use to stall eviction and stay for free longer.

To elaborate on Harrisburg, I've been working with a PM company that filed for eviction of a tenant(not mine) for non-payment of rent, the tenant immediately filed for bankruptcy without paying the fee, thus stalling the eviction proceedings. After a certain period, the bankruptcy claim becomes null without a filing fee, and eviction proceedings can proceed once again. However, there is no limit to the number of times you can file for bankruptcy in Harrisburg, so once the first expires, the tenant can re-up and file again without payment. They had to go through 3 cycles of this before they finally removed the tenant.

I'm not bringing that up to scare you, just to make you aware that this may be the case in NJ as well. Again, consult with your attorney, ask if the tenant can file without payment and if there is a limit to how many times they can.

To me, it seems like a pyrrhic victory for the tenant to be able to stay longer, but everyone is different. This may be a unit you need to watch closely, in case they decide to bail in the middle of the night without a word, which is fairly plausible.