If You’re Worried About Evictions in California, This Blog is for You
Credit: @dillonjshook
Los Angeles County has extended its eviction moratorium through the end of 2022 for residential tenants. However, for most other parts of the state, the moratorium runs out at the end of the month. Tenants in other parts of California, as well as their landlords, are becoming increasingly worried about how to handle rental debt and whether or not to evict, or how to approach the subject. This blog covers some of the less scary alternatives for those who want to get on top of this, avoid legal costs, judgments and hassle!
For those renting, getting relief in time before moratoriums run out has been a problem.
For starters, the rental assistance application period closes March 31, so if you have not done it, this is your final warning! That being said, many people are still waiting on a status update for relief, and have been served with eviction papers despite being approved or in-process in some areas. Only approximately 16% of applicants have received funds. Most of these laws don’t necessarily prevent eviction from approval of assistance alone. The funds must be obtained to avoid eviction. Landlords are evicting tenants in some circumstances if they have not received anything. It is unclear whether the state will extend its moratorium to allow for funds to be disbursed fully. Hopefully, this will be organized better and things will begin to move more smoothly for the people who are making every effort to help themselves and work it out.
For those who do not receive assistance or don’t qualify, the issues that can come up are quite serious. One in this position will need to decide whether or not to stay where they are living and come up with a plan to repay all back rent to their landlord regardless. It appears that the courts here are handling eviction from the property (unlawful detainer claim) and monetary claims for back rent separately. Meaning, landlords would be suing both for possession of the property, and separately for any back rent owed. For tenants who care about their credit and ability to find housing, having an eviction or money judgment against you can create serious problems. In addition, some people have occupations in which they really cannot afford to have things like this on their record.
Landlords have many challenges to face as well. Very large property development and management companies may scrape by with any losses, and be in a position to decide what is and isn’t worth collecting. However, the greater majority of those property owners affected are not in that position, and have received very little help from the government to offset the costs of protecting housing for their renters who are also suffering. They may be forced to sue on the rental debt, even if they personally do not want to do that, because they are left with no choice but to do so given the lack of relief from other sources. It is important to note that the legal cost to landlords in the eviction process is high, especially when there may be multiple cases. After going through all that, they still may be stuck with a large bill, and also an inability to collect everything they are looking for.
This is where mediation can come in to help both of these parties achieve a much more satisfactory result. For residential and commercial renters alike, mediation is a better, easier and far less costly way to resolve issues related to their lease agreements. It takes a lot of the stress and intimidating nature of handling these matters in court out of the equation. For landlords, it is a massive legal fees saver. In addition, it can present the opportunity for them to keep tenants in a somewhat soft rental market, and help create financial arrangements that the tenant can meet. Arrangements have to be workable!
Mediation allows everyone involved to make their own decisions about how to construct a solution that works for all parties involved. It is better for all parties to sort this out, rather than scramble to deal with massive debts at the last minute. Professionals like myself are here to help people out of this mess in the least painful way possible!