Baltimore city eviction assistance

[Rob Gribben]

I have a tenant who's received multiple citations from Baltimore City Sanitation Dept, for having untagged and inoperable vehicles parked at the house.  They have one vehicle that doesn't even have an engine, yesterday I told them that's got to get moved off the property right away, it's a violation of Balt City code and the lease.  I don't think they plan to move it, so i'll more than likely have to evict.  Does anyone know a good service in Baltimore City to handle the eviction process.  I work full time, and won't have the time to do this myself.  

[Jeffrey H.]

I would add one step in between before evicting.  Assuming they are breaking the lease for City code violations you can send them a notice to have the vehicle removed by a certain date (which you have already done) and that if they do not you will remove it for them.  Specify that the cost to remove the vehicle will be added to their monthly rent bill.  Send them a statement with the incremental charges after that's been completed.

When they don't pay the full balance you have a stronger case to evict for non-payment than only simple code violations.

Depending on the state evicting can be more difficult for only breaking a certain sub-section item of a lease not related to rent, so always try to translate the issues you have back into a non-payment problem.

But to your question.  When the time comes there are plenty of attorneys that can take care of this for you...for a fee.  I know this sucks and is not fun, but you need to make this a priority to manage your property otherwise it will hurt you in the long run.  If you want to do it yourself it's not difficult.  Go to the courthouse and ask the clerk who files the most evictions - you can get a copy of these as part of public record.  Follow their file to see the steps and process.

Good luck.