General Question

tomathon's avatar

Is there a way to speed up the eviction process?

Asked by tomathon (768points) February 10th, 2013

I bought some foreclosed homes and now I have to deal with 2 deadbeat families that are squatting in two of them. My lawyer says the process takes around 3-weeks before the Marshals or Sheriffs come to throw out the squatters by force and that depends entirely on how the squatters respond during the eviction process.

Is there anyway to speed up this 3-week process?

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12 Answers

avaeve's avatar

Yeah, you put up a bond for immediate possession. This cuts the process down to 1 week but if your lawyer didn’t mention it, then it might not be an available option in your state.

SamandMax's avatar

In short. Not really. The law is the law, if it says it takes that long, then that’s how long it takes.

burntbonez's avatar

Depends on how heavy you want to be. Do something illegal and people are likely to get out sooner. I don’t recommend that, though.

On the other hand, you could offer them an incentive to leave now. Give them $500 to get out now.

I had a friend once pay his crazy tenant $10,000 to leave the apartment now. But his lease wasn’t over for months and he was beating up my friend on a daily basis.

JLeslie's avatar

3 weeks is good. The law is the law, whatever it happens to be in your state, assuming you are in America. The best thing to do is make sure you do everything on time and as soon as possible.

YARNLADY's avatar

If you want to hire an eviction service, they claim they can get it done in 30 days, but I suspect that is only a minority of cases. The best way to handle it is to do all the work yourself, and follow through as soon as you legally can. Find a good handbook or online source and follow the instructions.

CWOTUS's avatar

Welcome to Fluther.

What state are you in? In most of the states where I’ve resided before (not that I had to know this, you understand) it seemed that the process normally took a month or more. If you can get it done in three weeks, then I’d say you’re doing pretty good.

I would expect that if you can demonstrate to a judge that they’re stealing fixtures or damaging the place (you’d have to have proof of some kind), then maybe you could get an immediate order of eviction. But you would still need an attorney to help push that.

tomathon's avatar

Thank you all.

CWOTUS, the problem is I plan on demolishing the houses. I bought it for the property, not the house. In this case, complaining about theft or internal property damage would be ineffective. I did, however, look into avaeve’s answer. Putting up a bond for immediate possession, if won in court, would reduce the 30 day/3-week process down to ten days. The entire court process is sped up since you put up the bond for surety or cash.

Pandora's avatar

If they are real pigs, you can call the health department or the fire department if they have created hazardous living conditions. I don’t know how long that would take.

rojo's avatar

Not really, not in any legal manner anyway. The courts have always seemed to side with the tenants. You can and will win in the end but it will take time and, if you are lucky, they will not tear your property up too much in the meantime. You can do what Pandora suggested, or call the code enforcement people if they are violating various codes like having living room furniture on the lawn or not cutting the grass but unfortunately, many times this will fall back on you as the property owner and there is alway the possiblity that they will claim harrassment even if the calls are justified.
Do you know anyone named “Vito” or “Big Juan” who might pay them a visit for a small fee? And if so, is there a way you can claim plausible deniability when it comes to knowing said individuals?

Judi's avatar

It’s hard to stomach but some people give cash for keys. Make a deal with the squatters that you will give them $500 if they give you keys and empty all their trash by a designated date. It’s sometimes cheaper than a traditional eviction.

kritiper's avatar

Yes, but it’s not legal.

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