Lawrence Resident ‘Dodged Bullet’ on Potential Eviction
Earlier this summer Sean McGuire was faced with a difficult decision. When his plans to join Teach For America fell through he was left without a place to live in August. He joined a group of four friends that had signed a single family lease on a six-bedroom house, effectively making him a ghost roommate.
“I got invited onto the lease the same day and I just rushed into it. I really didn’t think things through,” McGuire said.
When McGuire realized the ramifications of his decision he was forced to make a choice. He could either risk being discovered by the landlord or he could back out of the agreement, leaving his friends in a house that they could not afford. Either choice could have led to his and possibly his housemates’ eviction due to lack of payment.
In the event of an eviction due to lack of payment, a landlord must file a Forced Retainer at the county courthouse. The sheriff then serves the retainer to the tenant. If the tenant disputes the charge then the county court has eight days to set up a trial. If the tenant fails to appear for the trial the landlord is given an automatic default judgment. The Douglas county sheriff then informs the tenant of the ruling, giving him or her three days notice for the eviction. This entire process takes close to a month.
“We run about 45 Forced Retainers a month. That’s 1 ½ a day, people being forced out because of non-payment,” Robert Ebey, vice president of the Landlords of Lawrence Association, said.
A Lawrence landlord since 1976, Ebey has dealt with his share of evictions. While most of the evictions are routine every so often he encounters a difficult move out. A recent eviction left one of his properties with stacks of magazines, piles of trash, broken or unwanted appliances and a refrigerator full of food.
The former tenant had not turned off any of the utilities.
“The new tenants could not get their phone hooked because the previous tenant’s phone was still hooked up and we didn’t know what company she was with,” Ebey said. “We finally had to add a second line.”
Evictions are public record. Each month the Landlords of Lawrence Association releases a newsletter that details the previous month’s evictions.
McGuire and company won’t have to worry about appearing in that newsletter any time soon. After a consultation with Legal Services for Students it was discovered that the house did not fall in the single-family zone. McGuire was able to legally join the lease. He and his friends will be able to move in on August first.
“We definitely dodged a bullet,” he said.