Common Eviction questions and answers
If you found this page and your eviction matter is in another Ohio county, don’t worry. The procedures are very similar to Franklin County, Ohio.
1. I am an out of state landlord with property in Ohio, can you help me?
We can help you and, in fact, have helped many out of state landlords with their Ohio Evictions. We perform evictions in other counties besides Franklin County as well. With the decline in the housing sales market, we have seen an increase in homeowners who have rented their property and moved out of state. If you have done so and now are faced with a tenant who is refusing to pay rent or live up to the obligations of the lease, contact us and we can help.
2. How do I calculate when the three day notice to vacate expires?
The day of posting does not count. Weekends and legal holidays do not count when determining when the three day notice expires. For example, if you posted the three day notice on a Friday then Friday, Saturday and Sunday would not count. The three day notice would expire at the end of the day on Wednesday (provided that a legal holiday did not take place on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday). You could file your eviction complaint on Thursday. If you file your eviction complaint prior to the three day notice expiring then the court can dismiss your complaint and you have to start over.
In some jurisdictions in Ohio, the day of posting, weekends and holidays DO count in calculating the 3 days. In other jurisdictions, the day of posting counts but not weekends and holidays. To be safe, you may consider not counting the day of posting, weekends and holidays in the 3 day calculation.
3. What are the court fees associated with filing an eviction in Franklin County?
There is a filing fee of $123 for one cause/count eviction complaints and $160 for two cause eviction complaints (rates differ in other counties), a red tag fee of $35 and a set out fee of $45. These are fees that the court charges for the eviction process. I generally recommend that the landlord wait on paying the $45 set out fee until it is absolutely necessary. Most tenants will move out on their own following the eviction hearing and service of the red tag. If you pay for the set out in advance and later end up not needing one, the court will not refund your set out fee.
I practice mainly in Franklin County; however, I also do work in other counties. Eviction fees in other counties are similar to Franklin County.
4. How long does the typical eviction process take? What is the typical eviction timeline?
In Franklin County (after the 3 day notice has expired), only then can you file an eviction complaint. You will usually get an eviction hearing within 3 weeks of filing your eviction complaint with the court.
Franklin County will grant a continuance (generally up to one week) if the tenant asks for one (usually for the purposes of securing legal counsel). After the eviction hearing, the landlord applies for a writ of restitution (aka red tag). The bailiff will post the red tag within two weeks of the eviction hearing/filing of application for the red tag. Once the red tag is posted, the tenant has 5 days to leave the premises (including weekends and holidays). If the tenant fails to leave, the landlord must contact the bailiff to schedule a set out. A set out will usually be scheduled for 5-7 business days after the landlord calls in to the bailiff’s office.
Note the service of the red tag and set outs may be delayed because of the bailiff’s schedule.
4a. Is there any way to speed the process up and get an eviction hearing sooner, I’m in a hurry?
There is no way to speed the eviction process up in most courts especially after the case has been filed. The clerk of courts must issue a summons and complaint to the tenant. The bailiff has to serve the summons and complaint upon the tenant. Service is necessary because the tenant is entitled to notice of the eviction matter. Issuance and service of the summons and complaint takes time. Keep in mind that several other eviction cases are occurring simultaneously as yours. In some courts, a couple hundred evictions cases are filed each day. Smaller courts may hold eviction hearings only once a week.
In Franklin County, almost 50,000 eviction cases are filed every year. That’s an average of almost 200 a day. So you have many other eviction cases competing with your case. The court will not give your case precedence over others filed at the same time. In addition, the tenant may move the court for a continuance postponing the matter. Usually, such a postponement would only be for a week. So the tenant can delay the matter after the case has been filed. Generally, the best way to speed up the eviction process is to serve an eviction notice upon the tenant as soon as there is a lease violation. Landlords and property managers typically wait several weeks or even several months before doing so and this significantly delays the eviction process. An eviction complaint cannot be filed until a three day eviction notice has been served upon the tenant and has expired. Once the eviction notice has been served, the landlord or property manager should contact a lawyer so that the lawyer can start the process as soon as possible.
