Self Help Eviction Busts
Self help eviction is when you take your own actions to kick out a tenant without going through the courts. There are procedures you have to go through with the court and that is the only legal way you can evict a tenant.
A “self help” eviction is when you, the landlord, want that dead-beat tenant out and so you take matters into your hands by: threatening or bullying the tenant, changing the locks or adding additional locks to bar tenant from the property, turning off utility services (water, gas, electricity, telephone), or removing a tenant’s personal property.
Do not even threaten to lock the tenant out or to shut off the utilities. Most states have statutes that clearly state that threats of a self help eviction are illegal.
If you are dragged into court for a self help eviction, the judge won’t care that the tenants were behind on the rent. If the tenant is in possession of the premises, and you want him out, and he won’t leave, you have to go through the correct procedures with the court.
What will happen to you if you do a self help eviction and get brought into court? It depends. If you removed the tenant’s personal property and through it in the trash, the court will award the tenant with the value of his belongings which could easily be $20,000 or more. Judges will not require the tenant to produce receipts either because such proof would have been thrown out in the lock out.
You can also be sued for the common law intentional torts of conversion (the exercise of control over an item in a manner inconsistent with the rights of its owner which permanently deprives the owner of its value); trespass to chattels (the exercise of control over an item in a manner inconsistent with the rights of its owner which temporarily deprives the owner of its value); and trespass (the unlawful entry upon the property of another enjoying right to possession). Since these claims for relief are intentional torts, if the court finds liability and awards any actual (or even nominal) damages, the court may award punitive damages to the tenant as well as attorneys fees.
In the case of WILLIAM SPANO v. HANNA ABDALLA South Carolina Superior Court (October 3, 2002) Hanna Abdulla engaged in self help eviction by changing the locks and removing William Spano’s personal property from the premise to the sidewalk. Hanna Abdulla claimed that she thought the tenant had abandoned the premises. The court was not persuaded by her claim and awarded Spano $1,800 for the 3 months of rent expense he incurred to live elsewhere. The court further awarded $1,200 in punitive damages and attorneys fees.
In the case of Gordon v. Morris, 2001 Ohio App. (February 2, 2001) the landlord changed the locks just before the end of the month upon learning that the tenants had shut off the utilities and removed most of their belongings. The trial court awarded the tenants only $96.77 in actual damages (they had paid rent through the end of the month but were deprived of the use of the apartment, and this was the prorated amount). But the trial court further awarded $1,000.00 in punitive damages and $1,462.00 in attorneys fees.
The purpose of the courts for not allowing “self-help” evictions is to preserve the peace by preventing disturbances that frequently accompany struggles for the possession of land. If you could just change the locks and throw a tenants belongings out in the street or worse, in the trash, that same angry tenant could come to your home and put a bullet in your head. While at face value it may not seem like the courts are protecting you, they actually are.
For the correct way to evict a non-paying tenant, see No Mercy – How To Kick Out A Tenant
Tags: common law, evict, landlord, personal property, possession, premises, self help eviction, trespass to chattels, unlawful entry