If a tenant is arrested and released on bail, do you have to get a legal eviction so that they can’t move back in?
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If a tenant is arrested and released on bail, do you have to get a legal eviction so that they can’t move back in?
Asked on August 18, 2011 Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Yes--an arrest does *not* deprive a tenant of his or her right to possession of his or her rental premises.
Furthermore, you *can't* evict a tenant just because they were arrested. You need some valid grounds--nonpayment of rent; habitual late payment of rent; violating a lease term which specifically makes criminal activity grounds for eviction; assault on the landlord or deliberate destruction of or damage to the landlord's property; etc. Without some ground to terminate the tenancy, you can't evict a tenant and, as noted, arrest by itself will not provide that grounds. It is very possible, if the tenant is still paying his or her rent and if there was no attack on the landlord's person or property, that the tenant may continue his or her tenancy.
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