Third-Party Rent Levy

Here’s the situation: Your judgment debtors own a piece of real property, you have already recorded an abstract of judgment in the county it is located, you have determined there isn’t enough equity to do an execution sale on the property. (If you don’t know about that issue check out Can you force a sale of real property?) You have determined the judgment debtors are renting the property to a third party. How can you tap into that rental income the property? The answer is to levy the rent using a third-party levy.

A third-party rent levy is a legal process that allows a creditor to collect a debt by seizing rent payments that are owed to a debtor. If you have a valid judgment against the property owners, take the following steps:

Obtain a writ of execution in the county where the property is located.
The creditor must serve the debtor with a Notice of Levy. Some counties, like San Diego, have a sheriff’s department levy form with information they require to serve the levy. Every county is different, so check with the sheriff’s civil office in the county you are doing your levy if you have questions.
The creditor must then serve the Notice of Levy on the third party, which is the person who is holding the debtor's rent payments.
The third party must then withhold the debtor's rent payments and send them to the creditor.

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