If you have enough time to prepare, file and serve your court documents by at least 2 weeks before the eviction date, we generally recommend a regular interim stay application.
Using this approach you will:
- Pick a hearing date that is on or before the eviction date, and put that date in your “notice of application” form;
- Prepare and file your court documents as soon as possible;
- Serve your documents at least 8 business days before the hearing date;
- Go in front of a judge on the hearing date and ask for an interim stay; and
- Serve the interim stay order (if you get it) on your landlord.
Court documents for a regular interim stay application
When you make a regular interim stay application, you will need to prepare the following documents:
- Petition for judicial review;
- Affidavit in support of petition;
- Requisition for court fee waiver if you cannot afford to pay court fees;
- Affidavit in support of fee waiver if you cannot afford to pay court fees;
- Notice of application form; and
- Draft interim stay order.
The notice of application form tells the court, and the parties, that you are applying for an interim stay. It also sets a hearing date when you will ask the judge for the interim stay. Pick a hearing date that is on or before the eviction date.
This is a blank notice of application for interim stay form that you can download and fill in: Blank Notice of Application for Interim Stay
This is an example regular notice of application for interim stay that has already been filled out: Example Notice of Application for an Interim Stay (Regular)
An interim stay order is the court’s formal document stating that the court has ordered that your eviction is put on hold. It is helpful to the court if you can prepare a draft of the interim stay order that you will be asking for. This draft order will give the judge a template to use on the day of your interim stay hearing. The judge can write in the details of any interim stay that he or she decides to grant.
This is a blank interim stay order that you can download and fill in: Blank Interim Stay Order
This is an example regular interim stay order that is already filled out: Example Interim Stay Order (Regular)
Filing regular interim stay application documents
When you go to the court registry to file your documents, bring the following:
- Petition for judicial review;
- Affidavit in support of petition;
- Notice of application form;
- Draft interim stay order; and
- Money to pay the $80 fee for filing your notice of application plus the $200 fee for filing your petition OR if you cannot afford to pay court fees the requisition for a fee waiver and the affidavit in support of fee waiver.
You should bring at least 4 copies of the petition, notice of application form, and any affidavit (enough for you, your landlord, the Director of the Residential Tenancy Branch, the Attorney General, and anyone else that was a party at the Dispute Resolution Hearing).
Go to the civil registry desk. When you get to the front of the line at the court registry, tell the clerk that:
- You are representing yourself in a judicial review;
- Whether you are paying the court filing fees or requesting a fee waiver; and
- You are also applying for an interim stay of an order of possession.
When you are at the registry, ask the registry clerk to review or “vet” your draft interim stay order. The clerk might sign it, which will speed things along when you eventually go in front of a judge to ask for an interim stay.
After filing your documents, you should leave the courthouse with the following:
- Petition – at least 4 copies, stamped with a file number and a date stamp (usually inside a rectangle);
- Affidavit in support of your petition – at least 4 copies, stamped with the file number and a date stamp (usually inside an oval);
- Notice of application for an interim stay – at least 4 copies, stamped with the file number and a date stamp (usually inside an oval);
- Order to waive fees, if you obtained a fee waiver – at least one copy, stamped with the file number and an “Entered” stamp; and
- Draft interim stay order vetted by the registry.
If you applied for a fee waiver, you will probably have copies of the stamped requisition and affidavit for a fee waiver, too. Those are just for your records.
Serving the regular interim stay application documents
You will now need to serve each party listed in the “On Notice To” section of your petition with the following documents:
- A copy of the filed and stamped petition;
- A copy of the filed and stamped affidavit in support of the petition; and
- A copy of the filed and stamped notice of application for an interim stay.
There is no need to serve the fee waiver materials or the draft interim stay order.
See the section on how to serve different parties and how to draft a service cover letter.
You will need to serve your documents right away to give the other parties proper notice of your notice of application for an interim stay. All parties need to be served with the documents at least 8 business days before the hearing date in your Notice of Application. In calculating “at least 8 business days” before the hearing date, do not include either the day of the hearing, or the day you serve. Also, keep in mind that a “business day” is any day when the court registry is open (which usually means any week day that is not a statutory holiday).
Example: If you are setting a hearing for a Wednesday, you will have to file and serve the court documents by the Thursday nearly two weeks earlier, assuming there are no statutory holidays those weeks.
The application record for the regular interim stay application
Before your interim stay hearing, you will need to prepare two copies of a binder called an “application record”. This is a binder containing all the materials that the judge may want to look at in the interim stay application. The goal of the application record is to make it easy for the judge to find documents and to understand your interim stay application.
One copy of the application record will go to the judge and you will keep the other copy for your reference. You will also have to provide a copy of the index of your application record to all the other parties with will be appearing, so that they can create their own application record that matches yours.
The other parties in your case might respond to your court documents by serving you with a document called an “application response” stating their position on your notice of application. They may also serve you with affidavits. These documents will need to go into the application record along with your documents.
Application records must contain:
- Title page with the style of proceeding;
- An index;
- Copy of your filed notice of application;
- Copy of any filed application responses;
- Copy of every filed affidavit that you or the respondents will be referring to at your application for an interim stay; and
- Copy of your filed petition.
If you wish, your application record can also contain your draft interim stay order.
You cannot put the following in your application record:
- Affidavits proving service;
- Copies of legal authorities; or
- Any other documents, unless all parties agree.
Put each copy of your application record in a 3 ring binder. Tape the title page to the front of the application record binder, and make the index the first page inside the binder. It is a good idea to use tabs so that each document is separated and easy to find. Put the tab numbers on the index. If you do not use tabs, then number all the pages of the application record consecutively and put the page numbers on your index. Use copies of documents for the application record, not originals.
You will need to file one copy of your application record before 4:00 p.m. on the business day that is one full business day before the date set for the hearing. For example, if the hearing is set for a Wednesday, you will need to file the application record by 4:00 p.m. on the Monday of that same week (assuming there are no statutory holidays that week). If your hearing is set for a Monday, you will have to file the application record by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday (again, assuming there are no statutory holidays).
Because of storage constraints, the registry will not accept your application record more than 3 business days before your hearing.
The registry needs an extra copy of your notice of application attached to the application record. You should make an extra copy of your filed notice of application and highlight Part 1. Then use an elastic band to attach the highlighted copy of the filed notice of application to the front of the application record binder that you intend to file.
Take the application record to the court registry and tell them your hearing date and say that you need to file the application record. They will stamp it and take the binder so that the judge will have it at your hearing. Once you have filed your application record, your hearing will automatically be set for the date on the notice of application.
You will also need to serve the other parties with a copy of just the index of your application record. You need to serve the index before 4:00 p.m. on the business day that is one full business day before the date set for the hearing. The other parties should already have copies of all the documents that belong in the application record, so the index will let them make their own binder that matches yours.
This is a blank application record title page that you can download and fill in: Blank Application Record Title Page
This is an example application record title page that is already filled out: Example Application Record Title Page
This is a blank application record index that you can download and fill in: Blank Application Record Index
This is an example application record index that is already filled out: Example Application Record Index