5. How is the tenant notified of the eviction hearing?
The court bailiff will post a copy of the summons and eviction complaint at the rental address. The clerk of courts will also send out a copy of the court summons and complaint via ordinary mail to the tenant. Your eviction lawyer is not involved in notifying the tenant of the eviction hearing. That is the court’s job. The court does this on its own time schedule of which I am not aware. Suffice it to say that the tenant will be notified of the hearing well before the hearing date. The tenant may claim that he did not receive the court notification. The tenant has also probably claimed that he paid rent in the past as well.
The court will also send a hearing notice to the lawyer or to the landlord, if the landlord does not have a lawyer. You can also check on your hearing date by visiting the municipal court’s website and looking up your case.
5a. I went online to check on my eviction filing and discovered that only one tenant’s name is listed online. Where is the other tenant(s)?
When the clerk initially enters in the information, he/she puts in the first tenant’s name. The other tenant will eventually be added to the online records. I don’t know how this process works as I am not employed by the clerk of courts. For more information contact the clerk of courts.
5b. What if the tenant does not show up at the eviction hearing?
Generally, the tenant will lose if he/she does not show up for the eviction hearing. However, some courts will allow the tenant to call in and request a continuance (a postponement) of the hearing. Generally, courts will allow one continuance of a week to the tenant. So that means that the hearing could be postponed a week. The tenant could have also filed a request for a continuance before the court hearing and not informed the landlord or the landlord’s attorney of such a request. In that case, the court would probably grant the tenant’s continuance request. If the tenant is represented by an attorney, the tenant’s attorney may appear on behalf of the tenant to make procedural arguments and/or contest the landlord’s case without the tenant’s presence. However, the tenant’s attorney cannot testify on behalf of the tenant.
6. Do I (landlord) need to attend the eviction hearing?
Update September 21, 2020 – Franklin County (as well as Dayton Municipal Court and other courts) no longer accepts affidavits and the landlord has to have a witness at the hearing to testify to all the eviction requirements. You can read the Appeals Court Tenth District Court of Appeals decision here. This means that you the landlord or property manager will need to show up at the hearing.
If you are local, I generally recommend that the landlord attend the eviction hearing as well. Although I may be your attorney and representing you at court, I cannot testify on your behalf. There is a general prohibition against acting as an attorney and a witness in the same case.
If you are out of state and own property in Ohio, I will try to proceed with either my notice server (if you hired him to post the 3 day notice) or an affidavit from the landlord. Most courts do NOT allow affidavits to substitute for live testimony. Most courts require live testimony. Franklin County will no longer allow an affidavit to prove certain facts. My notice server can generally just testify to the fact that he posted the notice. He does not know the ins and outs of your particular landlord tenant relationship beyond that.
If the tenant shows up at the hearing and testifies that he or she never received the three day notice or testifies contrary to any of the other material facts and you are not in attendance then I will have to ask for a continuance so that the landlord can attend the hearing and give live testimony as to the fact(s) in dispute (and no, you cannot testify over the phone and no, you cannot submit a bunch of text messages, emails, or other documentation without being present at court to authenticate those items. If my notice server is with me in court (and he served the notice in your case), he can, of course, contradict the tenant on the posting of the notice. He generally can’t contradict fantastic lies of the tenant involving how the tenant is current on rent or how the tenant made some deal with the landlord to let him stay, etc. If my notice server’s testimony proves insufficient then the landlord will have to show up at court at a later date. That being said, I’m generally able to process a good percentage of evictions without the landlord attending the hearing if my notice server was involved by serving the eviction notice.
Why is this? Judges often prefer live testimony over affidavit testimony, and the opposing side can question a witness. An affidavit cannot answer questions posed to it and the opposing side has the right to question witnesses for the landlord just like the landlord has the right to question the tenant and the tenant’s witnesses. So you can risk not attending but it may delay the eviction process.
Update September 21, 2020 – Franklin County (as well as Dayton Municipal Court and other courts) no longer accepts affidavits and the landlord has to have a witness at the hearing to testify to all the eviction requirements.
