Eviction Rules for Renters
Eviction Lab rates states from 0 to 5 with 5 offering the most renter protection.
The Eviction Lab and Columbia Law School’s Professor Emily Benfer have developed a policy scorecard for each state, distilling the contents of thousands of newly-released emergency orders, declarations, and legislation into a clear set of critical measures included in, and left out of, state-level pandemic responses related to eviction and housing.
State Eviction Ratings
- 4.0 Stars: MA, CT
- 3.5 Stars: DE , NH, NV., MN, OR. IL, WA
- 3.0 Stars: NY, MI, PA
- 2.5 Stars: NC, KY, HI
- 2.0 Stars: NJ, CA
- 1.5 Stars: ME, AZ, MT
- 1.0 Stars: VT, FL, MD, AK
- 0.5 Stars: IN, CO, WI, OH, NM, VA, IA, ND, RI, UT
- 0.0 Stars: GA, ID, WV, WY, AL, AK, KS, LA, MA, MO, NE, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX
Texas provides an example what 0 stars look like: “Previous court orders limiting eviction proceedings in Texas began expiring in mid-May, and Texas courts did not halt accepting eviction hearings.”
Florida, rated 1 star, has measures in place until July 1 but allows local discretion.
North Carolina rated 2.74 stars, has measures in place until June 21, with a grace period to pay rent and a prohibition on late fees during the pandemic.
Massachusetts, top rated at 4.15 stars, established a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures during the pandemic and for 45 days after the state of emergency is lifted.
Cascading Problems
If you are a small-time landlord in one of the states where it is hard to evict, you will have a problem paying the mortgage on your properties if your tenant does not pay.
It’s easy to say don’t evict, but there are cascading consequences and not every case is the same.
Mish
So even though a landlord has a written agreement with a tenant THE GOVERNMENT CAN STEP IN AND FORCE THE LANDLORD TO ALLOW THE TENANT TO STAY RENT FREE FOR MONTHS.
Legal agreements are BS now. The state governments can step in at any time and FORCE landlords to rent to tenants for free.
The states should have ponied up and loaned money to the tenants in trouble. Sticking it to the landlords was a real bad idea. Sure the tenants are the “votes” but the landlords pay the taxes…until they can’t.
The rent isn’t free, you say? Sure it is. Three months from now when we can finally get the freeloaders out, us landlords aren’t going to bother trying to get a settlement. It’s just not worth it. We’ll just take it as a loss of income and pay less taxes.
Well you have to understand we have a lot of Democrat Judges. Democrats as you know have variable definitions for words depending on what they want them to mean at a particular time, so the contract you think means one thing, actually means the opposite if it is in the Democrats interests are served by changing the meanings of the words.
Because they are not constrained with the old fashion values of honesty, integrity, or ethics in the new woke world, as long as they can wield power, they can decide what the law is regardless of contracts or written law. Just imagine what they will do if senile Joe get into office……
How many times has it been stated “It’s a mess”? And indeed it is. And it is systemic.
The government (our collective representational establishment) isn’t doing enough…or its doing too much.
But how many times must we review or discuss this aspect or that aspect of the mess without addressing the root cause? As a people we’ve been divided and fractured over the symptoms and details of the symptoms…like both sides of the no money can’t pay rent issue…when we should be focusing on the root cause and curing the mess.
So what is the root cause? I postulate that it is money created by debt via private banks. The interest cost is not created…therefore the system must have higher and higher levels of debt (new money) in order to maintain an even keel. Sooner or later that game runs out. In the meantime it causes economic hurdles and the transfer of assets from individuals to the private banking institutions.
We can argue about symptoms all day long until we are blue and “mad as hell”…but its rather pointless outside of click bate and deflecting away from the root cause and potential cures. Thus the MO from the powers that be as they attempt to maintain control…by pitting us against ourselves rather than them.
Wise man I once knew (he’s since passed on to the other side) once said – “There is only one thing in man’s world that can offer any check on the unlimited power of money—and that is government. That is why money always accuses government of trying to destroy free agency, when the great enslaver has always been money itself.”
No one should be ignorant by now to the extent that money has attempted and largely succeeded in buying government. Not a government official out there that isn’t aware of the funds needed to obtain and maintain an official capacity.
Perhaps its insurmountable now. From the days of the British counterfeiting Continentals in attempt to destroy the fledgling country…to Greenbacks and assassinations and attempted assassinations…to the yellow brick road…to the non-Federal Reserve and that Christmas vote in 1913…there has always been a war over use and control of money.
As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The property owners in states with communist inspired moratoriums on evictions will lose properties which in many cases represent a lifetime of hard work and savings. It is all part of the Democratic plan to bankrupt anyone who has been productive, and use the unproductive people to tear down America.
My only objection to this article is the “star” rating. I would reverse it, and give the states with 0 stars, 4 stars, and the states with 4 stars, 0 stars. Placing artificial restrictions on evictions during the lockdown itself was understandable, but now it will lead to cascading bad consequences.
I agree; a consequence of short-sighted, shoot-from-the-hip legislation.
