Good News: Eviction in just over a month!

[George Paiva]

Hey folks, just wanted to share my fourth eviction experience in over 2 years!!! I am starting to gain a good understanding of how evictions work in CT. Although there is still much to learn, I have been lucky so far. Typically evictions in CT last 1.5months to 3months when all said and done.

This one occurred in one of my mom's properties she owns outright. We are able to self represent in evictions. With LLC's you need to lawyer up.

Background Story: Tenant moved in last June with Girlfriend. Girlfriend moved on 2 months later. First started with rent always a week behind. Basically chasing this Tenant down for rent every month we were just waiting for the day he would be late past the tenth. In CT, you have to wait till the 10th to serve "Notice to Quit". Unfortunately since the November month is a Thanksgiving holiday and I was traveling for my 9to5 job. My mom didn't approach me till December indicating he didn't pay rent for November. In fact, He didn't pay December which caused my Mom to call me on Dec 9th to begin eviction. YES I was surprised my mom waiting till December but that's another story.

Timeline:
Dec 10th: Notice to Quit to Marshall for service.
* For you newbies "Notice to Quit" is basically a form that the Housing Session here in CT provides to have the Tenant Volunteer to Vacate the apartment. We gave the tenant to Dec 15 to comply. In my personal experience they never volunteer to leave. ;) You pay the Marshall $30-35 and they serve it and provide you with a return of service. You need that for the next step.

Tenants Response: "Oh I didn't know I had to pay? I lost my job and I am trying to come up with some money" Which I replied, "You need to leave or we will proceed with eviction" At this point Tenants like to call our bluff.

Dec 18th: Summary and Complaint to Housing Session.
Complete all paperwork for Summary and Complaint and include Notice to Quit and Return Service.
* For you newbies "Summary and Complaint" is to basically begin the eviction proceedings with the court. First have to state the complaint. Here in CT, you have to be very diligent in providing a complaint that falls into 3 categories:
1) Non-Payment of Rent
2) Lapse of Time or Termination of Lease
3) Conditions that break the lease *This one is the hardest and time consuming reason, I recommend not even trying unless you have the deep pocket and time to devote.

We filled out all the paperwork, pay the court fee and wait for the response.

Dec 26: Return Date for Tenant Response.
Originally had return date of the 24th but due to holiday the Marshall didn't serve the paperwork in time.

* I don't know why we even bother with this step since most of the time there is always some BS excuse from Tenant.

On the third day after Return date we should get a response from the Housing Session. Normally this is when we get a court date 3-6 weeks out. This time around the tenant blew it off like its no worry. This proved very beneficial to us since the Tenant did not respond we had the right to Default Judgement.

With the holidays we didn't get back to the court to file the Default till Jan 2nd.

Jan 2: Default Judgment for Failure to Appear.
We go to the Housing Session to get the paperwork set for Default Judgment for Failure to Appear. They required we do a Military Affidavit. This ensures we are not evicting a tenant in case they are away on military.

This is another service that has to be made by the Marshall. The Marshall makes sure they are not in the military. This sometimes takes a few days for verification. Once verified we take the Military Affidavit back to the court.

Jan 8: We take the Military Affidavit to Court.
Proving that the Tenant is not in the military and is truly in Default for Appearance. The Tenant at this step still had an out if they went to the court when we first filed the Default on the 2nd to make an Appearance.
*Newbie Alert - Sometimes Tenants like to drag it out to the last hour of the day on these dates to buy them time. If they did make an appearance then we have to give them another 3 days to respond to the complaint.

Since he did not Appear or file any Response we were granted Default Judgement on Jan 9th.

Jan 9: Motion for default for failure to appear is granted.
Big win but its not over yet!! A 5-day Stay of Execution is granted to give the tenant 5-days to pack up and leave. If they have not left you will have to execute on the Judgement.

Jan 16: Execution issued!
Had to follow through on the last step. Tenant has not removed personal property from the premises and was not able to communicate a date of when they expected to do so.

OFFICIAL INFO - http://www.jud2.ct.gov/housing/display_docket.asp?dno=WASP-049496

Today:
Waiting for the mailing from the court for the Execution. This informs us that we can execute the eviction. But wait we can't drag him out. We take this form to the Marshall. The Marshall serves the paperwork to vacate the premises within a minimum of 24 (twenty-four) hours or be physically removed from the premises. If the tenant does not leave by end of this weekend. On Monday we go to the Marshall with a $700 deposit and watch the tenant be removed by force and all his belongings stored in town at Tenants expense. He can only get his belongings after paying the storage.

Last night had another conversation with the Tenant. We made it apparent that in no way we will flexible with removing him. He actually hasn't been living there since last Sunday but still has all his belongings in there. I sent him a formal Notice of Intent to Enter Premises on Friday, Jan 11 to enter and inspect any damages on the 16th. Basically the day he was supposed to be out.

The Damages and Unpaid Rent:

Unpaid Bills:
November 2012, December 2012, January 2013 rent payments totaling: $1650.00

Repairs: (You will be charged for any damages that occurred during your possession of the property)
1. Exterior Door Damage:
a. Hardware replacement (lockset, Shield) $99.15
b. Repair forced door damage $75.00

2. Repair hole in wall_(Kitchen) $55.00

3. Replace toilet seat $35.00

TOTAL: $1914.15

So here we are on the 17th going to the Marshall this afternoon to post the execution for eviction by Sunday. I informed the tenant that if he does not remove his belongings by Monday I will instruct the marshall to come down and remove all his stuff and he will have to take it up with the town to get it back.

I plan on advertising the apartment this Friday and hope to begin Scheduling Showings next Wednesday, January 23rd.

This is by far the fastest eviction I had ever experienced or heard about. Remember folks up here in the Northeast we as landlords are the bad guys. You don't even want to hear some of the stories I've heard in the court system. I really feel bad for Landlords here, but the sooner they run their properties like a business the faster they can stop these abuses.

This also makes it tougher for landlords like myself that treat this like a business because you have to educate the spoiled tenant in that if they don't pay rent an eviction will be followed through starting on the 11th of the month.

Now I need to start learning a little about small claims as these evictions are costing us a lot of lost revenue and in repairs. Although all my peers say its not worth their time and efforts to do so.

I hope this provides a little insight to some that have not yet gone through eviction and gives them a realistic idea of what to expect. I can probably write a good book on all this. Like I mentioned this is my fourth eviction.

Eviction 1 & 2 - Dove 2 feet into the fire. 2 tenants in same 2-family house not paying rent to my Dad. Dad was sick with Cancer and passed on. I took over and immediately began evictions. Had same court date, got them both out on same day. Took about 2 months. This one had considerable damage and loss of rents. about $6k worth.

Eviction 3 - Tenant gets 3rd DUI, has to go to jail. Puts in a girlfriend into the apartment before heading off to jail. We had to evict him and her. Had to jump through many hoops on this one and eviction took 4 months. Tenants used every excuse in the book to prolong. About $2k in loss of rents and minor damage.

Learning something new everyday!