7. I hired you as my attorney, can’t you testify for me?
As an attorney, I represent you at court. This means that I present your case to the court. I do not testify on your behalf because I don’t have any FIRSTHAND knowledge of your situation. My knowledge of your situation comes from your mouth or your emails or just from you, in general. Courts want FIRSTHAND knowledge supporting any testimony. Courts want the testimony to come right from the horse’s mouth, i.e., the source. Why? Because you, the landlord, are the one that has personally dealt with the situation and the tenant. And you, the landlord, have firsthand knowledge of all the relevant facts.
So this means that the judge will not let me testify on your behalf. I can only represent you. Representation does not mean – testify on your behalf. Representation means presenting your case to the court through witnesses (such as your self) and evidence (such as documents, photographs, etc.). Representation means making legal arguments to the court. Witnesses have to testify to the facts – to what they directly observed. Only people who directly observe something can testify to it. As a lawyer, I do not directly observe what happened between you and your tenant.
8. Where is the Franklin County Eviction Court located and when does court start?
375 S. High St., Columbus, Ohio 43215, Courtroom 11B, 11th floor. Eviction court begins at either 830 or 1030 am.
Your hearing notice will indicate that court starts at 8:30 or 10:30 a.m. If you enjoy waiting around, show up at 8:00 a.m. or even earlier. Eviction court usually does not begin until 9:00 a.m. This means that eviction cases will not be called to be heard until about 9:00 a.m.
Why is this? One reason may be so if a tenant shows up to court at 9:50 a.m. and the tenant’s case has already been called, the judge can point to the hearing notice and say, “You were supposed to be here at 8:30 a.m. sharp. It’s now 9:50 a.m. and your case was called at 9:30 a.m.” The tenant may respond, “My ride was 45 minutes late picking me up.”
The judge can then say, “We didn’t call our first case until 9:15 a.m. so you had 45 extra minutes to get here and you still couldn’t get here on time.”
In addition, there are now several agencies at eviction court that help tenants. Judges may be inclined to start eviction hearings later so that tenants can meet with representatives from these agencies in order to talk about eviction defense or apply for financial aid to pay what they owe.
8b. What if the tenant moves out prior to the eviction hearing?
If the tenant fully vacates prior to the eviction hearing then there is no need to have an eviction hearing as there is no one to evict. I will dismiss the eviction action at the eviction hearing. Congratulations! You were able to obtain possession of your rental unit several weeks early if the tenant vacated before the hearing. If you are seeking to collect money damages for unpaid rent and related items, another hearing will have to be scheduled; judgment obtained and collection proceedings initiated, usually through a wage garnishment proceeding. These types of actions can take up to two years or more in order to fully collect on what is owed. Sometimes you don’t collect anything.
9. Can the tenant delay the hearing?
Franklin County generally allows each party to the eviction to continue/postpone the hearing once. If the tenant shows up and provides a reasonable excuse for delaying the matter then the court will almost always grant this first request. In fact, it could be said that the tenant will get at least one automatic continuance no matter what the reason. Tenants (especially those representing themselves) rarely request a continuance prior to the actual eviction hearing. This is because they are unfamiliar with formal court procedure. The vast majority of the time, the tenant will show up at the hearing and request a continuance, for the first time, at the hearing.
Several agencies are set up outside of the courtroom to provide the tenant with legal help. The tenant will be meeting with those agencies for the first time on the day of the hearing. So one common reason for requesting a continuance is to either speak with an attorney or have a recently-hired attorney review the case. The Franklin County Municipal Court will most likely grant the first continuance request of the tenant for almost any reason. The landlord can object to the continuance request but the Court will still grant the continuance. An underlying reason for automatically granting tenants’ continuance requests is that a postponement in the proceedings allows tenants more time to find alternate living arrangements as well as more time to reach a resolution with the landlord. An additional week may allow the tenant the ability to come up with funds that were not available on the date of the first hearing.
If you are pursuing an eviction in Franklin County and the tenant shows up at the hearing, you should expect the tenant to request a continuance and the court to grant that request.
