On July 31, 2021, renewals for the eviction moratorium had failed to manifest, causing the moratorium to lapse and allow evictions to once again be processed. The result: landlords and tenants both are now making their way to courts all across the country, whether to evict a tenant or to try keeping a roof over their heads.

As of August 3, 2021, the White House is trying to find a quick solution, but not without call outs by Democratic members of Congress for allowing the moratorium to lapse in the first place. As CNN had reported, the White House had been trying to find a solution over the weekend but failed to find a last-minute means to continue preventing evictions from taking place. Progressive wings of the Democratic party have been pointing out that this issue should鈥檝e been addressed far sooner than 60 hours before the deadline. As of the afternoon of August 3, 2021, President Biden announced that he was set to make an announcement on new eviction bans due to COVID-19鈥檚 continuing spread.

But whether a new eviction ban manifests or not, now that three days have passed since the moratorium has expired, the courthouses of the nation have been bustling with activity as landlords move to evict and tenants attempt to win themselves time. If you鈥檙e a landlord trying to get an eviction processed, there are some steps in which you may need to go through before being able to have an eviction carried out.

First Steps Before Going to Court

Before you can have a tenant evicted, there are conditions that need to first be met before a landlord is able to seek the removal of a tenant. First, before any legal action can be taken, the landlord must first provide a written eviction notice, and have it served properly to the tenant who has failed to pay their rent or vacate the premises. Here are just some examples of eviction notices:

• 14-day notice to pay or vacate
• 10-day notice to either comply with rental agreement terms or vacate the premises
• 20-day notice to vacate or terminate one鈥檚 tenancy (this may also be called a 鈥渘o cause鈥� notice)
• 3-day notice for nuisance

These notices must be served either by the landlord, a person of suitable age who is able to perform the duty with discretion, or have the notice posted on the tenant鈥檚 door as well as have it sent by mail.

This can be the final step if the tenant complies with the eviction notice and its requests or manages to negotiate with the landlord. But a lot of times, the situation can go to court.

The Legal Eviction Process

• Summons and Complaint – Once a notice has been provided, a Summons and Complaint needs to be issued. To do this, the landlord needs to have a legal third party involved, typically a lawyer or a law enforcement officer who will then deliver the Summons and Complaint. This is the actual legal document, and it must be prepared for a lawyer to make it official.
• Show Cause Hearing – After the Summons and Complaint has been issued, the tenant needs to be allowed to have a Show Cause Hearing. This allows a tenant to present a defense for their own case and situation, but it also provides landlords a chance to present their own case and reasons for pursuing eviction. These situations can result in a judge making a ruling just based on the information that鈥檚 given during this event, or the judge could order for the case to go to trial. Either way, this is the moment for both parties to lay out their cases to the fullest if they wish to seek a timely conclusion to the eviction matter.
• Obtaining a Writ of Possession – If the landlord wins the case, the next step will be to obtain a writ of possession. This essentially allows the purchaser of the property (the landlord) to take possession of the property from the tenant. While a writ of possession may possibly be appealed, there is a period in which a tenant may try to appeal, and it differs from state to state. Once a writ of possession has been obtained by the landlord and served to the tenant, the tenant will only have a number of days to be moved out. This is decided when the landlord goes to the bailiff鈥檚 floor to schedule a move-out date with the sheriff.

By this point, unless the tenant succeeds at appealing the writ of possession, this is the conclusion of the eviction process. It should be noted, for landlords, just as there are a number of reasons as to why an eviction may be warranted, there are a number of reasons that a tenant can try to appeal a writ of possession that can lead to more court dates and a longer process, whether or not they have a good chance at winning. At this stage, be prepared in the case that your tenant tries to challenge the writ of possession.

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