Rent Collection and Eviction Procedure (Who Pays for What?)

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1 Crown Realty & Management Corporation Rent Collection and Eviction Procedure (Who Pays for What?) Rent collection is a stressful process. It requires a thorough understanding of Georgia tenancy laws and a strict adherence to the court ordered legal procedures. Here are the steps we take to collect rent and process evictions: 1. Due date: Rent is due on the 1st of the month. We generally take rent until the next morning before we open. If the 1st falls on a weekend or holiday, we consider rent paid on time if received the next business morning. If they drop it in the mail slot at night, and we get it first thing in the morning, we consider it paid on time. 2. Demand for possession letter: We do not send a Late Letter like apartments do. If rent is not in by the 5th or 6th (depending on where the weekend falls) we will send what Georgia Tenancy Law calls a Demand For Possession letter. This letter must contain specific language that demands possession of the property, or payment of the rent. It is the beginning of the official eviction process in Georgia. Who pays for what? This letter is sent regular mail and there is no charge to the owner. 3. Disposessory: If rent is unpaid by the 9th or 10th (depending on what day of the month the weekend falls), disposessory forms will be filed, and the associated fees paid, to the county where the property is located. Occasionally we push this out a couple of days for special situations but not often. Who pays for what? The charge for filing runs $200 to $250 and is paid by the owner until we collect it from the tenant. Most tenants pay and stay. After incurring this expense we won t take their rent without the reimbursed warrant fee without your approval. You will see the charge under legal expense on your owner ledger until we collect it from the tenant. When collected it shows up as a reimbursement to the legal expense. If they skip, or get evicted, we will pursue the money they owe along with other charges they left owing. We average 20 filings a month like this on 800 houses, or about 3% of our total number of tenants. As the economy continues to stagnate this number will likely increase. Crown s Eviction Protection Program covers this expense. Visit Crown s Eviction Protection Program Enrollment form: 4. Tenant gets served by the sheriff: Typically a sheriff s deputy serves the warrant to the tenant. Personal service, or tacking it to their door, is considered served by county law. Who pays for what? The fee in #3 above pays for this stage of the process so there are no additional charges. 5. If the tenant answers to court: Once the sheriff has served the tenant, they have seven days to respond to court with an answer. If the tenant pays their rent, or moves-out, the process

2 ends, as do your costs. If the tenant answers the complaint, a date is set for a hearing. This date could be anywhere from one to two weeks from the date of the tenants answer, depending on the county court calendar and time of year. Most tenants pay (or move) by the court date as they have little to defend themselves with. We will contact them often and monitor the property (and utilities) to try to detect when and if they move. We will do drive-bys occasionally to see if they are still there but tracking their every move is impractical. Occasionally, we are surprised by a late-night move-out (skip) but not often. If we discover they are substantially out, but leave lots of personal property behind, we must continue with the eviction process, as we do not want to be accused of wrongful dispossessory. Taking over a property too quickly is a risky process and being in a hurry can get you in lots of trouble. We have been sued by tenants for wrongful dispossessory more than once by taking the property back too early so we have to be very careful. Consent Orders: Between the day we start the dispossessory action, and the day of court, we are pushing the tenant to sign a consent judgment or payment plan to pay the outstanding rent in some kind of installments. If we can get them to execute a consent order (and the judge signs it) it becomes a court ordered payment plan worked out by the parties and has real teeth. The execution of this payment agreement means we will spend little time in court saving the owner money and precious time. Everyone wins with a consent judgment and we are assured the tenant is staying and paying. If the tenant fails to make the agreed upon payments we file an affidavit with the court and buy the writ of possession skipping over the court hearing process completely. Who pays for what? The charge of an executed consent order is $75 and saves the owner the court costs of $250 to $400. This is an owner paid expense until we get it from the tenant. Crown s Eviction Protection covers this expense. 6. Court appearance: In most cases an eviction services attorney attends court on our behalf. They are usually there representing other landlords so their charges are very reasonable. If management is required to attend as a witness, or in place of the attorney, the cost is an hourly rate (plus a trip charge) and varies based on the distance, travel time, and time spent in the courtroom waiting to be heard. If court is at night there is a small charge for evening appearances. Our local eviction companies do not always service outlying counties and sometimes we have to make arrangements with local attorneys to appear on our behalf. We will keep you informed as the process unfolds. Who pays for what: The cost of the attorney ranges from $50 to $125. When Crown is required to appear there is an hourly charge ranging from $15/hr to $25/hr (depending on who has to attend), plus a trip charge of $35. Night court carries a $35 premium. If witnesses are needed (like contractors or the one who took the photos), they also get paid a small hourly fee. Total costs could run $250 to $400. (See a sample invoice at the end of this letter). This is an owner paid expense until we collect it from the tenant. Crown s Eviction Protection covers this expense. 7. Buying the writ: If the tenant fails to move by the court ordered deadline, or if they move and leave personal property behind, we are forced to wait for the sheriff and follow through with the writ of possession process. We buy the piece of paper (the writ) giving the local sheriff the right to physically move the tenants possessions out.

