Eviction after BK filing?

[justfiveofus]

We filed our BK this last month, chapter 7. Our meeting of creditors is Monday the 12th. We had some issues with our landlord and don't trust them AT ALL. They don't want to continue renting to us because I am 'too picky' of a tenant, yes those were the exact words used. We were considering staying here, even though the rent was high because our kids were moved middle of this last school year to a new school. Any way, after that was stated to us, knowing the chances of finding another rental in the same school district we decided that we were unwilling to move the kids in the middle of the school year to a new district twice in a row. So we started looking for a place and put the lease in our BK paperwork and stated that we didn't want to continue in the lease.

Any way, we went and saw an attorney because when we gave our notice the landlord sent us a nasty letter. This place has holes in the doors, holes in the siding (it's literally falling off the outside of the house in a few places), it wasn't clean when we moved in, etc. We did take pictures to our credit but we are very concerned that number one she's going to nickel and dime us to death and that we'd lose our deposit (which is 1100 in bankruptcy). So the attorney says don't pay this month's rent, you're moving any way, you're in BK, etc. Now they're saying that they're starting court proceedings? Can they do that when we're in bankruptcy?

[iv65536]

I'm assuming you rejected the lease.

The landlord's threat of court proceedings looks very much like a stay violation to me, but you may want to see what your attorney says.

[justbroke]

Now they're saying that they're starting court proceedings? Can they do that when we're in bankruptcy?

This is not a stay violation. You indicated that you were rejecting the lease in your Statement of Intentions.

Leases are treated much differently than unsecured debt since a lease is basically a contract. The Bankruptcy Court is a court of equity and it must preserve the rights of all parties! Your deposit is property of the Estate, however, the landlord may be entitled to damages. Let your lawyer worry about this stuff.

Now as to whether what the creditor (landlord) wrote to you after you filed... and after they received notice of the bankruptcy... will depend on several factors. Since you rejected the lease, they are allowed to proceed with eviction.

Landlords do need to be careful when a bankruptcy case is commenced. However, residential leases are so special that they have their own paragraph (11 USC 365) in the bankruptcy code. If you reject a lease, you need to be prepared to move immediately. The Court will not allow someone to have free rent when they rejected a lease.

[justfiveofus]

We did reject the lease and in fact gave them a 30 day notice. Our meeting of creditors is on Monday and we're planning on moving the next weekend, providing that the owner of the new place has the repairs done. He said it would be ready the 15th so barring any issues with that we're moving. Is that soon enough?

Just broke, we filed Pro Se so unless I go pay the lawyer again per hour then I don't have them to worry about these things, I have to worry about it.

If they have to go through with eviction proceedings then from the research I've done it'd be at least 2 months before the sherrif would show up to evict us.