Tenants facing eviction ask whether filing for bankruptcy will stop it. Sometimes it will, at least
for a while. Whether it does turns almost entirely on one question: has your landlord already obtained
a judgment for possession?
If no judgment has been entered yet
Filing puts the automatic stay in place, and a pending eviction action generally has to stop while
the stay holds. That is real breathing room, though it is not permanent.
Your landlord can ask the bankruptcy court to lift the stay so the eviction can go ahead, and
landlords regularly do. What the stay buys you is time and a forum, not immunity. How much time depends
on how quickly the landlord moves and what the court makes of the circumstances.
If a judgment for possession already exists
This is where most tenants are surprised. Where the landlord obtained a judgment for possession
before you filed, the automatic stay does not stop the eviction from continuing. Filing after the
judgment gives you very little.
One narrow route may still be open. Where the problem is unpaid rent and state law would let you cure
that default, you can file a certification with the court and deposit the rent that will come due in the
next 30 days. Doing so can hold the eviction off for 30 days while you cure the arrears, and keeping the
protection past that point requires actually curing them and certifying that you have. The deadlines are
short and unforgiving, so this is worth getting advice on the same day rather than the same week.
Filing only to delay an eviction is a bad idea
A bankruptcy filed in good faith by someone genuinely overwhelmed by debt is a legitimate use of the
system, and the fact that it also delays an eviction is fine. Filing purely as a delaying tactic is
different. Courts can dismiss a case brought in bad faith, and they can bar you from filing again for a
period, which leaves you worse off than when you started. In serious cases a filing made to defraud can
carry criminal exposure.
The practical point is that bankruptcy is not an eviction defense. It is a debt process that
sometimes affects an eviction’s timing.
When bankruptcy actually helps a tenant
Two situations come up often. Where you are behind on rent and want to keep the tenancy,
Chapter 13 can let you catch up on arrears
over time through a plan, which Chapter 7 cannot do. Where you have already accepted that you are
leaving, Chapter 7 may discharge the money
judgment for unpaid rent, so the debt does not follow you to the next tenancy or into a garnishment.
Which of those fits depends on your income, your arrears and what you want the outcome to be. See
also our bankruptcy FAQs and
how bankruptcy works in Maryland.
Talk to someone before you file
If an eviction date is set, timing decides your options, and a day or two matters. Jan Berlage offers
a free initial consultation. Call (410) 752-9300 or use the contact form on this
page.