Eviction Notice: The Eviction Process
An eviction notice, scary as it is, is not the eviction itself. If you are a tenant and you came home today to an eviction notice posted on your front door, it is still your front door, and you still have rights. The eviction process itself is only just around the corner - it's important to act quickly and competently to protect your rights -- no easy task in such a stressful, high-stakes environment. But it can be done. An eviction notice is often presented as a legal document, but in fact it must meet many strict legal requirements before any court will consider it valid...has yours met those requirements? Read on for more information on how to handle receiving an eviction notice.
Eviction Notices, Requirements, and Free Legal Help
One requirement for eviction notices, in any jurisdiction, is that they must provide you with all the information you need to understand your landlord's problem with you, and all the information you need in order to respond to it in time. Legal eviction processes begin only if you don't use that information and respond appropriately before the deadline. Still, that notice is invalid if it doesn't provide you with the necessary information you need in order to respond effectively.
Of course, the courts determine what kind of information is necessary and how it must be presented. They also determine what kind of response is "effective." Your landlord has probably hired legal counsel to help him/her with this process. If you have received an eviction notice, you may think you can't handle the cost of hiring an attorney, but the reality is that in many jurisdictions all across the country, many tenants' rights/housing lawyers offer legal aid clinics and other legal assistance services - most of which are pro bono, or provided at drastically reduced cost (discounts of 90% or more). The services that provide free legal representation, in fact, are often only available right after receiving an eviction notice, and only to lower income clients or those in other special circumstances, usch as poor health. In any case, whether you make use of a tenants' rights lawyer or not, strict legal demands still apply - both to you and to your landlord.
The Purpose of an Eviction Notice
Aside from scaring you, the purpose of an eviction notice is to inform you that a legal process of eviction is about to start, if you don't resolve a grievance of the landlord. Sometimes there is no particular grievance - there's usually a much longer deadline to respond to these types of eviction notices - up to 30-60 days (vs. 3-5 days for many issue-specific notices in some jurisdictions). But if you confront the notice and meet your legal requirement to respond, then you may be able to delay that process for weeks or even months, or even prevent the eviction from happening altogether.
Eviction Notices Need Accurate Information
The most important thing to do is read the entire eviction notice itself. Eviction notices aren't very long, but they're subject to a long list of strict legal requirements. A notice of eviction is much like any other notice - its purpose is to notify you of something so that you can fix it or avoid it or reduce its negative impact on your life. If the notice or its method of delivery are invalid or defective in any way, then the notice has to be filed again by the landlord - at a minimum, this can provide you with another week to two weeks of breathing room.
A notice represents an opportunity to respond - legally, and urgently - to the demands made in the notice. The form should indicate to you that your landlord has a serious grievance and has decided to threaten you with legal action to resolve it. The exact grievance must be stated on the eviction notice itself, along with instructions on how to fix the problem within the time limit. Check your notice for this grievance, and look for response instructions. Usually the accusation leading to eviction has to do with with alleged breaking of the terms of your lease agreement (e.g. - failing to pay rent, disturbing yourneighbors' enjoyment of their home, engaging in illegal activity, making frivolous complaints, etc.). Check your copy of the lease agreement, look into your own personal records, and compare them with the notice. Note any discrepancies.
As was said earlier, eviction notices have to meet many legal requirements in order to be legallyvalid and binding on you. They must effectively notify you of the danger (eviction) lurking around the corner, and tell you exactly how to avoid that danger. Retaining qualified, local housing rights lawyers is cheaper than you may realize.
Eviction Notice Procedures
Landlords, in their eviction notices, face a legal requirement to state the "who, what, where,when, and why" of the problem...as well as "how" to fix it within the deadline. Tenants face the a legal requirement to respond to the eviction in a timely manner. In fact, an eviction notice is anurgent legal issue - be sure you treat it that way.
The typical 30 day eviction notice, as the name indicates, requires that you respond to the notice within 30 days of receiving it. The laws in your state and sometimes local jurisdictions ("where"), and the circumstances of your particular situation, i.e. - the "why" you are being evicted, are theremaining factors that can legally determine the deadline you face. Read the front of youreviction notice. The deadline to respond will never be upheld in court if your notice didn't properly give you the deadline - no matter the "why".
How an Eviction Notice Ends a Tenancy
A landlord who wants to evict a tenant must end the tenancy before an eviction can begin.Giving an eviction notice is one such way to end the tenancy. It is relatively simple, fast, and there are even several basic "kinds" of eviction notices that a landlord can use and still befollowing eviction law. The "why" and the "when" are different in each situation. Remember that the following types of notices are reasons for receiving a notice, not reason for being evicted.
Notice to Pay Rent or Quit
If the tenant doesn’t pay the rent when it’s due, the landlord can serve a notice that the rent is due and give the tenant some time in which to pay it and the associated late fees (as listed in the rental agreement you may have signed), or move out. The time period given is usually 3-5 days.If the tenant pays the full amount in the time stated, there can be no eviction on that notice. The landlord must start all over again with a new notice and new time period, IF there are otherviolations that need fixing.
Notice to Correct a Violation of the Lease or Quit
In some states a landlord can give a tenant a notice to fix some violation of a rental agreement, such as a junk car in the front yard, a pet that’s forbidden by the lease, or more people living in the unit than is allowed in the agreement. The notice must state the amount of time the tenant has to correct this. For example, state law may give the tenant 5 or 10 days. As long as the tenant corrects the violation in time, there can be no eviction on that notice.
Notice to Quit
In some states a landlord may give a notice for a tenant to move without any possibilityof correcting something. In most places this can only be done if the tenant has seriouslyviolated the rental agreement. For instance, a tenant repeatedly being late with the rent, causingserious damage to the rental property, threatening the health or safety of the property and othertenants (sometimes called "nuisance"), or doing any growing or selling drugs on the rental property. The time given to move depends on state law. If the tenant has done what the landlord claims, he or she must move or be evicted.
30-Day or 60-Day Notices
In most states a landlord can give an eviction notice for a tenant to move without giving any reason. The time allowed under state law for such a notice is usually 30 or 60 days, but it may be as short as 20 days or as long as 90 days. There may be different time periods if the tenant has lived in the unit for a long time, is a senior citizen or is disabled. The requirements also vary if the tenant is receiving federal housing assistance, or if the reason for the eviction is a condo conversion. A landlord can’t give this kind of notice to a tenant with a lease until the lease period is over. He or she also can’t give such a notice for illegal reasons such as discrimination, or as retaliation against a tenant (e.g. - for reporting violations or insisting on legal repairs). This kind of notice may also be forbidden in places with rent control or rent stabilization laws. Some states or cities require landlords to pay relocation expenses in some circumstances, such as to senior citizen or disabled tenants or for units that are being converted to condos.
The Importance of a Quick Response
Respond to the notice on time. Even if you feel you "deserve" to be evicted; even if you don't have the financial resources to pay back rent or otherwise solve the problem on your own -- still respond. The importance of responding before the deadline can't be emphasized enough, because if you miss it, chances are not even hiring an attorney will help. You will end up losing by default. This means no chance to argue your side, no chance to reach a settlement out of court, and no chance to even try a compromise solution with your landlord (one in which, potentially some back rent would be forgiven, or a payment plan created, etc). Your case will simply be over before it ever began.
Failing to "show up," in effect tells the court that you don't care about your right to your place. Eviction laws, which create the legal requirements for eviction notices, were meant to help you, not hurt you. Let them help.