10. What happens at the eviction hearing?
As a landlord, you will be asked whether you posted the three day notice on a certain date, whether the tenant was behind on rent at that time, and whether the tenant is still in the premises. Generally, the answers to all these questions are yes. It’s a good idea to check the rental unit as close to the hearing date as possible to determine if the tenant is still in the premises or just call the tenant and find out. The tenant will be asked if he/she has any defenses to the eviction and will be given a chance to present those defenses. Generally, tenants make the mistake of bringing up repairs that are needed. This is not a defense to a nonpayment of rent eviction unless the tenant has followed the procedures set forth concerning notifying the landlord of the repairs in writing and escrowing the rent. If the tenant, however, has a legitimate defense, the court will have the lanlord respond.
11. What will not happen at the eviction hearing?
An eviction action is generally composed of two separate parts. The first hearing is for the sole purpose of determining whether the tenant stays in the unit or is forced to leave. If the tenant has already moved out, there is no need for the first hearing. The case will be dismissed as there is no one to evict. You cannot evict someone who has already completely moved out.
If you choose to pursue your tenant for damages, that would take place in a second hearing and not at the first hearing. A second hearing is scheduled in most courts if the tenant files an answer to the complaint with the court or if the landlord files a motion for default judgment (or some courts automatically schedule the second hearing for a later date). The matter is divided up into two parts because a landlord will not know the full extent of his/her damages until after he/she has regained possession of the premises (after the tenant moves out) and inspected the unit. If the tenant has moved out before the first hearing, the court will still schedule a second hearing at a later date to determine what is owed. The court will not entertain the second cause of damages at the first hearing. Why is this? Two forms of service of the summons and complaint are required for eviction cases that include a second cause of action for damages (or monies owed). An eviction action only requires service by posting the summons and the complaint on the rental unit. The bailiff does this. The landlord/property manager cannot do this.
A second and different form of service is required for the second cause of action. This form of service takes place well after the first form of service where the bailiff posts the summons and complaint on the door. In some cases, ordinary mail service will not take place until after the first eviction hearing. Until ordinary mail service occurs, you cannot proceed on the second cause of action for damages.
Generally, ordinary mail service is sufficient for the second cause of action for damages. Ordinary mail service is where the court sends the summons and complaint via ordinary mail to the address that you have given for the tenant. If the tenant moves out before the eviction hearing, do you see the problem here? The problem is ordinary mail service may never reach the tenant because you directed the court to send it to the rental unit but now the tenant is gone. Ordinary mail service will come back to the court as return to sender because the tenant has moved out. This means that you have no service. No service means no case for damages. So at this point, you have to find out the new address for the tenant and request that the court serve the tenant at the new address. Until service occurs, your case will not go forward for damages.
Some landlords worry that the amount requested in the complaint must be changed if another rental payment due date comes and goes before the eviction hearing takes place or if additional utility bills accumulate. Generally this is not a problem as the amount requested in the complaint will change anyway because at the time the complaint was filed, no one knew what damages would result to the unit because possession had not been obtained by the landlord. In other words, no inspection of the premises took place at or before the complaint was filed. In addition, the tenant will likely cause more damage between the time the complaint is filed and when the tenant vacates, e.g., trash left behind, damages as a result of moving, additional utilities used, etc. The tenant will also run up additional utility charges and additional rent and late fee charges. None of which can be predicted to an exact dollar figure at the time the eviction complaint was filed. Nevertheless, you can ask the court for additional charges if you decide to pursue the tenant for them.
12. What happens after the eviction hearing?
If the eviction is granted, then the landlord applies for a red tag (writ of restitution). The bailiff will post the red tag 1-2 days after it has been paid for by the landlord. From the point it is posted, the tenant has five days to vacate the premises. If the tenant fails to vacate in that time, the landlord can pay for and schedule a set out. If the tenant vacates on his own within the 5 day period, then the landlord can retake possession of the premises without the aid of a set out.
