Going to court should always be the last resort in any dispute between a landlord and tenant. Unfortunately though, a court appearance is a necessary evil for property owners stuck with a bad tenant.
One of the potential downsides of owning rental property is dealing with occasional evictions and deadbeat tenants who refuse to pay you what they owe for unpaid rent and damages. Most cases involving landlord-tenant law are handled by county courts. Each court has bailiffs who enforce court orders and seek to collect money if a judgment has not been paid.
So after you have filed court proceedings, what do you need to do next to ensure a beneficial outcome?
First, you should dispel any romantic notion that a court appearance is a mechanism to bring about “justice” after months of suffering at the hands of a bad tenant. Unfortunately, the legal system has nothing to do with who’s right and who’s wrong, just who has the proper pieces of paper and knows their bundle of papers really well.
This means that even when you as a landlord know that you have done the right thing, this may count for nothing in the eyes of the law. Landlords should realize that going to court is simply a matter of proving a set of events occurred against a list of very specific criteria.
Preparation for a Court Appearance
Careful preparation is definitely the key to any successful court ruling, particularly if the landlord is representing themselves. A landlord really needs to know what the Civil Procedure Rules say about the specific area of law they are taking action on. Civil Procedure Rules are the procedural code that sets out how the court deals with cases in a just manner.
Before going to court, you should be aware of them and in particular the first few parts of these Rules that deal with how court business is run in respect to paperwork and dates of service.
It's All About the Evidence
The secret for any landlord who wants to obtain justice is to be better prepared than their opponent. That means, among other things, providing sufficient written evidence.
Before going to court, a landlord will have to submit a pile of documentary evidence. This folder of evidence is known in legal parlance as a "bundle" and it should contain all of the evidence that a landlord refers to in their statement. This might be letters that have been exchanged between the landlord and tenant, rent statements, the lease agreement, and other documents.
A landlord should prepare their table of contents for this package carefully, giving the date, a name for the entry (e.g. e-mail from defendant to landlord), and a one-line summary of the important point covered in the attached document. It is important that the landlord numbers the pages in the bundle and that they know what is where in case the judge decides to ask a question about it.
A landlord should also put post-it notes on the edges of their own copy so that they can find the important stuff quickly and easily. A landlord should present the court's bundle in a 3-ring binder so the judge can easily get to the pages that the landlord refers to during the hearing.
A landlord should establish a clear timeline of everything that has happened to assist the judge in their determination. You should also endeavor to give precise dates and amounts of money.
Finally, in preparing their statement, where a landlord makes reference to letters, e-mails, and other items, a landlord should make a note in their statement of the exact page number where this bit of evidence occurs in the landlord's bundle. This will help the judge when referencing the evidence and is a requirement in the Civil Procedure Rules.
Tips for the Court Appearance
- You should try to stay calm. A landlord should present their case in a dispassionate and professional manner. Getting worked up or annoyed will not help a landlord's case, but getting across the facts and evidence will.
- Court appearances are often brief. Landlords shouldn't expect an epic hearing like they see on TV. Where the defendant (the tenant) fails to show which is quite common and the evidence provided to the court is clear cut, the whole thing could be over in 5 minutes.
- It is always useful for the landlord to have the basic facts on a single piece of paper as a memory aid for easy reference.
- You should keep your answers to any questions short (yes or no). People who ramble on incessantly can annoy the judge and by talking too much you could end up digging a deeper and deeper hole for yourself. Remember, all the evidence that a landlord has produced in court should have already been submitted beforehand within a landlord's statement. The judge and the defendant will get a copy of this before the hearing.
- Landlords should be aware that courts and even judges are not infallible. Therefore, a landlord should always check any judgment carefully to ensure that the law has been correctly applied. If in doubt a landlord should always seek clarification from the court, and if a landlord is still unsatisfied they should seek professional legal advice. There have been cases where a judge has misinterpreted the law or the admin staff working at the court has issued an incorrect judgment.
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