How Warrants of Attorney Protect Landlords from Defaulting Tenants By Alan Nochumson, Esq.

 

Pennsylvania landlords may be envied by their colleagues from across the country for one particular ace in the hole that gives them the upper hand in dealing with defaulting tenants: a contractual provision contained in leases commonly known as a warrant of attorney.

 

A warrant of attorney allows the landlord to obtain a money judgment or a judgment for possession against the defaulting tenant without giving that tenant the opportunity to object prior to the entry of judgment.  Thus, this contractual provision offers a quicker, easier and less costly way of obtaining a judgment against a defaulting tenant than pursuing claims through full-blown litigation.

 

Because the tenant’s due process rights are significantly affected by this powerful contractual provision, courts strictly construe the language of the warrant and the landlord’s obligations under the lease.  Generally, most warrants require the landlord, as a condition precedent to obtaining judgment, to provide written notice to the tenant of any default committed by the tenant under the lease.  The landlord should provide sufficient detail in the notice so that the tenant can understand and cure the default. The landlord should also follow the notice requirements of Pennsylvania’s Landlord and Tenant Act.  By satisfying all of the contractual and statutory requirements, the landlord eliminates certain technical defenses the tenant could raise in attacking the validity of the judgment.

 

A petition to strike judgment and/or a petition to open judgment are the only avenues of relief available for the tenant after entry of the confessed judgment.  Clearly, the easiest way to prevent a judgment from being opened or stricken is to follow terms of the warrant and the lease.

 

Even if the judgment is ultimately opened or stricken, the landlord does not waive any of its substantive rights against the tenant.  Of course, this is hardly a consolation prize for the landlord who must now embark on the long and grueling road of full-blown litigation while the tenant remains on the leased premises until the case is ultimately decided, a process that often takes years. The landlord should therefore dot every “i” and cross every “t” prior to obtaining a confessed judgment against the tenant.

 

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Alan Nochumson, Esquire is Of Counsel in the Philadelphia Office of Funk & Bolton, P.A. He represents real estate developers, landlords, financial institutions, mortgage companies, and other business entities in litigation and transactional matters throughout the Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mr. Nochumson writes a monthly real estate column for The Legal Intelligencer, and regularly lectures on issues affecting the real estate industry. He can be reached at (215) 568-4104 or anochumson@fblaw.com