How long does the tenant have to respond after being served the unlawful detainer court papers?
If the tenant was served in person, the tenant has 5 days to respond. Weekends are counted (court holidays are not counted), but the 5th day must be a work day. So if the five days run out on a Saturday or Sunday, the tenant has until the end of the day on Monday to file a response. If the tenant was served by substitute service or “post and mail”, the tenant has 15 days after the date the server mailed the court papers to file a response. The date of mailing is the postmark date. How does the landlord find out if the tenant filed a response? When a defendant (the tenant) files a response, s/he needs to send the landlord a copy of it. She/he will send it to the address the landlord put on the Complaint. The landlord can also go to the courthouse and look up the case. What does the landlord do if the tenant doesn’t respond in time? First, the landlord must make sure that the tenant’s time to respond is over. Then, the landlord must ask the court to make an order in his/her favor. This i
How long does the tenant have to respond after being served the unlawful detainer court papers? If the tenant was served in person, the tenant has 5 days to respond. Weekends and holidays are counted, but the 5th day must be a work day. So if the five days run out on a Saturday or Sunday, the tenant has until the end of the day on Monday to file a response. If the tenant was served by substitute service or “post and mail”, the tenant has 15 days after the date the server mailed the court papers to file a response. The date of mailing is the postmark date. Note: If there is more than one defendant (tenant), there could be different deadlines if they were served in different ways or on different days. The landlord has to keep track of the deadline for each defendant.
How long does the tenant have to respond after being served the unlawful detainer court papers? If the tenant was served in person, the tenant has 5 days to respond. Weekends are counted (court holidays are not counted), but the 5th day must be a work day. So if the five days run out on a Saturday or Sunday, the tenant has until the end of the day on Monday to file a response. If the tenant was served by substitute service or “post and mail”, the tenant has 15 days after the date the server mailed the court papers to file a response. The date of mailing is the postmark date. Note: If there is more than one defendant (tenant), there could be different deadlines if they were served in different ways or on different days. The landlord has to keep track of the deadline for each defendant.
