Have you checked out specific landlord/tenant laws, as per the link above. That may help you.
Are you just filing for eviction now and noting on the paperwork that you will return to court for money judgement, once they are out? Never try to get a money judgement without them getting out first. Otherwise you may have more rent owed, damages, additional sheriff's service fees, moving fees for their stuff left, insurance bonding, if you need to have them moved and much more. It will usually be more than you thought. If you have asked for a certain amount of money, ask if you can postpone that judgement until they are totally out.
As far as the court, be sure that you take all the paperwork with you, including your lease, copies of letters or emails sent, copies of notices left, etc.
VERY VERY IMPORTANT to take a copy of the sheriff's service paperwork to prove the time and date they were served. If you do not have this, go to the sheriff's office and get a copy. The judge in my county will NOT ever grant an eviction without knowing that they were served by the sheriff for it. The court should have a copy, but my clerk of court office rarely does.
Whether you win or not, depends on several factors, as follows:
You have proof of service.
They admit to owing the rent money or whatever caused them to be evicted.
If they fight it, the case may go to mediation, where a court official tries
to get parties to agree to a compromise.
I have never had to do this, so can't
give many details on it.
If they claim they are not guilty, it may go to a jury trial. I have not had that happen, but it is possible.
If they do not show up and you can prove they were served, you will usually get the eviction, as long as you are in court.
Be ready for a postponement to another court date. It happens a lot to me, even if totally prepared. Hopefully it will go quickly for you.
If you are given the eviction, you need to wait for the sheriff to serve the writ of restitution signed by the judge. The sheriff can have it for several days in my county before it needs to be served. It will cost you each time they attempt to serve it (here it is $40 each time plus mileage cost). When served the sheriff will give them so many days to move out. I was told by sheriff's dept that it is 10 more days, but not sure that is correct. If they still do not move out by the last deadline, in my county (and probably statewide), you need to make arrangements with a moving company to move their things and you have to pay for a secure place to store them, plus for the movers to move them. If you follow certain steps, you can move them yourself in most counties. Not sure what county you are in. You will need to get bonded by the sheriff in insurance to protect the tenant from damage to their stuff. This can be $200 plus, depending on the amount of insurance bonding they require. I think that you also need to pay to have everything itemized before it is moved. In addition you need to pay to have a member of the sheriff's department to be there to physically haul the tenants away, if they don't leave on their own and also to be there the entire time of moving, so nothing is damaged. You also need to It is a very costly situation. I would suggest that you avoid it if possible, but never let the tenant be aware of what they can do to stall you.
I really hope that they get out of the unit asap. That is the best thing. You can always pursue them later for money damages, but if you need to move them out, it gets very expensive.
Good luck. Feel free to post again, if you have more questions.
Cathy
--207.190.xxx.xxx
tenant eviction (by glenis [WI]) Jan 17, 2008 10:37 AM
tenant eviction (by ManateeAlley [FL]) Jan 17, 2008 11:30 AM