Landlord/Tenant

A tenant may be evicted for holding over when he/she remains at the premises after being notified that their month-to-month tenancy is being terminated or upon the expiration of the lease. The most common hold over proceeding occurs when the tenant either does not have a lease or the lease has since expired and a month-to-month tenancy is created. Before starting a hold over proceeding for a the tenant must be served with a termination notice. Under the new laws the tenant’s termination notice may be a 30 day, 60 day, or 90 day notice. The amount of time needed is dependent on how long the tenant has lived at the property as well as how long the lease term is (if applicable)

A tenant may be evicted for not paying their rent. Depending on the judge, a cap may be put on the number of months of back rent you can collect (generally spanning between 3 and 8 months). Therefore, it is wise to start eviction proceeds sooner rather than later- if a tenant does not pay rent for a year you may be precluded from collecting all 12 months.

Before a non-payment proceeding can be started, you must notify the tenant that they owe rent (a 14 day notice). You must provide them a “14 Day Notice to Pay or Quit” letter, which must be served properly in the same manner that a Notice of Petition and Petition is served. We HIGHLY recommend hiring a professional Process Server to serve these notices for you directly

If after the 14 days rent is still owed, a non-payment petition may be filed with the court. Upon contacting our office to start an eviction, we will send you an eviction referral form to complete or you may complete the form available on our website. When filling out the form, please be sure to provide a breakdown of rent owed for each month and whether or not you would like us to try to work out an agreement with the tenant. Additionally, a copy of the lease (if one exists) should also be provided. Please keep in mind that under the new laws, you will NOT be awarded late fees or attorney fees in a landlord/tenant action. It is important to remember that the only defense to a non-payment petition is payment. Therefore, if the tenant shows up to court with all rent owed, the petition will be dismissed.

A tenant may be evicted for being an “objectionable tenant”. An objectionable tenancy may occur when the tenant repeatedly violates the lease, is engaging in unlawful conduct or other serious disturbances. If there is a lease, it is important to read the terms of the lease as it may outline the procedure the landlord must follow. It is important to remember that the tenant’s conduct must truly be objectionable. Examples of objectionable conduct include repeated encounters with the police, the assignment of nuisance points to the property and repeated behavior that is in violation of the lease (ie. Having a pet when pets are not allowed; frequent loud behavior that is disrupting neighbors, etc.). A tenant may NOT be evicted because they are annoying, because they pay their rent but pay it late every month or because you simply want to get rid of the tenant.

After we are in court, we will notify you of the court results. If the warrant is stayed (meaning held off to some point in the future) you will need to call our office and let us know if the warrant needs to be served. Once we receive notice that the warrant needs to be served we will call the Court. The Marshal will usually receive the warrant within a day or two after calling it in and he will serve it as soon as he can. A warrant of eviction gives the tenant 14 calendar days to leave the property. If the tenant is still there after 14 calendar days, you may call the Marshal directly to arrange a lock out. The Marshal does not notify us of exactly when he served the warrant so if you feel that the 14 calendar day time period is coming to an end, you may call the Marshal directly to arrange the lockout. Please be advised that it may take several days for the Marshal to receive the warrant of eviction. This is generally the case when an agreement was made and the tenant defaults on the agreement. When the tenant does not live up to the terms of the agreement we have to submit an affidavit to the judge explaining the default. After the judge reviews the affidavit, he/she will sign the warrant of eviction and send it directly to the marshal. For actions outside of Monroe County, the warrant will be sent to the County’s civil division of the Sheriff Department.

Almost every judge in every court will require the attorney to speak with the tenant before appearing in front of the judge. A lot of times an agreement can be reached with the tenant and presented to the judge. In the event an agreement is not reached, we will go in front of the judge and have him/her make a decision. Under the most recent laws, the matter must be scheduled for a hearing at least 14 days out to allow both the landlord and tenant the opportunity to present witnesses and/or evidence. If a hearing is scheduled, we will notify you and let you know if we need additional information and/or your appearance. Please be advised that the judge has the discretion to determine the judgment amount to be awarded (if any). Additionally, the judge can determine if a warrant is granted and the stay date. We will certainly do our best to give you the results you are seeking but keep in mind that the judge can rule over our objection and make his/her own determination

It generally takes at least three (3) weeks to be heard in Rochester City Court after the petition has been filed. Not only does the court’s schedule dictate how soon we can get into court but the legal requirements of serving the tenant does as well. Town Courts have their own dockets to adhere to- some towns may allow us to choose our own date, other courts may only schedule evictions on certain days of the month (ie. First Tuesday of the month, etc.). It is important to provide us with a copy of the lease (if one exists) and an idea of what you would like to happen in Court. Some landlords prefer to reach an agreement in court (payment plan) while others want the tenant out if the tenant does not show up with all rent owed. While we cannot guarantee what will happen in court it does make it a smoother process if we are aware of your expectations.