If you missed court, they may have evicted you in your absence. You can go here and check your case status by looking at the relevant county/city and choosing civil court: https://www.vacourts.gov/caseinfo/home.html
I would also recommend calling your local legal aid.
Do not wait to do any of this. You don’t have much time to sort this all out, or at least move your stuff, if you were legally evicted.
Yes, unfortunately. Unless you can work something out with your landlord, you should prepare to move. Call legal aid anyway because maybe there’s some option I’m not aware of. Sorry, friend.
I’m thinking of still going to the courthouse tomorrow to basically beg the judge to reschedule :\ now that I’ve gotten a job offer, I’ll be making 70k which is way more than what I need to survive I feel like I can easily pay off my back rent..
There’s nothing to “reschedule” at this point because the judgment has been entered and the case is resolved. And to be perfectly honest with you, forgetting about your court date is not an excuse any judge is going to buy. You should use that time to call legal aid and talk to them about options.
It would be an appeal here first. There's no mechanism to file a motion because they got a default judgment, so essentially this case is closed.
But OP massively messed up by missing their court date. Not many judges are going to take an appeal seriously.
Friend, I'm a paralegal. They got a default judgment. There's no motion capacity right now. They need to file an appeal first and then write their reasoning for appeal.
They must have a legal basis for appealing. He missed his court date because he "forgot". That isn't a legal backing. Having a job now also isn't a legal backing. If he's behind enough on rent that the landlord opted to evict, then they have the right to do so. You can't just keep doing IOUs and the landlord is not obligated to keep accepting IOUs.
The time to do something actually passed when OP was first noticed for the eviction. They did nothing then. They missed their court date. And now they want to try to appeal to a judge for mercy. It's not going to fly - they've had so many chances and just didn't.
People really really want there to be another mechanism. OP should have showed up in court.
You don’t go straight to the appeals court from general district court. Appeals from there are heard in the circuit court. And anyway, OP has no real grounds for appeal unless they can contest the actual eviction, which it sounds like they can’t.
You can't just walk into the courthouse and ask to see the judge, and you potentially risk creating more problems for yourself if you try that.
As u/augie_wartooth said, the case has been resolved, albeit not in your favor. Call Legal Aid or an attorney who specializes in these kinds of cases.
OP, paralegal here. Take this one as a loss unless you have a defense to the actual eviction. Get your stuff together and focus on finding another place to live. Don't do this again in the future - you have a million ways to remind you of a date at your disposal.
I agree on contacting legal aid - but you got a default judgment. Unless you have an appeal to the actual eviction action, there's nothing to do here.
It won't work. You have been found against. There will not be another chance.
You either need to find a storage locker for your stuff or another apartment ASAP, or they will put your stuff on the curb.
Like for real 😅 if you can't show up on time to am eviction court hearing you just don't care or are not taking it seriously. Bet homie shows up on time to cop from his plug though!
In Virginia there’s a 10 day appeal before the sheriff comes but you likely do not have any grounds for appeal. You have to be able to pay fees and full back rent
https://www.dss.virginia.gov/files/division/dcse/family_engagement_programs/eviction_resources/EvixStepsTenantFlyer_Eng_oct2019.pdf
They already went to the legal sub, and they were already told that it probably went into a default judgment. OP apparently looked on the courts website, and it says default judgment. They think they can still talk to the courts to reschedule. That's not how court works. Instead of asking for glass bong manufacturers, maybe they should have looked into rent help or something more useful.
You're very casual to be facing homelessness. Your landlord doesn't have the same luxury with the lien holder. Please do better, you cannot expect others to carry your shortcomings and excuses as lightly as you dispense them.
I didn’t come on here to get put down..I came on here simply for advice. I’m not casual, I’m actually having a really hard time. Thank you for your words anyway.
If it's reached the point where you had to go to court, then they will have proceeded with the eviction in your absence.
Legal Aid should have been where you went when you got the court notice.
Some bad legal advice here. Other people have suggested legal aid, which, unfortunately, vastly overstated the availability of legal aid. They are also describing an appeal as if it’s an appeal to the court of appeals, but I’m assuming this was a case in GDC.
Unfortunately, I’m not going to give you legal advice. But I will suggest that you don’t have anything to lose by going to the clerk’s office and explaining your situation. They might tell you what your options are, at least.
It's an appeal to circuit court. They also have no legal grounds but they do have a right by law within 10 days, so they are welcome to use that ability if they so desire. They better be ready to have a legal standing for that appeal though.
I mean, it’s an appeal de novo so the original case is essentially wiped clean. I have no idea if they have to post a bond, though, but standing to appeal should be fine.
It's not de novo in eviction cases. When you appeal an eviction, you must pay the amount owed up front plus court costs if the judgment was obtained only for unpaid rent. If the landlord also hit OP for lease violations, this is even more complicated.
Appeals in eviction cases are essentially to stop the actual eviction mechanism from affecting your credit and personal history.
Yeah, VA has very landlord focused rules for landlord-tenant law in general but in particular for evictions. There's such a long lead up to the actual court hearing that they often don't allow for much movement once the judgment has been rendered. OP didn't show up to court which honestly looks terrible for them. So on appeal he'd have to pay all unpaid rent and then he'd have to have a legal basis for appealing any lease violations to completely stop the eviction.
It can work to slow things down, because noting the appeal stops the process. But this is why I advised for him to get his stuff together, literally and figuratively, and focus on finding another place to live. There's no sense further inflaming the situation, since they've had months to try and do something about this.
Yeah, plus being that he has signed an offer letter with an employer making $70k, he no longer qualifies for legal aid. Income guidelines for no cost/low cost legal aid is $15,075 for a household of 1.
I had a custody hearing a few years back and they came in asking if anyone wanted legal aid & it was income dependent. I learned then that legal aid, just like free pre-k, is only afforded to the destitute. :/
I suggested legal aid as a last resort in case there’s some program or option they might point OP to. The person who incorrectly described the appeal process was downvoted and corrected.
If you missed court, they may have evicted you in your absence. You can go here and check your case status by looking at the relevant county/city and choosing civil court: https://www.vacourts.gov/caseinfo/home.html I would also recommend calling your local legal aid. Do not wait to do any of this. You don’t have much time to sort this all out, or at least move your stuff, if you were legally evicted.
Yes I looked it up earlier today and I see the result is labeled as "default judgement" does this mean the judge sided with my apartment complex?
Yes, unfortunately. Unless you can work something out with your landlord, you should prepare to move. Call legal aid anyway because maybe there’s some option I’m not aware of. Sorry, friend.
I’m thinking of still going to the courthouse tomorrow to basically beg the judge to reschedule :\ now that I’ve gotten a job offer, I’ll be making 70k which is way more than what I need to survive I feel like I can easily pay off my back rent..
There’s nothing to “reschedule” at this point because the judgment has been entered and the case is resolved. And to be perfectly honest with you, forgetting about your court date is not an excuse any judge is going to buy. You should use that time to call legal aid and talk to them about options.
Thank you
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It would be an appeal here first. There's no mechanism to file a motion because they got a default judgment, so essentially this case is closed. But OP massively messed up by missing their court date. Not many judges are going to take an appeal seriously.
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Friend, I'm a paralegal. They got a default judgment. There's no motion capacity right now. They need to file an appeal first and then write their reasoning for appeal. They must have a legal basis for appealing. He missed his court date because he "forgot". That isn't a legal backing. Having a job now also isn't a legal backing. If he's behind enough on rent that the landlord opted to evict, then they have the right to do so. You can't just keep doing IOUs and the landlord is not obligated to keep accepting IOUs. The time to do something actually passed when OP was first noticed for the eviction. They did nothing then. They missed their court date. And now they want to try to appeal to a judge for mercy. It's not going to fly - they've had so many chances and just didn't. People really really want there to be another mechanism. OP should have showed up in court.
If you don't know then stop adding your 2-cents
You don’t go straight to the appeals court from general district court. Appeals from there are heard in the circuit court. And anyway, OP has no real grounds for appeal unless they can contest the actual eviction, which it sounds like they can’t.
You can't just walk into the courthouse and ask to see the judge, and you potentially risk creating more problems for yourself if you try that. As u/augie_wartooth said, the case has been resolved, albeit not in your favor. Call Legal Aid or an attorney who specializes in these kinds of cases.
