More Bedbug Issues

With the well publicized resurgence of bedbug infestations, landlords must take a more aggressive approach to suspected or known presence of bedbugs. In addition to habitability, health, and safety requirements as currently mandated by landlord-tenant laws, landlords in states with bedbug legislation must now incorporate specific additional policies for disclosure and mitigation of bedbug infestations.

Recently Arizona joined Illinois, Maine, and New York in taking initiative to enact comprehensive legislation to assign various duties and responsibilities for landlords, tenants, and pest control companies to prevent, manage, and control bedbug infestations. Several other states and certain local municipalities have similar bedbug legislation pending or have commissioned further study into the prevention and treatment of infestations.

For example, under the new Arizona law, a landlord has the followings obligations:

• To maintain the dwelling unit free of an infestation of bedbugs.
• To provide educational material to existing and new tenants. Educational material may include (1) a description of the measures that may be taken to prevent and control bedbug infestations, (2) general information about bedbugs including a description of appearance, (3) description of behaviors that are risk factors for attracting bedbugs (such as purchasing or using discarded mattresses, furniture, clothing, or traveling without taking proper precautions against transport of existing infestations, and (4) information as provided by federal, state, or local health agencies or housing agencies.
• To refrain from entering into a lease agreement with a tenant for a dwelling unit that the landlord knows to have a current bedbug infestation.
• To either personally or by landlord’s licensed pest control applicator visually inspect the dwelling unit for bedbugs within 7 business days after receiving written or electronic notice from the tenant of a possible bedbug infestation.
• To start the process of mitigation of bedbugs in the dwelling unit within 7 business days after finding evidence that a bedbug infestation exists in the dwelling.
• To use for mitigation a pest control applicator who is licensed pursuant to Arizona Statutes, Title 32, Chapter 22. In addition, unless the landlord is a licensed applicator, the landlord shall not use any pest control techniques that constitute mitigation.
• To provide the tenant with a written notice of the bedbug mitigation treatment protocol at least 3 business days before the initial treatment date. Notice will be deemed received by the tenant on the date the notice is personally delivered or mailed first class.
• To be responsible for the bedbug mitigation expenses for the dwelling unit and any surrounding units that are infested unless otherwise provided for.

Under Arizona law, a tenant has the following obligations in respect to a bedbug infestation:  

• To maintain the dwelling unit free of an infestation of bedbugs.
• To not move material that is infested with bedbugs into a dwelling unit.
• To provide the landlord written or electronic notification of the presence of bedbugs in the dwelling unit within 3 business days if the tenant knows of the presence of bedbugs. Providing notice to the landlord pursuant to this obligation constitutes the tenant’s permission to the landlord to enter the dwelling unit for the sole purpose of inspecting for or the mitigation of bedbugs.
• To allow the landlord and landlord’s licensed pest control applicator access to the dwelling unit after receiving notice from the landlord of a bedbug inspection or mitigation.
• To comply with the bedbug mitigation protocol as established by the licensed applicator. This may include pretreatment activities, temporary evacuation of the dwelling unit, post-treatment activities, and the obligation to report to the landlord within 3 business days of ineffective treatment or re-infestation.
• To not apply or permit any unlicensed person to apply any bedbug control techniques that constitute mitigation
• To provide written notice to the landlord of the tenant’s intention to correct conditions at the landlord’s expense if the landlord fails to inspect and if necessary mitigate a bedbug infestation within the prescribed timeframe. If the landlord fails to correct the condition within 10 business days after being notified by the tenant in writing, the tenant may cause the work to be done by a licensed pest control applicator, submit to the landlord an itemized statement for the pest control services and deduct from rent due the actual and reasonable costs of the pest control treatment. Such costs to not exceed five hundred dollars or one-half of the monthly rent whichever is greater.
• To be held financially responsible for bedbug mitigation expenses for the dwelling unit and surrounding units that are infested if the tenant fails to comply with any of the above obligations.

In addition, the new Arizona legislation provides that the landlord and tenant of a single-family residence may agree that the tenant is responsible for bedbug mitigation. A landlord is deemed to have successfully mitigated a bedbug infestation upon completion of bedbug treatment by a licensed pest control applicator. The new legislation does not limit the landlord’s or tenant’s rights and obligations and except as specifically provided, does not create a cause of action against (1) a landlord, landlord’s employees, officers, agents, and directors by a tenant or tenant’s guests for any damages caused by bedbugs and (2) a tenant by a landlord for any damages caused by bedbugs.

Mitigation process by a pest control applicator is defined as the attempt to eliminate or manage the infestation of bedbugs by poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping, or any other recognized and lawful pest control method, including repeated applications of any treatment particularly in areas where bedbugs are likely to congregate. Mitigation expenses as defined in the statute mean reasonable and necessary costs of pest control treatment and may include cleaning, removal and replacement of flooring if reasonably required by the degree of infestation. Infestation is defined as the presence of bedbugs is sufficient to materially affect the health and safety of tenants and tenants’ guests. Surrounding unit is a dwelling unit that shares a common wall with or is directly above or below another dwelling unit.

Landlords must have an adequate bedbug procedure established within their leases as a normal part of their rental policy. They should also budget for the potentially high cost of prevention and/or mitigation.

Landlords should require that the pest management company provide a detailed written description of the bedbug treatment program that they will follow, as this can provide additional legal protection. Also, landlords should keep detailed treatment records because disclosure of treatment history is required by law in some states and the records may be important in defense against lawsuits. Record keeping is also important because states are beginning to require disclose of past history upon sale of real property.

Even when the law does not require professional treatment of bedbug infestations, self-help treatments are rarely effective and not advisable, as they come with great risks, notably an increased probability of lawsuits. Unlike roaches, bedbugs do not ingest poison and die later. It is of no value to use a bug bomb or fogger. Since bedbugs can go as long as one year between feedings, a “wait and see” attitude to starve them out is not feasible.

While a landlord may successfully defend against litigation, the costs of doing so will no doubt be much higher than paying professionals to deal with the bedbug infestation in the first place. Immediately attacking the infestation utilizing professionals will go a long ways to a successful defense in court. Furthermore, an infestation in one unit will soon affect the whole building if left uncorrected. Ignoring the problem or attempting to deal with it yourself will only increase potential liability.

Until recently, although bedbugs can cost landlords and property management firms lost rent, battered reputations, and lawsuits – despite the fact that it is usually the tenants who bring the bed bugs into apartments and rental homes – one of the few consolations has been that bedbugs do not carry any known pathogens or diseases. However, very recent news has suggested that this is about to change, significantly further increasing the potential liability for landlords and management companies.

Doctors at the inner-city hospital in Vancouver, BC had noticed two things happening in their neighborhood— a boom in bedbugs and a boom in cases of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterial infection highly resistant to some antibiotics. Dr. Marc Romney, a medical microbiologist at St. Paul’s Hospital/Providence Health Care, decided to see if the two were related.

Researchers took five bedbugs that patients had brought in and crushed and analyzed them. They found MRSA on three of them. On the other two they found VRE – vancomycin-resistant enterococcus faecium, a less dangerous form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

If left untreated, MRSA can cause pneumonia or infections of the skin, blood, and joints. The bacterium, once confined to hospitals, has been increasingly found in community settings like locker rooms and gyms, and kills 19,000 Americans each year. Recently, the FDA approved a quick diagnostic test that promises to help infected patients receive treatment more quickly.

Dr. Romney stated that it is not clear whether the bacteria (1) originated with the bedbugs or (2) the bugs picked them up from people who were already infected. Both are scenarios are often seen in hospitals. And experts have been far more worried about nurses and other health care workers spreading the bacteria than the bedbugs, Romney said, which is why the finding, although disturbing, is inconclusive.

Furthermore, it’s also not clear whether the bacteria existed on the bed bugs or in them. That is, were the bed bugs carrying MRSA on their backs or were the bacteria living and growing inside them? Either way, it’s not good news: if bed bugs are capable of carrying and transmitting MRSA the way a mosquito spreads malaria, it could mean a whole new vector of human disease.

Further studies are needed to characterize the association between S. aureus and bedbugs and it may turn out that the results of this small study do not really mean that there is additional risk related to bedbug infestations. However, in the meantime, since landlords potentially face increasing risk due to the possible danger of MRSA infections, the prudent landlord will be increasingly vigilant against infestations and take increased steps to deal with them when found.

In conclusion, whether to minimize existing risks of lawsuits, to obey existing and new state laws and local ordinances specific to the matter, or to reduce exposure to even greater potential liabilities if it turns out that bedbugs can in fact spread MRSA, landlords and property managers must take certain steps. They must educate themselves regarding existing legal requirement, keep informed regarding new requirements, and institute adequate procedures for prevention and eradication of infestations.

