Your Landlord is Taking You to Court
- If your landlord is taking you to court, you have probably received papers from the court entitled, summons and complaint. This paperwork tells you that an eviction has been filed against you and that a date has been scheduled for a court hearing.
- Those papers might have been left at your door or handed to you by a process server or sent by certified mail. It is important that you pick it up because there are important items in that envelope. It is not a legal defense that you didn’t pick up your mail.
- You can find a link to the Arizona Residential Landlord Tenant act on the Arizona Department of Housing web page.
- If your case is for non-payment of rent and you agree that these amounts are owed…
- …you can stop the eviction process…
- …by paying the landlord all the money owed
- This includes all the court costs, the attorney fees, and the late fees calculated on the date that you pay.
- If you offer to pay the full amount the landlord MUST accept it but the landlord may refuse a personal check and…
- …require the payment only be made by certified check or money order.
- If the landlord does not accept your full payment…
- …you need to provide proof to the judge of how much you offered to pay and when and why you believe that is the correct amount owed.
- If for some reason you can’t pay before the court date you can bring the full amount you owe to the court.
- If you don’t stop the eviction, you should come to the court hearing.
- But, make sure to check where you need to be and at what time. Do not be late.
- To locate the court where the hearing will be held, visit AZCourtHelp.org, click on the Find my Court tab, click on Justice Courts, then insert the court’s street, town, or city name.
- If you don’t come to the hearing, and the judge calls your name, you will lose your chance to be heard and the judge will probably enter a default judgment against you.
- A default judgment means a judgment is signed, in your absence, without you being able to defend yourself.
- For more information about what to expect once you get to court, watch the next video entitled “What Will Happen in Court.”
Resources: