It is no surprise that waiting for an eviction has always seemed like a very long time. The tenant is not paying, sheriff service to issue the pay or quit paperwork takes weeks, then to wait for the tenant to respond is another week, to set a court appearance and finally get on the schedule for the sheriff to show up to keep the peace while the tenant's belongings are removed takes another 2-4 weeks. This process used to take 30-45 days and now over the past year, we have seen that time expand to an average of 60 days.
Last week, we received some very disturbing information that translates into even longer time frames for evictions. With all the budget constraints, the county has shared that they are no longer allowing eviction companies to reserve a sheriff for a day per week to handle their clients' eviction. This was significantly decreasing the already lengthy process as we were able to take advantage of the eviction company planning the most effective route for their clients to get the job done.
With this new development, we will be in line with everyone else meaning that there will be less efficient routes and a first come first serve basis which will result in longer eviction timeframes. We are supporting the eviction company's stance that this is not a good thing and will only hurt more than help.
In the past year and a half, evictions have increased dramatically. The foreclosure evictions are lumped in with our non-paying tenant evictions. With foreclosures rising to astronomical numbers, this is only crowding an already stretched sheriff service. With Gwinnett County running out of budget, we have been told that there will be no overtime that can be spent. So what does that mean for us as landlords? We are stuck waiting for the process.
At Solid Source Property Management, we are considering a wide variety of options to shorten this process. We are guiding our clients through the eviction process with the best information possible available at the time. While we statistically have very few evictions due to proactive screening, there is little we can do to foresee the loss of a job, a medical issue, or death. We work very hard to maintain a professional working relationship with the tenant throughout the whole process.
To read some good news - read Mark's remarks about New Construction sited in Forsyth County.
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