All evictions filed in town and village courts will be transferred to the Erie County Court Landlord Tenant Hub Court (“ECHC”). The Hub Court, located in Buffalo City Court, is a virtual court using Microsoft Teams. Once the case is transferred by the village or town court, the parties will be contacted by mail with a new appearance date. Parties can appear virtually from their homes or in their attorney’s office.
The steps for filing Erie County Village Court and Town Court evictions by landlords are as follows:
- Contact the Village Court or Town Court (“Home Court”) for a court date for the Notice of Petition.
- Serve the Notice of Petition and Petition on the tenant.
- File the Notice of Petition, Petition, Affidavit of Service and hardship documents with the Home Court.
- The clerk of the Home Court provides the landlord or his/her attorney with the Hub Court Cover Letter.
- The Home Court transfers the case to ECHC via email, but retains all original documents.
- The landlord and tenant or their attorneys shall file all subsequent documents with either the Home Court or via the Electronic Document Delivery System
- When the ECHC receives the petition, it assigns a new docket number and return date.
- ECHC sends a notice to the parties and their attorneys with the new court date and requesting email contact information to schedule the virtual court appearance.
- After the case is disposed of by ECHC, a copy of the file is emailed to the Home Court.
- All post eviction proceedings will be handled by ECHC.
For assistance with evictions, contact Buffalo, New York landlord lawyers Robert Friedman and Justin Friedman at 716.542.5444.
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