Additional Information

For additional discussions regarding a wide variety of real estate investing and management issues see our eCourses and our Mini Training Guides.

We provide here a few questions that have been posted in the Community Forums and our answers to them.

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Q1

What are my legal obligations concerning Bed Bugs? To my knowledge there are no bed bugs in any of my apartments at this moment, but I’ve been reading lately about them becoming a national problem. What if I get a call and my tenant says “there are bed bugs in my apartment?”

A1

Although not historically considered by medical science to be a health concern, bedbugs are considered to be a more serious issue compared to many other vermin because bedbugs (1) are parasites that like human blood, (2) inflict irritating bites on their victims (3) are persistent, resilient, and difficult to eradicate; and (4) readily move among units of a building.

There is a historical social stigma attached to these blood-sucking parasites. Many people mistakenly believe bedbugs are a sign of unclean living conditions. This stigma causes some hotels and landlords to ignore infestations or to attempt self-help treatment.

Adult bedbugs are small, approximately 3/16” in length, light brown to reddish-brown color, wingless, nocturnal insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals. Seen from above, bedbugs appear to be oval in shape but are flattened from top to bottom allowing them to easily hide in a number of places, thus making it difficult to locate breeding sites. Although they prefer human blood, they will feed on other warm-blooded animals including pets, rodents, and birds if a human host is not available.

While bedbugs are most frequently found in sleeping areas (mattresses, box springs, bed frames, bed linens) they can also hide in other furniture, cracks in floors and walls, picture frames, TVs, telephones, and electrical outlets. They also travel between rooms, using electrical, plumbing, and ventilation “highways.” A particularly bad infestation of bedbugs will give off a musty or sweet odor, sometimes described as the smell of rotting coconuts.

Vacationers and travelers can inadvertently bring bedbugs back with them in their luggage or clothing. Bedbugs can survive travel in “trains, planes, and automobiles” as well other modes of transportation. Furniture can be another source of introducing bedbugs into a unit. Although pre-owned or thrift-store furniture is the most suspect, even newly purchased items should be carefully examined before being placed in the unit.

The use of chemical agents such as DDT had effectively brought bedbug populations under control in the United States during the 1950’s and, until recently, bedbugs were considered uncommon in industrialized countries. However, certain factors such as the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency ban on the use of DDT, the increase in international travel to countries and immigration from countries with bedbug populations, the world population growth, and the increasing mobility of U.S. society in general have produced a significant increase in bedbug populations.

The statutes of most states require that the landlord of a residential unit must maintain the unit in a “habitable” condition. In general, the unit must comply with state and local building and health codes that materially affect tenants’ health and safety. Federal (HUD) standards of habitability are relatively easy to meet and landlords should consider them as bare minimum standards rather than as sufficient to attract and retain good tenants. State and local habitability requirements, which are often more stringent, must be met in addition to the federal standards.

Even in states having no specific habitability statute, courts have held that all residential leases contain an “implied warranty of habitability.” In general, vermin are considered a habitability issue. Housing regulations in many jurisdictions explicitly require the landlord to keep the premises free from vermin.

The mere presence of bedbugs might subject a landlord to possible rent reductions at the very least and, in the worst-case scenario, might result in lawsuits for constructive eviction even though he/she has diligently attempted to eradicate the infestations and even if eventually successful in doing so. There is even the possibility of claims regarding damage to the health of tenants even though bedbugs are not medically considered to be a health concern. Accordingly, landlords who receive tenant claims of bedbug infestation should address those claims immediately.

Self-help treatments are rarely effective and not advisable, as they come with great risks, notably an increased probability of lawsuits. Unlike roaches, bedbugs do not ingest poison and die later. It is of no value to use a bug bomb or fogger. Since bedbugs can go as long as one year between feedings, a “wait and see” attitude to starve them out is not feasible.

Because of the difficulty of eradicating the creatures, professional treatment is highly recommended to confirm an infestation and develop an aggressive, integrated pest management plan. Professionals have more potent chemicals than are available to the public and can swiftly and effectively deal with the problem. The only sure way to kill bedbugs is to expose them to high temperatures. Professional exterminators usually utilize a combination of steam and pesticides. Multiple treatments may be required at scheduled intervals over several months and depending upon the circumstances can be costly.

