A warrant of eviction in New York is the court order that ends your legal right to stay in a home and authorizes a marshal, sheriff, or constable to physically remove you. A judge signs it only after the landlord wins a possession case, and the officer holding it must serve you with at least 14 days’ written notice before carrying it out. You still have options during that window, but the clock is short and it does not restart.
What the Warrant Is and Who Enforces It
The warrant is a court order directing a public officer to restore the landlord to possession of the property. It is not something a landlord writes, prints, or tapes to a door. It comes from a judge after an eviction case, and it formally cancels whatever tenancy existed.1NYCOURTS.GOV. Eviction
In New York City, only city marshals and deputy sheriffs can carry out the eviction. The marshal or sheriff submits paperwork to the court’s warrant clerk, who reviews it and issues the warrant directly to the officer.2New York State Unified Court System. Warrants – New York City Housing Court3Department of Investigation. Marshals Evictions Frequently Asked Questions Outside the city, the warrant may go to a county sheriff, a city marshal, or a town constable, depending on where the property sits.4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 749 – Warrant The document itself names the people to be removed, describes the property, and states the earliest date the eviction can occur.
What Has to Happen Before a Warrant Exists
A landlord cannot request a warrant until they have won a summary proceeding in housing court. New York law recognizes two main grounds for these cases: non-payment, where the tenant owes rent, and holdover, where the tenant stays after the lease ends or violates its terms.5New York State Senate. New York Code RPA 711 – Grounds for Summary Proceeding For a non-payment case, the landlord must first serve a written demand giving you at least 14 days to pay or move out.
The landlord then files a Notice of Petition and Petition with the court and has those papers served on you.6New York State Unified Court System. City Court Summary Proceedings (Evictions) You have the right to appear, raise defenses, and contest the case. If you do not show up, the landlord can usually get a default judgment. Only after the court enters a judgment of possession can a warrant issue.7New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Eviction If you never received notice of the lawsuit, or the court papers were served improperly, that is one of the strongest defenses you have against the warrant later on.
The 14-Day Notice and the Day of Eviction
Once the officer has the warrant, nothing happens immediately. The officer must serve you with a written Notice of Eviction giving at least 14 days’ warning.4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 749 – Warrant The notice states a specific date on or after which the officer can return. In practice, the eviction can take place on the fifteenth day after service.1NYCOURTS.GOV. Eviction
The removal must happen on a business day between sunrise and sunset.4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 749 – Warrant In New York City, marshals work between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, not on legal holidays.1NYCOURTS.GOV. Eviction No lawful eviction happens on a weekend or in the middle of the night.
What Happens to Your Belongings
If you are present when the officer arrives, you can remove your own property and valuables, or authorize a relative or friend to take items on your behalf.1NYCOURTS.GOV. Eviction
In a full eviction, the marshal must hire a bonded moving company licensed by the state Department of Transportation to move your things to a licensed warehouse. The marshal prepares a written inventory of everything in the apartment and must tell you afterward where your belongings are stored. Any cash found during the eviction is turned over to the local police station for safekeeping.1NYCOURTS.GOV. Eviction A few things stay: food, dishes with food on them, fixtures attached to the walls or floors, and carpeting firmly affixed to the floor. The landlord cannot put your possessions on the curb.
Pets in the Home
The officer executing the warrant must check the property for pets before carrying out the eviction and work with you to arrange care for any animals found. If you cannot be reached or refuse to take the animal, the officer coordinates with the local humane society or animal control and must make reasonable efforts to tell you where the animal went.4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 749 – Warrant
How to Stop or Delay the Warrant
A signed warrant is not the end of the case. New York law gives you several ways to pause or cancel it, but none of them work if you wait until the marshal is at your door. Act the day you receive the Notice of Eviction, not the day before the deadline.
Order to Show Cause
The most common emergency move is filing an Order to Show Cause. This is a request asking a judge to temporarily halt the eviction and schedule a new hearing.8New York State Unified Court System. New York City Housing Court – Order to Show Cause You complete an affidavit at the courthouse explaining why the eviction should not go forward. Valid reasons include having the money to pay all back rent, discovering a serious procedural error in the case, or evidence that court papers were never properly served.9NYCOURTS.GOV. Stopping An Eviction
If the judge signs the Order to Show Cause, the eviction is temporarily stayed and a new court date is set. At that hearing, the judge decides whether to cancel the warrant permanently or let the eviction proceed.
Paying What You Owe in Non-Payment Cases
In non-payment cases, the law gives you a powerful right. If you pay or deposit with the court the full amount of rent owed at any point before the officer physically carries out the eviction, the court must cancel the warrant.4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 749 – Warrant There is one exception. If the landlord proves you deliberately withheld rent in bad faith, the judge can refuse to vacate the warrant even after full payment.10New York State Unified Court System. Stays After Entry of Judgment in Nonpayment Proceedings Bad faith is a high bar, but it can come up where a tenant had the money and refused to pay as leverage.
Hardship Stays
If you cannot pay, or the eviction is not about rent at all, you can ask the court for a hardship stay of up to one year. To qualify, you must show that you cannot find comparable housing nearby despite genuine efforts, or that eviction would cause extreme hardship to you or your family. The court weighs factors like serious health problems, worsening of a medical condition, a child’s enrollment in a local school, and other life circumstances affecting your ability to relocate.11New York State Senate. New York Code RPA 753 – Stay of Proceedings
Hardship stays come with conditions. You will generally need to deposit rent with the court during the stay, and the court will weigh any hardship the delay causes the landlord. If your case involved a lease violation rather than non-payment, the court must grant at least a 30-day stay so you can fix the problem.11New York State Senate. New York Code RPA 753 – Stay of Proceedings Any lease clause that tries to waive your right to request a hardship stay is void.
What a Landlord Cannot Do Without a Warrant
Only a warrant executed by a public officer can lawfully remove you. Under RPAPL 768, it is a crime for any person to evict or attempt to evict someone who has lived in a dwelling for 30 consecutive days or more, or who has a lease, without a court-issued warrant.12New York State Senate. New York Code RPA 768 – Unlawful Eviction
Illegal eviction covers the obvious acts and several less obvious ones:
- Cutting off heat, water, or electricity to pressure you into leaving.
- Changing or disabling the lock on your entrance door without giving you a new key.
- Removing your belongings from the apartment without a court order.
- Taking the entrance door off its hinges.
- Any other conduct designed to make the apartment unlivable or to block your entry.
Each violation is a Class A misdemeanor carrying potential jail time. The landlord also faces civil penalties of $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, plus up to $100 per day until you are restored to the apartment, capped at six months of daily penalties.12New York State Senate. New York Code RPA 768 – Unlawful Eviction If you have been locked out, the landlord must take all reasonable steps to let you back in after you request it. Where the landlord committed, knew about, or should have known about the lockout within the prior seven days, they must restore you to the apartment or provide a suitable alternative unit in the same building.
If any of this happens to you, call the police and go to housing court. You do not need a lawyer to report an illegal lockout.
Your Record After the Case Is Over
The case does not disappear when you move. Eviction court filings can appear on tenant screening reports for up to seven years, and many landlords refuse to rent to applicants whose reports show an eviction filing, even where the case was later resolved in the tenant’s favor.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Can Information, Like Eviction Actions and Lawsuits, Stay on My Tenant Screening Record If any debt owed to the landlord was later discharged in bankruptcy, that information can stay on your screening history for up to ten years. New York has not enacted a comprehensive eviction record sealing law, though a judge may seal specific records on request where a case was dismissed or decided in your favor.