In AL or at least in my County, tenant evictions for Non-Payment of Rent generally take a min. of 21 days from beginning to end. There are actually three well-defined

"7-day" time periods involved and it is the last one I am confused about.

The first 7-day 'time-period' involves me posting a 7-Day Pay or Quit notice on the door. If rent is not received or tenant does not move,...then formal eviction papers (Unlawful Detainer) are filed with the clerk's office at the County courthouse. Here the local constable serves eviction papers to the tenant and tenant has another 7-days to answer the summons.

If tenant answers the summons within 7-days, tenant and LL go stand in front of a judge on an assigned future court date. If tenant does not answer the 7-day summons, which is usually what happens,..then after the 2nd 7-day period has expired (day 14 on calendar),..the LL wins by default. A 'Writ of Possession' is issued and signed by a judge. The Writ of Possession is a legal instrument that gives the Constable the legal right to go back to the rental house and physically evict the tenant from the house.

After the Writ of Possesion is signed by the judge, another 7-day 'waiting period' must go by before the Constable can do the physical eviction,...why does this final 7-day period need to be included? What purpose does it serve other than giving the tenant another 7 days of free rent?

My guess is probably so that the evictee has time and opportunity to appeal and/or find another place to live before he will actually be physically removed.

Kay in AL,

When I first started in 2006, Etowah county had two 7-day eviction time periods. Also, in 2006 Alabama got it very first official Landlord-Tenant laws enacted and the extra 7-day waiting period was added then as I remember. Then in 2007, our then new Mayor started to crack down on all of the slumlords here and created the Rental House Inspection Program ($50.00/unit once a year) which still irritates LL's to this day.

Roy, Name yourself President of the Etowah County Landlord Assoc. No members needed. Ask the judge if a representative of the assoc (YOU!) could meet with him to help the members understand how to help the court and keep evictions peaceful.

Judge LOVE to talk!

I'd spend time observing in the court room to watch how this plays out in real life. And perhaps even ask the judge in writing to help me understand what he wants in his courtroom.

Is the first notice required to file? Must you prove it was posted?

Our judge incorporated the state required 14 day notice by setting the eviction hearing 14 days from filing. This give the resident the state required notice and nobody can complain.

Look to see if the time periods can overlap in this way.

Or you can call me for self help eviction and tenant relocation service.

"Have shovel, will travel."

LOL. ;-)

Reid,

I have no desire to settle this in front of the judge since the judge could easily post-pone the trial for a month if the tenant needed more time to prepare her case!

I prefer to handle this with the constable only who I am now on a first name basis with. Plus, the constable has a secretary who supplies me with 'inside information'. She told me the next time I rent to anyone to call her first and she will check her computer database and see if my current applicant(s) has any "history with the constable's office"!! I will be sending her flowers for that gift from heaven.

Roy, you shouldn't be complaining, here in Illinois evictions can take a lot longer than that and the tenant can hire an attorney at your expense to represent them, according to the law the tenant is the victim of the landlord who is getting rich at the tenants expense.

Heather,

I have been on this forum for a couple of years and from reading other's posts,..I can tell you there are several states I would never be LL in,...Illinois or Cook County to be specific is the first one, NY and southern CA are tied for 2nd place, and anywhere Rent Control exist. Rent Control has to be a real drag on a LL who owns/operates rental property in a market where demand far exceeds the supply.

I'm scared stiff by NJ laws!

Chris,

Reid,

Once they are out of the house and gone,..I am done with them,..forever. I have better more productive things to do (like build shooting houses) than to chase after a deadbeat who owes me some back rent. If the back rent was $1,500.00 or more,...hmmm,..I may chase them,...but for my nickel and dime rents,..no way.