— Eric Mathews PICTURED AT LEFT
MONDAY MORNING BLUES Out of the 16 landlord tenant eviction cases set for first appearance at 8:15am in Courtroom E of the Deschutes County Circuit Court July 2, nearly 40 percent—or six tenants—didn’t appear. The judge, not present at the time, would automatically rule in the landlord’s favor in those cases. “Generally they show up,” says Kim Richey, a property manager for Umbrella Properties. Richie manages four apartment buildings and says the eviction cycle ebbs and flows throughout the year. “I’m generally here a few times a month,” she says. “And you definitely notice more cases closer to the holiday periods where people maybe don’t budget for rent.” Of the remaining 10 renters, all chose to go to mediation— a free service provided by the court. “There’s no harm in trying mediation,” boasts a court clerk as she circles the room. “In mediation you can talk about payment plans, your issues with the property and so on...at trial the judge will only decide who has the right to the property.” Clearly, the push is for mediation. On this day, the clerk gives the no-shows a grace period of a few extra minutes to show. Slightly after 8:30 am she calls it. No one else showed. “Mediation cures all ills,” says Eric Mathews, 53, of Maple Leaf Legal Services. In his nearly 19 years in the eviction business, he calls himself the landlord’s “professional hard ass.” Mathews represents landlords or property management companies. “I’m not a lawyer, I mean, look at my shorts,” he says, laughing, “but I do know the law.” Mathews helps clients throughout the eviction process—from serving the initial eviction papers to subsequent court appearances, mediation attempts and final lock-out proceedings.
Mathews speculates that out of a hypothetical 10 pending evictions, six or seven tenants will show for their first appearance in court and that all if not most will try mediation first. “It’s your opportunity to try and sort things out, and unlike trial, you can talk about anything that’s wrong with the property, come up with a payment plan if needed, get things sorted,” he says, “And it’s legally enforceable.” Mathews says landlords used to not be as open to mediation and would skip it—until the court decided to start imposing trial fees. “Landlords seem to be more willing to talk now,” he says, “and it pays to talk because it will take roughly two weeks for them to get a trial from the first appearance date.” He also notes that larger property management groups tend to be more open to negotiating with tenants, whereas private property owners are more apt to kick “John Smith out on a whim.” He speculates this is probably because they feel the loss of rental income more heavily than larger property management companies with a vast portfolio. Of the cases that do go to mediation, Mathews says out of 10, maybe one will go to court. In all his years spent in the legal system, he’s only lost five cases—”pretty much on technicalities or misinformation from the property owner.” He notes the change in eviction rates in recent years—estimating that eviction rates seem to be going down. “I understand that bad things happen to good people, but from what I’ve seen there are also people who use this as a lifestyle.” Mathews tells tales of the lady who he’s evicted 17 times, how he’s had to pull his gun in two separate incidents when serving papers or the man who would purposely write bad checks for security deposits and then would ride out the
eviction process for free rent. “We finally ran those guys out of town… but yeah, they do exist and I see a lot of it.” Mathews says that in the past he would see more evictions because the rental market allowed for tenants to move around. Now, with the rental market facing a tight squeeze, tenants can’t bop from one property to the next. “In a weird way, this whole thing has made tenants behave,” he says. If at trial the judge rules in favor of the landlord, Mathews says the tenant will then have four business days from the next day to move out. On the fifth day, he, a locksmith and the sheriff show up to give the tenant 15 minutes to move out. “That’s when the crying starts,” he laments. “Sometimes tenants will send their kids to the front door to answer the sheriff and then they’ll point to us and say, ