Thomas Breen photo
The state Superior Court building at 121 Elm St., home to New Haven’s housing court.
The state Judicial Branch has extended its eviction moratorium through May 1 as part of a broader, and longer, suspension of court business to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On March 20, state Chief Administrative Judge for Civil Matters James Abrams issued an order providing for an immediate stay of all issued executions on evictions and ejectments through May 1.
“Consistent with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s recently enacted 60-day moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, the Court is hereby extending its previous Orders cancelling some foreclosure sales with the following Orders,” the state court website reads.
“ALL foreclosure sales previously scheduled to have occurred in April or May are hereby rescheduled to Saturday, June 6, 2020, with no appointed Committee to begin working on the sale (i.e. place foreclosure signs on properties, etc.) prior to May 1, 2020.
“The judgment in ANY foreclosure action in which the Court set a ‘law day; to run on any date in April or May is hereby amended with the first law day now set for June 2, 2020.
“There shall be an immediate stay of all issued executions on evictions and ejectments through May 1, 2020.
“Finally, all civil trials, trial management conferences, pre-trials, status conferences, J‑ADR mediations and short calendars, arguable and non-arguable, have been cancelled so long as Judicial Branch operations are limited to Priority 1 functions only.”
Click here for a previous story about the court’s initial eviction moratorium, which was slated to be lifted March 27.
Eviction Moratorium Explainer
Below is a letter published Tuesday by Connecticut Legal Services, Greater Hartford Legal Aid, New Haven Legal Assistance Association, and Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut regarding the eviction moratorium.
As of 3/20/20, ALL eviction orders (called “executions”) issued by housing courts in CT have been stayed through May 1st. This means that a state marshal cannot serve you with an “execution” eviction order, physically remove you or your belongings from your apartment, or change your locks before May 1st.* We hope this stay will be extended for several months, until the crisis is over. We will keep the community up-to-date on its status.
The CT Superior Court has placed a limited moratorium on eviction actions (“summary process”). This means:
1. Your landlord can still serve you with court papers and file a new eviction case, but the court IS NOT holding hearings or trials right now, until further notice.
2. The court is not entering eviction judgments or eviction orders (called “executions”).
3. There will not be any hearing or trial dates until further notice.
4. State marshals cannot serve eviction orders (called “executions”), physically remove tenants or tenants’ belongings from their apartment, or change their locks before at least May 1st. (We do not know if this date will get extended.)
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR TENANTS:
1. THE LANDLORD CAN NEVER LOCK YOU OUT. This means anything from changing the locks, removing a door or windows, moving out your belongings, turning off utilities, or anything that interferes with your tenancy.*
2. A STATE MARSHAL CANNOT SERVE YOU WITH AN “EXECUTION” EVICTION ORDER, PHYSICALLY REMOVE YOU OR YOUR BELONGINGS FROM YOUR APARTMENT, OR CHANGE YOUR LOCKS BEFORE May 1st.*
3. Your landlord can still serve you with a Notice to Quite. A Notice to Quit DOES NOT mean you have to move by the date in the notice — it means that if you do not move by that date, the landlord still has to file an eviction action.
4. The landlord can still serve you with a Summons and Complaint (the next step in the eviction process) and file it with the Court, but the court will not enter a default judgment if you cannot file your appearance for now. (We are not sure when the court might begin to enter defaults again in the future.)
* If a state marshal attempts to physically remove you or your belongings from your apartment before May 1st, or if your landlord ever attempts to lock you out, here’s what you can do:
(1) You can show the state marshal this copy of the court order staying executions.
(2) If you feel safe calling the police, you have a right to call the police and ask them to order your landlord to let you back into your apartment.
(3) You have a right to file a “lockout” lawsuit asking the court to order your landlord to let you back in, although it may be difficult to do so during the current crisis.
The Superior Court is still hearing lockouts and other emergency cases, but only one clerk’s office is open in each Judicial District of CT. To file a lockout case, you must visit the open clerk’s office in your Judicial District on a weekday between 9 am and 5 pm. In order to check the address of your district’s open clerk’s office, please refer to the following map and list: https://www.jud.ct.gov/directory/maps/JD, https://jud.ct.gov/HomePDFs/CourthousesOpened.pdf. If you live within the New Haven Judicial District, you will need to visit the clerk’s office located on the second floor of 235 Church St, New Haven. The office number is 203 – 503-6800. We recommend calling the clerk’s office before you visit to confirm they are open.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TENANT’S RIGHTS IN CONNECTICUT, PLEASE VISIT https://ctlawhelp.org/en/evictions-process-laws-connecticut and https://ctlawhelp.org/en/coronavirus.
If you think you have a legal issue and would like more advice, please call Statewide Legal Services at 800 – 453-3320.