The tenant can and likely will remove the red tag. So if you drive by to determine if the red tag has been posted, the tenant may have removed it. The tenant’s removal of the red tag does not affect the validity of its posting.
An eviction action generally consists of two hearings. The first hearing is to determine who gets possession of the premises. Because a landlord cannot fully assess his damages until he/she gets possession of the premises, a second hearing is often scheduled after the first hearing to determine what the tenant owes in damages (back rent, future rent, late fees, repairs beyond normal wear and tear, etc.). Courts typically schedule a second hearing if the tenant files an answer to the landlord’s eviction complaint. Generally, if no answer was timely filed then the landlord would move for default judgment for the amount owed. A second hearing date does not necessarily meanthat the tenant sued the landlord.
After the landlord gets possession of the premises, he/she should make an itemized list of damages to get ready for the second hearing. I strongly recommend getting this out to the tenant within 30 days of their move out so that the landlord can avoid any claim of wrongful withholding of the security deposit. Of course, the tenant would need to provide written notice of their forwarding address as well.
13. If the red tag expires and the tenant is still in the premises, can I enter the premises?
If the tenant has completely moved out of the premises, then you can retake possession of it at that time. If it still appears that the tenant is living there or still in the process of moving out, then you would need to schedule a set out with the bailiff and complete that set out prior to retaking possession of the premises.
You can always enter the premises at any time so long as you have given 24 hours advance written notice of your intent to do so. In an emergency situation, you can enter the premises with no notice or as much notice as you can provide if less than 24 hours notice.
14. Should I pursue my tenant for damages such as unpaid rent, late fees, repairs, etc.?
Most landlords are content just to get possession of the apartment back and that’s because it’s easy to get a judgment saying that a tenant owes you $x amount of dollars but it’s another thing to collect upon that judgement. You’ll need to keep track of the tenant’s whereabouts after the eviction or know where the tenant works if you plan on trying to collect what is owed. Most tenants who have been evicted have a hard time keeping steady employment as well and would happily quit their $8 an hour job once garnishment proceedings started rather than give the landlord the satisfaction of seeing any of what is owed.
15. I haven’t seen a red tag posted on the property despite checking several times. How do I know if one was issued?
Visit Franklin County Municipal Court’s website and search for your case via the Courtview Public Access system. Once you find your case, click on it and scroll down to the Docket towards the bottom. It will show you when the Writ of Restitution (red tag) was issued. As indicated above, the tenant may have removed the red tag before you noticed it there.
For example:
Here, the court’s website indicates that the writ of restitution (also known as the red tag) was issued on November 8. This means that the red tag was posted on the tenant’s door on November 8 and you can start counting the five days from that point.
16. What is the process for scheduling a set out in Franklin County?
After applying for the set out at the clerk of courts office, the landlord can generally call in to the service bailiffs the following day. Their number is (614) 645-7780. Call between 8am and 9:30am to schedule your set out. You will be asked if the tenant is still in the premises and when you last checked. At the set out’s scheduled time, you will need to have four total people ready to move out the tenant’s belongings along with boxes, trash bags and (if rain is threatening) tarps.
17. Where do I find people to help me carry out the set out?
If you don’t have a maintenance crew, consider hiring a reputable moving company. Explain the situation to them and indicate that you won’t know the exact date and time of the set out until you call up the bailiff.
18. Is there a means for scheduling an immediate set out in Franklin County so I don’t have to wait for the red tag to expire 5 days after posting?
If the circumstances warrant it, you can request an immediate set out from the magistrate hearing the case at the time of the eviction hearing. Be advised that every landlord and property manager wants an immediate set out. Suspicions that the tenant is selling drugs, will damage the property prior to vacating, or that the tenant poses a threat to neighboring tenants are merely suspicions and generally won’t warrant an immediate set out. All of those concerns can be addressed by simply calling the police when and if there is a problem. If the tenant has lived next to neighboring tenants for the past several years and no problems have occurred, there is even less reason to grant an immediate set out. If, however, the tenant has acted upon threats and a police report has been filed then you may have a more compelling case for an immediate set out. Immediate set outs are rarely granted.
