The answer to this question depends on whether you are behind on your rent payments, whether your landlord starts eviction proceedings before you file for bankruptcy, whether your landlord obtains a judgment for possession before you file for bankruptcy, and the landlord-tenant laws of your state.
You are current on your rent
If you are current on your rent when you file for bankruptcy, your landlord cannot evict you solely because you file. However, after you file for bankruptcy, you must stay current on your rent. Filing for bankruptcy does not relieve you of any obligations as a tenant, including the obligation to pay rent.
Your landlord has started an eviction but has not obtained a judgment
If you are behind on your rent when you file for bankruptcy, and your landlord has already started an eviction proceeding but has not yet obtained a judgment for possession, then the automatic stay will provide some delay of the eviction proceeding. But the legal requirements for the landlord to lift the automatic stay in bankruptcy court are not complicated and once the landlord has satisfied them, if you have not paid the amounts owed to the landlord, the eviction proceeding will continue just as if you had not filed for bankruptcy.
Except when you elect to pay the amount owing under a judgment of possession where your state law allows you to do so in order to continue renting the property, (see below), if you owe unpaid rent when you file for bankruptcy, the debt may be discharged. In some states, however, your landlord may be able to evict you based on the unpaid back rent even if you continue to pay current rent after you file for bankruptcy and even though the debt for back rent is dischargeable in the bankruptcy.
Your landlord has obtained a judgment and state law allows you to cure
If when you file for bankruptcy your landlord has already has obtained a judgment for possession, then the automatic stay will not apply unless you certify truthfully in your bankruptcy documents that the landlord-tenant laws of your state permit you to pay the past due amounts owed under the judgment for possession and you deposit with the bankruptcy court clerk any rent that will become due during the 30-day period following the filing of your bankruptcy. If your state law allows you to pay the past due amounts under the judgment and you have filed the necessary certification, the automatic stay will apply to the judgment for possession, but for only 30 days. If you pay all amounts due under the judgment during this 30-day period, then the automatic stay remains in effect. But even if you pay the amounts due under the judgment, you must continue to pay future rent as it comes due, because the automatic stay does not prevent the landlord from taking steps to collect rent that becomes due after you file for bankruptcy.
Your landlord has obtained a judgment and state law does not allow you to cure
If when you file for bankruptcy your landlord has already has obtained a judgment for possession, and the landlord-tenant laws of your state do not permit you to pay the past due amounts owed under the judgment for possession, the automatic stay in bankruptcy affords no protection from enforcement of the judgment.
Your landlord claims endangerment of property or illegal use of controlled substances
The automatic stay in bankruptcy will not prevent an eviction action based on endangerment of the property or illegal use of a controlled substance on the property, provided that the landlord files an appropriate certification in the bankruptcy court. The debtor is entitled to a hearing in the bankruptcy court on the landlord’s certification. If the court finds that the landlord’s certification is true, the automatic stay in bankruptcy affords the debtor no protection from an eviction action. If the court finds that the situation giving rise to the landlord’s certification has been remedied or did not exist, the automatic stay operates to prevent an eviction action.
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