EVICTION DELAY TACTICS

Many landlords have been through the unlawful detainer process more commonly known as an eviction. Not all of them, however, have encountered just how different and difficult one unlawful detainer action can be from another with regards to service of the unlawful detainer action on the problem tenant. An unlawful detainer action should take approximately three to four weeks if the tenant isn’t engaging in delay tactics.  Unfortunately there exist many tenants who engage in delay tactics to lengthen the time the tenant can stay in the property without paying rent.

The unlawful detainer trial was intended to be a “summary eviction proceeding,” which means it was intended to be a quick and limited proceeding in comparison to the general civil litigation matters. For example, in a general civil lawsuit, the defendant has 30 days to answer the complaint, but only five days to answer in an unlawful detainer action. Also, the trial in a general civil lawsuit may take over a year to be heard, where the unlawful detainer trial is required to be set within 20 days of the tenant’s answering.  Despite the attempt to keep the unlawful detainer action quick and limited, problem tenants familiar with the system understand how to drag it out and delay the trial and the lock-out, so that the tenant remains in the premises much longer than they should.

AVOIDING SERVICE

The first and easiest delay tactic taken by the problem tenant is to avoid service of the unlawful detainer complaint.  The unlawful detainer complaint must be served by one of three following ways:

1.) Personally served on the tenant.

2.) Subserved on a resident living in the rental property who is over the age of 18.

3.) Served on the Tenant’s Authorized Agent for Service of Process.

Clever tenants will avoid being served personally or subserved because by avoiding service the landlord must file a motion in court then wait to obtain a signed order from a judge allowing the landlord to post the unlawful detainer action on the front door of the rental unit and mail the the unlawful detainer action to the tenant.  The aforementioned process is more commonly known as nail and mail.  The nail and mail process can delay the unlawful detainer action for several weeks, and give the tenant several more weeks to answer the complaint while occupying a rental unit rent free.

However, by requiring the tenant, when renting the property, to designate Assured Serve as the Tenant’s Authorized Agent for Service of Process, the landlord can avoid the hassle of the first two types of service and simply serve Assured Serve, thus guaranteeing that the tenant is quickly, efficiently and properly served.

MOTION TO QUASH SUMMONS

If the tenant is really ambitious, further delay can be taken by the tenant filing a motion to quash service of summons alleging that the unlawful detainer complaint was not properly served.  A Motion to Quash Summon may delay the trial setting for several weeks.

Having the tenant designate Assured Serve as the Tenant’s Authorized Agent for Service of Process makes it very difficult for the tenant to successfully claim improper service since Assured Serve will be served on behalf of the tenant and Assured Serve will provide verification that Assured Serve was properly served.

LANDLORD versus EXISTING TENANT

As part of any Rental Agreement paperwork, a Landlord requires that a Tenant designate Assured Serve, as the Tenant’s Authorized Agent for Service of Process, this is accomplished via a modification to the Rental Agreement or if the Landlord is using a preprinted form Assured Serve will provide an Addendum Form that will designate Assured Serve as the Tenant’s Authorized Agent for Service of Process.

In the event the Landlord needs to evict a Tenant, the Landlord follows the following steps:

1.)  File an Unlawful Detainer Action.

2.)  Scan all the documents related to the Unlawful Detainer Action into a single PDF file.

3.)  Email the PDF to Assured Serve.

4.)  Mail a paper copy of the PDF to Assured Serve.

5.)  Move forward with the Unlawful Detainer Action.

There is no cost to the Landlord for this service.

By utilizing this process the Landlord does not have to spend time and money attempting to locate and serve a Tenant the Landlord needs to evict.  The Tenant is served once the Unlawful Detainer Action is delivered to Assured Serve.  Assured Serve contacts the Tenant regarding the forwarding of the Unlawful Detainer Action.

If the Tenant attempts to claim that they weren’t served, Assured Serve, will provide to the Landlord, supporting documentation that Assured Serve, as the Tenant’s Authorized Agent for Service of Process, was served with the Unlawful Detainer.