Duration of eviction proceedings
The duration of the proceedings – from filing the lawsuit to the (compulsory) eviction of the apartment depends on several factors, e.g. the workload of the competent local court, whether / how the tenant defends himself or the availability and workload of the responsible bailiff.
In general, one can say that an eviction action takes about 3-6 months from filing the action to eviction. In the worst case, the procedure can take significantly longer than 6 months.
The procedure can be divided into the following intermediate steps. The times given below are based on our experience, they are purely indicative.
Filing a lawsuit
The lawsuit begins when the lawsuit is filed with the court. There is no legal requirement.
+ 2 weeks: Request to pay the court costs
Approx. 2 weeks after filing the lawsuit, you will receive a request from the court to pay the court costs.
+ 2-4 weeks: delivery of the complaint to the other party
After the advance payment of the court costs, the action will be served on the opposing party. In addition, the court will inform you in which way it will organize the proceedings.
As a rule, the court orders the written preliminary proceedings. The court sets a deadline of 2 weeks for the opposing party to indicate whether they want to defend themselves against the lawsuit and a further 2 weeks to respond to the lawsuit.
+ 2-4 weeks: arrangement of the next procedural steps
Approx. 3 weeks after the complaint was sent to the opposing party, the court has the file presented again. The following further steps by the court are conceivable:
(i) Successful default judgment
At best, the tenant has not indicated his willingness to defend himself. In this case there is no trial and the court decides in favor of the plaintiff with a default judgment *.
(ii) Order of the hearing
If the other side has indicated that it is ready to defend itself, it will set a date for the hearing.
+ 4-6 weeks: Date for the oral hearing
When the trial takes place is entirely in the hands of the court. However, evacuation matters are to be carried out with priority and expedited.
As a rule, no more than one court date is required. If the other side does not show up, a default judgment is issued. When a hearing takes place, the court sets a so-called announcement date, during which a judgment is usually given.
+ 2-5 weeks: issuance of the judgment
After the announcement date, the court’s decision – hopefully a successful eviction order – will be sent to the parties. As a rule, you can inquire about the result of the announcement date by calling the court in advance.
+ 2-3 weeks: Sending the enforceable copy of the judgment, commissioning the bailiff
You need an enforceable copy of the judgment so that a bailiff can evict it. The court sends the enforceable copy as soon as the judgment has also been served on the opponent. Usually 2-3 weeks pass before the claimant receives the enforceable copy. With the enforceable copy, the plaintiff can instruct the bailiff to carry out the eviction
+ 4-8 weeks: eviction by the bailiff
The bailiff sets a date for vacating the apartment and sets the advance payment to be made. The eviction date is determined by the workload of the responsible bailiff. Once the eviction has been carried out, you will get your property back and the matter is closed.
Summary :
The above information is intended to give you a guideline for the duration of an eviction action from the moment the action is filed until the actual eviction by the bailiff. The information on the duration should not be understood as maximum information. In individual cases, an eviction action can take significantly longer, e.g. if courts or bailiffs are overloaded and dates are available much later than stated above.
* a default judgment is only issued if this has also been requested. The defendant can appeal against a default judgment. Experience has shown that defendants who do not show a willingness to defend themselves do not file an objection to a default judgment. If so, continue as listed under point 3 (ii).