While a landlord may successfully defend against litigation, the costs of doing so will no doubt be much higher than paying professionals to deal with the bedbug infestation in the first place. Immediately attacking the infestation utilizing professionals will go a long ways to a successful defense in court. Furthermore, an infestation in one unit will soon affect the whole building if left uncorrected. Ignoring the problem or attempting to deal with it yourself will only increase your potential liability.

Bedbugs have been called an “epidemic phenomenon” poised to become the pest of the 21st century. There are some recent indications that tenants may be less successful in litigating the bedbug issue in the future, but, again, for now landlords should take bedbug complaints seriously and do everything possible to solve infestation problems, utilizing professionals rather than depending on self-help treatments.

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Q2

What is the latest information on Companion and Service Animals?

A2

Although I could answer many possible questions that are specific to a particular issue, your question is too broad to answer in this forum. You are asking a general question about a subject that is not yet totally defined even though various laws related to the subject have been in force for many years. However, it is one that gets landlords into trouble with a number of different state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice.

Not every agency or every court is on the same page regarding what defines a service animal vs. a companion animal and some jurisdictions have taken the position that there is no difference. Things are complicated further by the severe limitations on landlords regarding verifying the tenant’s need for an animal, another area where there appears to be disagreement among attorneys and among enforcement agencies. These factors, of course, require landlords to walk a thin line if they are unwilling to allow all animals in order to avoid the problem entirely.

I will mention that the effect on landlords of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 appears to be minimal. However, full interpretation of the Amendment will likely require additional years of adjudication.

Feel free to post again with a more specific question regarding a particular issue.

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Q3

I have a tenant who moved out without giving written notice. The lease stated that they were to give 60 days written notice. I am looking for language to use in a letter to them.

A3

You do not indicate the state where the property is located nor whether the lease is month-to-month or for a longer term. Some states or local governments do not allow more than 30 days notice for termination of a month-to-month and some may not allow requirement for notice of termination at the end of a longer lease term. A lease clause cannot override state law or local ordinance (including rent control ordinances). Assuming that (1) no jurisdiction in which your property is located prohibits requirement for a 60 days notice and (2) the relevant lease clause is unambiguous, you could simple say:

“The lease agreement requires that 60 days notice be given for termination of your lease. Failure to provide such notice makes you liable for 60 days of additional rent from the date you terminated your occupancy.”

If they left before the end of the period for which their rent was pre-paid, the additional rent amount should take into account credit for that paid days.

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Additional Information

Most of the issues discussed in these Q&A’s are covered in considerably more detail in our eCourses and/or in our Mini Training Guides.

New 1099 Reporting Law Repealed

On April 14^th President Barack Obama signed into law a bill repealing expanded IRS Form 1099 reporting requirements that was part of last year’s health care legislation as a revenue-raising measure. The law repeals a section of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 that would have required businesses and rental real estate owners to fill out 1099 forms for both goods and services valued at more than $600 and purchased from both unincorporated and incorporated businesses. The requirement was to take effect in 2012. The Congressional Budget Office had estimated the expanded reporting requirements would capture $21.9 billion in lost tax revenues on income that currently goes unreported.

However, the tax reporting requirement drew widespread criticism after Congress passed it last year. Subsequently, business groups led a vigorous campaign against the requirement, claiming that the reporting “requirement is an onerous burden on employers of all sizes and provides no health care benefits.”

President Obama finally agreed, declaring in his signing statement that “Small business owners are the engine of our economy and because Democrats and Republicans worked together, we can ensure they spend their time and resources creating jobs and growing their business, not filling out more paperwork.”

Of additional benefit to landlords, the bill Obama signed also repeals a separate tax reporting requirement that was passed in another law last year. That rule, which took effect January 1, 2011, required landlords to report more information about their business expenses.

The “Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011” was introduced in the House of Representatives on January 11^th, passed the House on a vote of 314 to 112 on March 3^rd, and passed the Senate on April 5^th on a vote of 87 to 12. These significant margins indicate the strong opposition to the requirements by both Democrats and Republicans.

With the bill signed into law, businesses will now continue to have to fill out 1099 forms only for services of $600 or more in 2011 and beyond and only for payments to unincorporated businesses for services.

