Suffolk County Sheriff's Office
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK
Suffolk County Sheriff's Office
Civil Enforcement Bureau
Yaphank, NY 11980
- General Information (631) 852-5600
- Evictions (631) 852-5621
- Property Executions (631) 852-5627
- Income Execution/ Salary Garnishments (631) 852-5623
- Real Property Seizures (631) 852-5613/ (631) 852-5616
- Bankruptcy (631) 852-5613/ (631) 852-5616
- Orders to Show Cause (631) 852-5613/ (631) 852-5616
- Summonses & Warrants (631) 852-5617
Enforcement of your Judgment of Possession & Warrant of Eviction
After your Suffolk County eviction proceeding is concluded, you most likely will receive a judgment of possession and a warrant of eviction.
The next step after court is to take your judgment and warrant to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s office within the required timeframe so they can execute the warrant and get you back physical possession of your apartment. Only the sheriff’s office can physically remove your tenant from the premises.
Enforcement of Your Money Judgment
Along with your Judgment of Possession and Warrant of Eviction, if you initiated a non-payment proceeding, you may have also received a money judgment against your tenant for back rent owed.
You must convert this into an execution judgment with the county clerk, and then bring the execution judgment with you (along with eight copies) to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office for execution.
Schedule of Fees
Once the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office receives your request, they will provide you with their schedule of fees and current timeframes.
14-Day Notice
The first action that the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office takes is to serve your tenant with a 14-day eviction notice. This notice will inform the tenants that they have 14 days to vacate, otherwise the Sheriff’s Office will return and physically remove the tenants and all of their belongings from the property.
The Sheriff’s Office will charge you a modest fee for serving this notice, similar to a process server.
After the 14-Day Notice is served, you must then pay an additional fee to schedule the Sheriff’s Office to return to the property for the actual physical removal of the tenants. Because this is a very labor-intensive, and often dangerous process, the Sheriff’s Office will charge a higher fee.
There is also often a backlog, or a waiting list several weeks long for the Sheriff’s Office to return for the physical eviction. The current timeframe is about 5 weeks, but this timeframe can vary drastically week to week. It depends on how many people need to be evicted each week. You can contact the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office (contact info above) to ask them what the current timeframes are.
Physical Removal of Your Tenant
Upon the expiration of the 14-day notice and the expiration of the backlog period, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office will return to the apartment to physically remove your tenants from the premises, along with all of their belongings.
The Sheriff’s office will give you notice first, as you must be present to change the locks once they remove the tenants, and to officially reclaim possession of the premises.
The Sheriff’s Office will put all of your tenant’s belongings off your property, at the curb. They will also physically remove all occupants listed on the warrant of eviction, and escort them off of your property. You or a locksmith should change the locks immediately.
If the tenants should return to the property for any reason, you can call the police and have them arrested for trespassing.
The Steps to Take:
- Receive your Judgment of Possession and Warrant of Eviction from our office. These original documents are needed, so safeguard them accordingly.
- If a money judgment was issued in a non-payment proceeding, then confirm a transcript of judgment is also present.
- If a transcript of judgment was not issued, you will have to bring your papers to the district court clerk (the courthouse where your landlord-tenant trial took place), and ask the clerk at the window to issue you a transcript of judgment. The clerk will charge a $6 fee ($2 if in the eastern town courts).
- Then you must bring the original money judgment and the transcript of judgment to the Suffolk County Clerk’s Office, located at 310 Center Drive in Riverhead, New York, and ask the clerk to issue you an execution judgment, which they will do for a small fee.
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To have the judgment enforced and the warrant of eviction executed you should bring the original judgment and at least eight copies thereof, together with the original warrant of eviction and at least six copies thereof if there’s only one tenant, and 3 extra copies for each additional tenant, to the office of the Suffolk County Sheriff, located at 360 Yaphank Avenue, Suite 1A, in Yaphank, New York.
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The Sheriff’s Office may require you to furnish them with additional copies or information and will provide you with further instructions, including their schedule of fees. They will enforce the judgment and execute the warrant of eviction.
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