Evictions are an important topic for landlords and property owners, and they have been especially top-of-mind during the pandemic.
While a landlord never wants to evict a tenant, sometimes the situation calls for us to do so when the terms of the lease agreement have been broken and rent has not been paid on time.
Read on to learn more about the eviction process and where things may go from here as we come out of the pandemic and see an end to the eviction moratorium.
Understanding the eviction process for Central Ohio
To better understand the process for handling evictions, let’s talk through some of the details in terms of the costs, procedures, and processes you have to go through for an eviction.
At RL Property Management, we manage rental properties throughout Franklin County, Ohio. Locally, the normal process for handling an eviction when there isn’t a moratorium is as follows:
- If a tenant falls behind on rent, about half-way through the month we post a 3-day notice on their door. This is the first step in the eviction process. The 3-day notice informs the resident that they have three business days to pay the rent in full (or move out).
- After three business days, if no action has been taken by the tenant to pay or move out, we begin the eviction process by sending the eviction paperwork over to our attorneys, and they file it with the court. By this point we are at around the 20th of the month.
- Next, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get the eviction hearing scheduled. At the hearing, we and our attorney appear to testify that the resident is still living at the property and still hasn’t paid the rent. Typically at that hearing or the next one, we will receive judgment and that gives us the right to pursue a setout, which is the last step in getting a resident out of the property.
How much does an eviction cost?
Our company charges a one-time flat fee of $200 to handle an eviction from start to finish for a property owner. Our attorney group charges a flat $100 fee, and then there are some hard costs in terms of the court. The court costs are approximately $130 to file the paperwork and handle the eviction. In total it’s around $400 once we’ve actually filed the eviction.
To counter these costs, we do charge the tenant if they decide to do what we call a “pay and stay”, which means they pay the full balance of the past-due rent, cancel the eviction, and get fully caught up on the rent. This makes the landlord whole in terms of their eviction costs.
We find that about 50 percent of the time, tenants will do a “pay and stay” and things proceed as normal.
When a tenant does not pay, we proceed with the eviction setout, schedule it with a bailiff and they will make sure the property gets vacated.
The timeline for an eviction extends to roughly 60 days, which means there are about two months of vacancy before we can turn the unit around and get it re-rented for property owners.
What the eviction moratorium means for landlords and property owners
In 2020-2021, there was an eviction moratorium, so the traditional process described above was not being used.
Rather, late payments and evictions were being handled on a case-by-case basis. We worked very closely with our attorney and other local attorneys to ensure that we were staying ahead of best practices in terms of how to resolve these issues with tenants by either getting them caught up on rent, or having them move out without necessarily going through the formal eviction process. At the same time, it remains our responsibility to protect you as the landlord from any legal liability.
Evictions are a real part of being a property owner. If you want to hear more about how we handle evictions, get in touch with our team at RL Property Management.
