State Specific Question About: NORTH CAROLINA (NC) I have a tenant that is overdue in rent, I would like to know if I can process papers for overdue rent from Maryland and it feasible for the courts?

NC LL/Tenant law allows the tenant to pay the rent up to five days late with no penalty. However if the rent is due on the first, it is past due on the second.

You can post late notices on the day after the rent is due if you wish but you can't apply the late fee until the rent is five days late.

Most will wait the five days to post in order to include the late fee in the notice.

Once you post the notice you have to give the tenant 10 days to conform to the rental agreement or leave. If on the 11 day after you post you have not received the rent you can go to the court house, fill out the papers and request a court date. When you do that you pay a filing fee and a sheriff fee to cover the sheriff deputy handing a summons to court to the tenant.

Different counties have different court schedules. The county my apartment is in has LL court on Friday. If I get to the court house by Tuesday morning before, I usually can get in the court room on that Friday.

If the magistrate finds against the tenant then the magistrate gives the tenant 10 more days to pay up or move out. I am usually asked if the tenant pays do I still want them to move out.

If the tenant still hasn't taken care of the problem by that 11th day I go back to the court house and ask that the court order be executed. That costs more for the court and more for the sheriff deputy to post notice of eviction. The sheriff then gives the tenant 10 more days after the eviction notice is served to get out.

If the tenant still hasn't gotten the message then on the 11th day you meet the sheriff at the property, the tenant is escorted out. You change the locks on the door. If the tenant has left personal property he or she is given 10 more days by the sheriff deputy to remove their property from the apartment. The tenant must contact you and arrange for an appointment to get the stuff. You do not enter the apartment during this period unless there is some emergency that requires entry.

And to directly answer your question about filing by mail. It can be done but would be rather awkward. You need to get a full set of papers, fill them out properly, pay the court cost and sheriff fees. These are usually paid in two different places, clerk of court office and sheriff office. Provide stamped-addressed envelopes to the sheriff department. Agree to the court date and time.