As with almost any matter in municipal court, “immediate” still means that you have to wait. For example, I was able to get an immediate set out where the tenant had agreed to be out on a certain date (3 weeks after the initial eviction hearing), failed to leave, had agreed to an immediate set out in the original settlement agreement and was selling the landlord’s furniture and other property (located in the apartment) to support a drug habit. The second eviction hearing occurred on a Thursday and we were able to call in and schedule the set out on the following Monday. A red tag still must be posted on the property. The bailiff still wants to give the tenant at least 24 hours notice that a set out will be happening. You will also have to pay for both the red tag and the set out. So immediate set out in that particular case still meant four days later. Nothing is immediate in municipal court despite what they may call it.
19. The Franklin County Service Bailiffs don’t seem to be responsive and the tenants are threatening to destroy my property if they are not given more time to move out. What can I do?
I’ve had a situation where a landlord was unable to schedule a set out because the service bailiff for his area had called in sick for the day. In the meantime, the tenants were threatening to destroy his property if they were not given more time to move out, and the tenants had already kicked in the front door and hacked through the garage door with a butcher’s knife. Fed up, the landlord called the Columbus Police Department to aid him with the set out. He told them of the tenants’ threats and that he was going over to defend his property. The police could show up now or later when the tenant made a false 911 call (which she, in fact, later did do). The landlord arrived at the property with eight or nine others ready to move the tenant out. Fortunately, the police showed up at the same time. After talking with the tenants, the police determined that it was time for them to move out (red tag had already expired as well). The landlord changed the locks, bolted the front door shut, and set the tenants’ belongings out in the yard. The tenants spent the night on the driveway and finally obtained a uhaul the next morning. The tenant had previously delayed the eviction hearing and the original three day notice to vacate had been posted over a month before. Sometimes, a hard slap of reality is what is needed to get people to do something. In this case, the Columbus Police helped with the set out. They may not do so in your situation.
20. How can I keep track of what’s happening on my eviction case?
You can go to www.fcmcclerk.com and click on the “Public Access” link. From there you can perform a search either with your name, the tenant’s name, the case number or other criteria. Once you find your case, click on the “Dockets” or “Events” tab and you will see upcoming hearings and what has been done in your case. The best time to access the public access section is during non-business hours.
Licking County online case records
Fairfield County online case records
Mansfield Municipal Court online case records
Dayton Municipal Court online case records
Circleville Municipal Court online case records
Montgomery County Municipal Court case records
Vandalia Municipal Court case records
Madison County Municipal Court case records
21. I’ve asked some questions of the clerk of courts and they indicate that they can’t give me legal advice. Why is this?
Generally, individuals working at the clerk of courts are not attorneys and therefore cannot give legal advice. Even if they were attorneys, they would still not provide legal advice as an attorney client relationship would first need to be formed prior to giving legal advice. Finally, if you were to misunderstand their advice or if they were to misunderstand your question, they would not want you to go to the judge and indicate, “Well, the clerk of courts told me to do it this way,” as an excuse for a mistake in the eviction process. The clerk of courts cannot refer you to attorneys either.
22. How does the tenant become aware that an eviction has been filed?
The clerk of courts serves a copy of the summons and the complaint upon the tenant soon after the eviction has been filed.
23. Should I offer my tenant money to move out instead of filing an eviction?
I’ve known several landlords who tell their problem tenants that they will pay them x amount of dollars if they move out by a certain date and leave the place in good condition. These landlords do this in hopes that they can save money and time by not proceeding with an eviction. This may work for you; however, some tenants may view it as a sign of weakness and misinterpret the offer as your lack of resolve to file an eviction.
24. I’m waiting for my eviction hearing date which is 2-3 weeks away, what can I do in the meantime?
As a landlord, you can contact the tenants and indicate that you have filed for an eviction against them. You can tell your tenants that if they move out prior to the hearing, you will dismiss the eviction action (first cause of action only) against them. By dismissing the eviction part of the case, you are giving your tenants a better chance to find another apartment. If this is not enough incentive for your tenants, you may consider offering them money to leave early (see above). Many times, tenants cannot leave early as they need money for a security deposit at a new place. Another option may be to indicate to the tenants that if they leave early, you will not pursue them for damages after the eviction.