3 Who pays for what? The cost of the writ runs $50 to $75 depending on the county. This is an owner paid expense until we get it from the tenant. Crown s Eviction Protection Program covers this expense.. Cash for Keys: Once the writ of possession is bought, we work very hard to entice the tenant to move by giving them some cash (typically $300 to $500). This cost is much less than the costs of the eviction and the house is left in better condition. With your permission we will offer the tenant some moving money to get them to move before the sheriff arrives. It may sound strange to pay someone to move out but you save precious time and money getting them to move voluntarily. The sheriff s labor pool doesn t worry too much about dinging up the door frames and tracking up the carpet, so getting the house back before the eviction takes place is a wise strategy. We won t do this without your written permission. Who pays for what? You would define the amount of cash offered the tenant as you will be paying it. We would execute this process for no additional fees. 8. Actual eviction: The sheriff (or marshal s) service, not Crown, controls the calendar for scheduling the eviction (taking all of the tenants possessions out of the property). The scheduling could take a week or more (after buying the writ) depending on how many evictions the sheriff has on his calendar, the weather and holidays. Some counties are faster than others. Because they have so many evictions to execute they won t give us much notice. When they call us they will often be at the property already. If it is raining the sheriff delays the process until the next dry. We will meet the sheriff at the property and watch the process unfold. Some counties require Crown provide the manpower to remove the tenants belongings while other counties provide their own. The counties mandate how many movers must be there to move the personal property into the street and the movers charge by the hour. Who pays for what? The Crown charge is $35 trip charge and $15/hr to sit and wait for the sheriff to do their thing. The cost for moving the tenants stuff to the yard belongs to the owner until we can collect it from the tenant. The labor cost for moving their stuff to the street depends completely on how much the tenant left behind when they moved out. Most of the time tenants are out and have left only a few items behind. The cost in these cases may be as little as $100. Occasionally tenants don t believe the eviction was going to happen and all their belongings are still there. Occasionally they are not present and it s a mess. This happens a couple times a year and the cost can be $600 or more. We will call you and give you an update when the eviction is complete. The Crown s Eviction Program covers this expense. View Crown s Eviction Protection Program: eviction_protection.htm 9. Move out inspection and re-keying: Protecting your property is our highest priority. After the eviction we perform the all important move-out inspection to document the condition of the property and list charges to the tenant for damages. The property should be re-keyed immediately to eliminate the possibility of re-entry by the tenant and/or the neighbors. We will not re-key without your permission.

4 Who pays for what? There is no cost for us to do the move out inspection. The cost of the locksmith is born by the owner and ranges from $150 to $300 depending on how many entry doors (and dead bolt cylinders) there are. 10. Hauling off the items left behind: Often neighbors, owners and HOA s get upset with us because we don t clean up the unsightly mess in the yard immediately. The law prevents any one knowing about the upcoming eviction (like Crown or the owner) from touching the tenants belongings for 24 hours. The tenant can retrieve things, neighbors can pick through it, the rains can destroy it and kids can snatch out treasures but we can t touch it for 24 hours. After 24 hours we will have everything hauled away. Who pays for what? The cost of this removal can range from $300 to $600 depending on the volume and type of materials hauled away. This is an owner expense until we can collect it from the tenant. We seldom end up evicting people. Most tenants figure out that they have no legitimate reason to stay and move out before the actual eviction takes place. Most tenants are very helpful and will keep us informed as to their moving plans. Some don t care and we have to monitor them carefully and figure out when they move. Occasionally, tenants will turn off the utilities, leave junk in the house, food in the refrigerator, and leave it up to us to discover their abandonment. We will do drive-bys, monitor utilities and try our best to keep a close eye on them, but sometimes they just surprise us and disappear. Accepting partial rent: Occasionally a tenant will offer to pay part of the rent during the eviction procedure to put off the eviction. Accepting partial payment derails the eviction process so we are careful not to take it to quickly. If we accepted less than all of the monies due we begin the process all over, and we can lose 30 to 60 days so we seldom accept partial payments without owner approval. If we get the tenant to sign a consent order we can take partial rent with the courts backing and the tenants promise to pay the balance. This is a tricky process and needs careful over site by the broker. (see comments regarding consent orders in this document) Many aspects of the eviction process are out of Crown s control. The total cost of an eviction usually runs between $700 and $1500 if it goes through the full process. If you have elected the Crown s Eviction Protection Program most of these costs are covered. View Eviction Protection Program We are at the mercy of the sheriff's schedule, the court calendar, and communication among the sheriff, court, and eviction service. The process is often delayed by the weather, holidays, or weekends. The local bureaucracy administers the process so hurry up is not in the cards. Many issues affect the time it takes to complete the process. Fortunately, tenants generally move (or pay) before they are evicted. Other than re-keying, your eviction costs end if the tenants move everything out. Remember, if the tenant moves, but leaves furniture or personal belongings behind, we must follow through with the eviction process. Otherwise, the tenant may claim that we threw out grandma s antique dresser or the jewelry hidden in the refrigerator. Wrongful dispossessory is

5 a serious charge and tenants use it against overly anxious landlords who want to get the house back too quickly and don t follow the rules of tenancy laws and the court procedures. Our goal is to keep you informed throughout the process, monitor the tenants activity, and minimize your costs while complying precisely with the letter of the law. We understand the anxiety you are experiencing and we will do whatever we can to accelerate the process. Please keep in mind we are dealing with local government, and that bureaucratic wheels grind slowly.