I can speak from personal experience. My mother was in a situation and lived in IL. I was able to move her from her home into a safe location in another state and closer to relatives. I went to court in IL before the shelter in place orders were issued, was granted an order of eviction, and have not been able to evict a relative from my mothers home with the assistance of the county Sherriffs office because of the stay. It’s been 4 months and my mother is in immemdiate need of those funds from the sale of her residence and property for her continued support in memory care and there’s no end in sight as the Governer of IL has made no accomodation for allowing these to proceed and keeps extending those provisions. There seems to be no good reason why evictions are not allowed to proceed especially in the case where a person is seeking relief. It’s a mess.
I am a landlord in NC. We are not allowed to evict here until July. The governments attempt to help renters stay housed is actually hurting many of them. Here’s an example of what I mean:
Back in March, I issued a 30 day notice to a tenant for not taking care of her unit. That meant she had to move out within a 30 day period or I would file eviction on her. She most likely did in fact move out….but she failed to turn in her keys and left quite a few belongings in the apartment. Since I am legally liable for tossing her stuff and taking possession if I guess wrong I decided not to take possession and rent to another person who is waiting in the wings.
That means that since the courts are now closed, I’ve had a vacant unit on my hands since March. I’m 99 percent sure the tenant is gone, but I can’t take legal possession. I have tried to contact the tenant multiple times at her old address (her mothers) and have not been successful. The tenant is accruing costs in her apartment like rent, damages, and electric charges since the local utility company is prevented from turning the power off. All told, she owes an extra 3k due to my inability to evict her….3k that she doesn’t even know about since she undoubtedly believes she’s moved out and shouldn’t owe anything further.
Yes, it’s her fault for not officially letting me know she moved out, but ordinarily it wouldn’t have gone past a month. Now we are looking at 4 extra months of charges for her, perhaps a lot more if the governor extends the order. This hurts her because I’m absolutely putting that on her credit. It hurts me because I’m out 4 months rent, and it hurts the homeless person who I’ve already approved for the unit but can’t rent to.
No one wins and everyone loses by making it difficult to evict.
These are the types of posts that I believe are most appropriate for Mish Talk. The constant Trump stories are just more drunk guy at the end of the bar rants.
After all the stores got looted, the companies and local gov decided to just give away a bunch of TVs and stuff each week to prevent this from happening again.
However, I came across a big guy toting a TV out of a shattered storefront early this morning.
I said, “Don’t you know they are giving this stuff away now? Why are you still doing this?”
He replied, “Yeah, but it just don’t seem right to get it for nothing. I think I should still do some work to get it!”
Rental houses are a symptom of a disease.
If interest rates were 7% there would be very few rental houses.
My general area house rent for about a 15 year payoff with the all other expenses included.
7% interest rate would make investment properties pointless and (would have) greatly lowed rental prices and improve home ownership rates.
Just another fatality of ZIRP. Maybe they will get it right next time.
I’d read your blog before this regurgitated one
Eviction will not prove to be much of a sinecure … new tenants who can pay the rent regularly will gradually become more rare as the consequences of the Full Stop slowly grind on.
exactly.
“It’s easy to say don’t evict, but there are cascading consequences”
so evict… you’ll get nothing from the person you evict (or the company if it’s CRE) and it’ll cost you money to do it (and often cost to repair the damage they do on their way out).
now you’ve got to rent your unit in the face of the coming train wreck. good luck — be proactive with cutting your rent prices.
the smart landlords will proactively renegotiate rents and forgive some of the back rent.
“It’s easy to say don’t evict, but there are cascading consequences…”
And darned near all of them unequivocally good ones.
When too much debt is the problem, mass bankruptcy is always and everywhere a good thing.
Slow motion shitshow in progress. Who is gonna live in these places if they get evicted ?
Lots of people. I manage 72 apartments for low income people, the ones most affected by COVID.
I have over 100 people on the wait list.
There’s a TON of people who would rent, but since I can’t evict, they get to remain homeless and I lose money by my non-payers.
I’m sure the new ones will have no trouble making rent.
They won’t have any trouble. The ones that do not pay spent the extra money they’ve been earning from unemployment and stimulus on new cars and furniture.
I’m not kidding. I have 15 delinquents. It’s the same 15 delinquents from before COVID. They pay late every month, no matter how much money they have.
No one has trouble paying rent at my apartments.. It’s hanging on to their money and not blowing it on stupid stuff they have a problem with.
As a low income case worker, I’m required to know and work with clients. Without exception, all 15 delinquents have more money now than before.
So its a matter of getting their money. They must love the high of living on the edge ? I think for some people more money just leads to worse decisions on money making.
I’d say for those that blow it on stupid stuff they would profit a great deal from being mentored.
They’ve never seen what having financial goals could do and taking steps to reach those goals.
So they keep blowing their tax refunds (the single biggest source of extra income) on stupid stuff instead of saving it to better themselves in some way.
Rinse and repeat, over and over every year.
Giving them more money will not help them. I’d love to see benefits tied to a mentoring program. I’m conservative, but I’d support that.