Lorain / Elyria eviction process / laws / etc.

[Jason Allen]

I own some properties in Cleveland, and I recently had to do two nightmare evictions in a row, including one with a literal squatter, who had no lease, never paid a cent of rent, and KICKED the door down to gain entry (thanks Cleveland Police...). Before the eviction was finalized, he also moved in a bunch of sub-squatters and physically assaulted me, before finally being put back in prison on his months old felony warrant... On the plus side I got an awesome video of the POS getting put back in prison.. 

In both cases, the process took months because the city of Cleveland housing court is incredibly biased against landlords, and the magistrates delayed my case multiple times for no real reason, even though I had lawyers and everything was filed correctly and on time, and the tenants and the squatters never even bothered to show up to court.  (PM if you want to know the "justifications" given...  I'm not posting how they gamed the system just in case other professional tenants are reading.)   But I digress.

How landlord friendly are Lorain and Elyria? Has anyone done an eviction recently in Lorain and/or Elyria, and how did it go? How long does/did it take, how much did/does it cost? BS delays? After my experiences, I would doubt my sanity if I ever invested in CLE again given what I've been through, so I am looking for (hopefully) greener pastures now that the prices are starting to moderate a bit...

[Rebecca Bauer]

As a broker and property manager serving all 3 areas I can tell you at present you are looking at about $400-800 depending on amount of time, filings, and bs you have to go through with your tenants. Could be more but this is typical approx costs. Appears some judges in both Lorain and Elyria are taking some cues from Cleveland but Cleveland is heavily making landlords accept rental assistance before evicting and this can take 2 months or more depending on agency. However, as a whole the $ is there for landlords, and the courts are trying to make tenants cooperate and submit and follow through the process. We have been very successful with such filings both fur and against rental assistance but really depends on the tenant/saga you are in with them. So yes, it is tenant favored city but Lorain and Elyria are a little better in my opinion.