25. My tenant has obtained an attorney from legal aid. How will that affect the eviction process?
Legal aid generally will try to delay the case as long as they can by seeking a one week continuance at the first hearing. They will also attempt to move the case to the end of the morning’s docket in hopes that the landlord will become more reasonable by waiting longer. They will point out weaknesses in the case and attempt to obtain a resolution. They may attempt to threaten conducting depositions or an appeal in hopes of frightening the landlord into a settlement. You can generally expect the first hearing to be continued to a later date and should plan accordingly. Most likely, the first hearing will be continued until one week later.
26. I would like to proceed with collecting on the judgment. What is involved in this process?
If the tenant has not responded by filing an answer to the eviction complaint then a motion for default judgment would be filed with the court. If this is granted, then you would need to go forward with collection procedures. If you know where the tenant is working, you can proceed with a wage garnishment. The first step of this process involves serving the tenant with a 15 day demand form, which is a notice of a court proceeding to collect debt. You can serve the tenant at his or her place of employment with this form or at their current address. If the tenant does not respond with 15 days of being served with this form then you proceed with wage garnishment. In Franklin County there is an $85 garnishment fee charged by the court. Check your county court for their particular garnishment fee.
27. Will the court award us all the costs of this eviction including attorney fees and what about unpaid electric or water bills?
Remember that an eviction action consists of two court hearings. The first hearing just concerns who has the right to possession of the premises. The second hearing (if it is scheduled) concerns damages. Evictions are divided up into two hearings so that once the landlord gets possession of the rental premises, he or she can determine all of his damages at that time. If you are successful at the damages hearing, the court will also award your costs (such as filing fee, red tag and set out fees) but generally will not award attorney’s fees. You can also ask for unpaid utility bills as part of the court award. Other typical damages include unpaid rent, late fees, damage to the premises, etc.
At the eviction hearing or after the eviction has been filed, you can negotiate with the tenant. If you reach a settlement agreement without proceeding to the hearing, that agreement could include attorney’s fees, court costs, unpaid rent and other amounts. Such an agreement would generally allow the tenant to continue living at the rental unit if he or she pays what was agreed upon. If you proceed to an eviction hearing, the court will generally not award attorney’s fees against the tenant as part of the eviction hearing.
28. Does the posting of an eviction notice on my door count as an eviction on my credit record?
For anything to potentially be considered an eviction on your credit record, it would have to be filed with the court. The posting of an eviction notice on a door is not a court filing. The landlord would have to file a formal eviction complaint with the court against you before an eviction could become part of your credit record.
29. I’m trying to schedule a set out and the bailiff is telling me that he has not received my paperwork. What’s going on?
If you have an agreed entry wherein you agreed that the tenant would move out by a certain date and the tenant has failed to do so, your paperwork has to travel to many destinations at the municipal court. It usually starts out on the 1st floor in the mail room. From there, it has to travel to the 3rd floor for the clerk to process the paperwork. From there, it stays on the 3rd floor and is processed by another clerk. It still has at least one more stop on the 3rd floor to be processed by the evictions clerk. The evictions clerk then takes the paperwork to the duty judge on the 10th floor so that the judge can sign off on the paperwork. It may go back down to the 3rd floor before it finally travels up to the bailiff’s office on the 18th floor. I don’t work at the courthouse so I may be missing a stop or two of this journey. If the bailiff doesn’t have the paperwork yet, don’t worry. It’s somewhere in the courthouse circulating. Also remember that your paperwork is not the only paperwork that the clerks are processing. Thousands of evictions are filed every year in Franklin County.
30. The eviction process is taking entirely too long. What’s going on here?
Thousands of evictions are filed every year in Franklin County. In addition, thousands of other cases are filed every year in Franklin County. The municipal court has a finite number of employees. Get in line and hurry up and wait.