During the debate on the repeal, the president and congressional leaders in both parties stated that the cost of repealing the 1099 requirement had to be offset by spending cuts or by increasing federal revenues. The nearly $22 billion cost of the 1099 legislation was offset by requiring some people, if their income level increases during the year, to pay back a portion of the subsidies they receive to join health insurance exchanges created under the health care law.

The expanded reporting requirement was a non-health related revenue-raising provision within the health law. The lost revenue due to its repeal is paid for in the new law by changes in the part of the health-care law that deals with the health insurance tax credits that low- and middle-income Americans will get. This is accomplished via a payback provision that recoups funds from people who exceed their estimated income level during the course of the year after receiving subsidies for health insurance.

Eligibility for the tax credits, which are paid directly to health insurers, is determined each year by looking at income from a prior year. At the end of each year, there is a reconciliation through which the government can seek repayment of credits from people whose incomes rose. The new law changes the calculation and results in more people being required to return overpayments.

The repeal law increases the amounts people would have to repay and accelerates the payback timetable. Any individual or family earning less than four times the federal poverty level will be eligible for the health coverage subsidy beginning in 2014. These subsidies will be provided on a sliding scale to help offset the cost of health care coverage purchases through state health care exchanges. However, any individual or family whose income increases above 400 percent of the poverty level (a threshold of $44,000 per year for individuals and $88,000 for families) will be required to repay all or part of the subsidy that they received.

Additional Information

For additional discussions regarding a wide variety of real estate investing and management issues see our eCourses and our Mini Training Guides.

We provide here a few questions that have been posted in the Community Forums and our answers to them.

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Q1                                           

There is ample parking in the driveway for 4 vehicles, yet my tenants continue to park on the lawn in spite of several warnings. The City ordinance states that no one should permanently park on the swale. They are excellent tenants and I do not want to hurt their feelings. Even their visitors park on the lawn. How do I tell my tenants to stop damaging the lawn?

A1

If they are really great tenants and the City won’t be proceeding against you as property owner, you can simply consider the damage as a cost of doing business and repair the damage after they vacate, deducting the expense on your income taxes. Most other options are unfriendly in varying degrees and vacancies are very expensive in a number of ways.

Making it impossible to park on the lawn is the only way to completely eliminate the problem. Depending on the layout of the property, zoning laws, and other possible issues, you might be able to construct barriers. This could be posts in the ground or large rocks close enough together to prevent driving through, a low wall or fence, or a hedge – if you think they wouldn’t destroy the hedge by driving through it before it reached substantial size.

If the City will cite their vehicles rather than your property, perhaps you can persuade the City to take action. Such ordinances will usually first result in an official warning notice and this might provide ammunition for obtaining their cooperation. If, however, the City fines you for the infraction, you might have a legal right to collect from the tenants, but this could require getting “unfriendly” in order to collect. Whether you could get a court judgment regarding them paying you might depend on the laws of your state’s statutes or local ordinances and/or whether such an issue is covered in your lease agreement.

If they are month-to-month tenants, you can give them a termination notice (usually 30 days), following which you will either be rid of them or have been able to negotiate payment for damages and modification of the lease agreement to cover the issue. If they are on a long-term lease, you can wait until expiration of the lease term and do the same thing. Letting them know ahead of time might make them change their ways unless they would as soon move anyway.

Becoming even more unfriendly, you can serve them a “Cure or Quit” notice and, if they fail to cease their activity, terminate their occupancy, if necessary evicting them. You could also consider filing a lawsuit for damages above the amount available from their security deposit.

Finally, you don’t say how long this has been going on or how many and what type of notices you have given them regarding the matter. Assuming it became seriously unfriendly, there is always the chance that a judge would consider you having waived the right to enforce no parking because they have done so for a long period and you have not taken strong action against them. If this issue is not specifically covered in the lease agreement, it certainly should be in any renewal, extension, or new lease. However, neither issue is likely to be a problem if there is an ordinance that explicitly applies to the matter.

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Q2

I’m trying to find out if in the state of CA there is a certain interest rate, if any at all, required to be paid on a security deposit and if it has to be held in a certain type of account?

A2

My brief research indicates that the state of CA does not require payment of interest on security deposits and the state does not seem to require deposit of the funds into a special account. However, there are cities in CA that have rent control ordinances which might have one or both requirements.