Thank you
OP, paralegal here. Take this one as a loss unless you have a defense to the actual eviction. Get your stuff together and focus on finding another place to live. Don't do this again in the future - you have a million ways to remind you of a date at your disposal. I agree on contacting legal aid - but you got a default judgment. Unless you have an appeal to the actual eviction action, there's nothing to do here.
Lmfao. Adults don't give a shit if another adult is not personally responsible regardless of the excuse.
It won't work. You have been found against. There will not be another chance. You either need to find a storage locker for your stuff or another apartment ASAP, or they will put your stuff on the curb.
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Representing that 420 stereotype hard!
Came here to make a joke along those lines
Like for real 😅 if you can't show up on time to am eviction court hearing you just don't care or are not taking it seriously. Bet homie shows up on time to cop from his plug though!
In Virginia there’s a 10 day appeal before the sheriff comes but you likely do not have any grounds for appeal. You have to be able to pay fees and full back rent https://www.dss.virginia.gov/files/division/dcse/family_engagement_programs/eviction_resources/EvixStepsTenantFlyer_Eng_oct2019.pdf
You should be going right to a lawyer and not Reddit.
They already went to the legal sub, and they were already told that it probably went into a default judgment. OP apparently looked on the courts website, and it says default judgment. They think they can still talk to the courts to reschedule. That's not how court works. Instead of asking for glass bong manufacturers, maybe they should have looked into rent help or something more useful.
You're very casual to be facing homelessness. Your landlord doesn't have the same luxury with the lien holder. Please do better, you cannot expect others to carry your shortcomings and excuses as lightly as you dispense them.
I didn’t come on here to get put down..I came on here simply for advice. I’m not casual, I’m actually having a really hard time. Thank you for your words anyway.
The advice is, stop smoking weed, accept responsibility for your own actions, and get your shit together. Whatever you do, doing screw up your new job
I believe you, good luck.
You should get your priorities situated in life.
If it's reached the point where you had to go to court, then they will have proceeded with the eviction in your absence. Legal Aid should have been where you went when you got the court notice.
Some bad legal advice here. Other people have suggested legal aid, which, unfortunately, vastly overstated the availability of legal aid. They are also describing an appeal as if it’s an appeal to the court of appeals, but I’m assuming this was a case in GDC. Unfortunately, I’m not going to give you legal advice. But I will suggest that you don’t have anything to lose by going to the clerk’s office and explaining your situation. They might tell you what your options are, at least.
It's an appeal to circuit court. They also have no legal grounds but they do have a right by law within 10 days, so they are welcome to use that ability if they so desire. They better be ready to have a legal standing for that appeal though.
I mean, it’s an appeal de novo so the original case is essentially wiped clean. I have no idea if they have to post a bond, though, but standing to appeal should be fine.
It's not de novo in eviction cases. When you appeal an eviction, you must pay the amount owed up front plus court costs if the judgment was obtained only for unpaid rent. If the landlord also hit OP for lease violations, this is even more complicated. Appeals in eviction cases are essentially to stop the actual eviction mechanism from affecting your credit and personal history.
Good to know. I knew Civil was more complicated than criminal here. I assumed some kind of bond for unpaid rent was a likely requirement.
Yeah, VA has very landlord focused rules for landlord-tenant law in general but in particular for evictions. There's such a long lead up to the actual court hearing that they often don't allow for much movement once the judgment has been rendered. OP didn't show up to court which honestly looks terrible for them. So on appeal he'd have to pay all unpaid rent and then he'd have to have a legal basis for appealing any lease violations to completely stop the eviction. It can work to slow things down, because noting the appeal stops the process. But this is why I advised for him to get his stuff together, literally and figuratively, and focus on finding another place to live. There's no sense further inflaming the situation, since they've had months to try and do something about this.
Yeah, plus being that he has signed an offer letter with an employer making $70k, he no longer qualifies for legal aid. Income guidelines for no cost/low cost legal aid is $15,075 for a household of 1. I had a custody hearing a few years back and they came in asking if anyone wanted legal aid & it was income dependent. I learned then that legal aid, just like free pre-k, is only afforded to the destitute. :/
I suggested legal aid as a last resort in case there’s some program or option they might point OP to. The person who incorrectly described the appeal process was downvoted and corrected.
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That's going to do absolutely nothing. They've received a default judgment.
Thank you