31. The eviction has already been filed with the court. My 3 day eviction notice wasn’t posted or something is wrong with my 3 day eviction notice. What can I do?
You cannot post a new three day notice in order to correct an issue with the previous 3 day notice after the eviction complaint has been filed with the court. If no 3 day notice was originally posted and then the eviction case was filed, the court never had jurisdiction to hear the case. You could try to post a 3 day notice after the case was filed and then try to amend the complaint but you are probably better off filing a new eviction case with the court as the court would most likely not allow you to amend the complaint. You cannot serve a 3 day notice via email, text message, direct message or instant message either. The best way to serve a 3 day notice that is recognized by the court is to post it on the tenant’s door.
Thinking you can post a new 3 day notice after the case was filed in order to correct an invalid 3 day notice or to correct a 3 day notice that was never posted is making up court rules in your mind. It may seem logical to you to do this and it may seem like this is how it should work, but you are sadly mistaken. This is why you hired an attorney. Your attorney knows and understands the rules that must be followed as well as the consequences for not following the rules. This is also why magistrates and judges have little patience with pro se landlords. Pro se landlords (those who represent themselves in court) often make up the rules of court as they go along and then get angry when their rules don’t match the actual court rules. Judges and magistrates do not have the time nor the responsibility to teach you those rules.
32. When I look up my case online at fcmcclerk.com/case or elsewhere (depending on the county), the tenant’s name is misspelled or the landlord’s name is misspelled or the landlord’s address is wrong. What can I do? Will I lose the eviction case?
It is not uncommon for the clerk to make one of these mistakes as the clerk manually enters the information into the court’s computer system. Clerks process hundreds (if not thousands) of cases everyday. Clerks are often interrupted by attorneys, pro se litigants, other court employees and others as they are entering this information. Such mistakes are why information on the court’s internet docket differs from the actual filing in the case. The actual filing in the case is the eviction complaint. The eviction complaint is the final word on the names of the parties and their addresses. Don’t fret, your eviction case is not doomed if there is a difference between the complaint and what the clerk entered into the computer system.
It’s common for both landlords and tenants to fixate on a small error and then believe that the entire case hinges on this error. For example, Tenants often mistakenly believe that if their name is not on the lease or if their name is misspelled, they cannot be evicted. Landlords often mistakenly believe that if a tenant’s name is not on the lease, the tenant can be kicked out without going to court. Neither is true.
If there is a misspelling or other small error in the actual eviction complaint (the court document that controls the names and addresses), it can often easily be fixed at the hearing by bringing it to the attention of the magistrate presiding.
32. I’m an attorney looking to start processing eviction cases. What should I expect or look out for?
The prospect of attending court on an eviction matter causes quite a bit of stress on a new landlord or property manager. Couple that stress with the stress of dealing with a delinquent tenant over a period of time and you have a highly emotional party. Highly emotional and stressed-out individuals often want to micromanage the entire eviction process even though they know little to nothing about the eviction process or eviction law. It is not uncommon for such individuals to take what makes sense to them or what they’ve seen on television or in the movies and apply that to how the eviction process and court proceedings should go. In addition, it is not uncommon to see a hard line taken when it comes to negotiations in the case. Landlords will often pass up thousands of dollars (guaranteed money by agencies providing financial aid to tenants) just to get the tenant out. Such decisions do not make good business sense. Such decisions are made because the party is too emotionally involved in the situation.
As an attorney getting into an eviction practice, you will need to provide case updates on a very regular basis even though eviction cases consist of very few events (and such events are readily available on the court’s website 24/7): the filing of the case and the eviction hearing date. You will need to be able to verbally explain various parts of the eviction process several times. In fact, if you read this far on the web page to get to this point, you are in a select group of individuals. You will need to explain to your clients that courts in larger cities will require parties to negotiate a resolution in order to potentially avoid an eviction. With skyrocketing rent increases, homelessness issues, and agencies providing financial aid to tenants, courts often require an effort to keep the tenant in place. Above all, you will need to separate yourself emotionally from the emotionally-based battles of the litigants as these are common in eviction cases.