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Q3

I am currently in the process of evicting a squatter from my property. The court date is scheduled for two weeks from now. I also want to file a small claims court lawsuit against him for 2 months rent and attorney fee. Should I file the suit while he is still on my property where he can be easily located and served with the suit or wait until the court date or later after the eviction judgment? Will suing him for damages have any impact on the eviction? And, is it possible to sue him after the eviction with no information to his where about or address?

A3

As you appear to already realize, if you do not serve him regarding the suit while you know where to find him, you may never be able to sue him. This is because our Constitution provides that one has the right to defend oneself and it’s impossible to defend oneself if one has no knowledge of there being a suit. In order to sustain a law suit, it is necessary to serve the defendant in the manner or manners required by the law of the particular state. In some jurisdictions, this means that the defendant must be physically handed a copy of the complaint and summons. Other jurisdictions allow service by mail, usually Certified or Registered Mail being required, in which case the defendant will often avoid accepting the mail. However, in this event, as well as for obvious attempts to avoid physical service, evidence showing the facts – e.g., also sending a copy using a Certificate of Mailing – will often cause a judge to ignore the failure of service.

Although many states allow the plaintiff (you in this case) to personally do the service, it is sometimes better to have it done by an independent process server. First, this avoids a chance of an unfriendly confrontation. Second, it eliminates the judge having to decide which party is telling the truth when the defendant claims he was not properly served and the plaintiff claims he was because, absent serious evidence to the contrary, he will almost certainly believe the process server. In many jurisdictions the process server can be either a private for-hire server or an official officer of the court such as a deputy sheriff. Because failure affects his pay, the former is usually preferred to the latter where allowed. Call the office of the clerk for the court of jurisdiction for evictions in the jurisdiction where your property is located. This may be irrelevant if you are serving him yourself.

Some jurisdictions do allow for service by publication in a defined newspaper for a certain number of weeks when nothing else is possible, but the defendant may be able to later argue against such a service – e.g., he left the state, does not subscribe to the newspaper, or is illiterate. Furthermore, a particular judge may be biased against service by publication.

Court procedures vary among states, among levels of courts within a state, and among various courts (different cities, counties) within the same level, so, again, check with the court clerk when you have any questions about court matters.

If you can once obtain a judgment against the defendant, you can collect from him in any state where you can find him during the term for which the judgment remains valid. Although laws vary among states, judgments are typically good for 5 or more years and can usually be renewed for at least one additional equivalent period. His only defense would be that the court giving the judgment did not have jurisdiction over the matter, a defense not likely to be very useful in the case of an eviction or related matter.

I do not think that filing a lawsuit for damages will have any impact on the eviction. If anything, it might actually reinforce the need for an eviction. However, when getting involved in any litigation, one must consider that judges are not always logical or may simply be biased against a class of litigants (e.g., landlords).

If the occupant is indeed legally a squatter rather than a tenant, I would wonder whether you will be allowed to collect unpaid rent from a squatter. A judge may not allow collection of rent per se from a non-tenant occupant. You may need to attack from the perspective that his unauthorized occupancy prevented you from collecting rent from another person, who would be legally a tenant. However, Small Claims courts do not always worry about such legal technicalities. This would be a question for a competent landlord-tenant law attorney.

Unless you have experience in appearing in eviction proceedings and particularly if the occupant is truly a squatter rather than a tenant, you might consider hiring an attorney to both complete the eviction and file the suit, assuming being represented by an attorney is allowed in Small Claims court in your jurisdiction. In spite of the cost of an attorney, using one can actually be cost effective. A mistake in following the legal procedures can result in having to start over after weeks of waiting for the day in court. For anyone except the most experienced landlord, it is even more important to be represented by an attorney if the defendant uses an attorney.

Most jurisdictions will have experienced competent attorneys who do nothing except handle evictions and related matters. They will also be familiar with particular idiosyncrasies of individual judges. Rather than see who has the largest yellow page ad, it is best to get recommendations from other landlords or management companies because the best attorneys have plenty of business without advertising.

Finally, if he disappears after being evicted, you probably will have a good chance of finding him in the future, particularly after he has established permanent residency somewhere. In addition to the various social networking sites where people tend to provide a lot of personal information that might help track him down there are innumerable Web sites that offer services related to finding people for reasonable fees.

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Additional Information

Most of the issues discussed in these Q&A’s are covered in considerably more detail in our eCourses and/or in our Mini Training Guides.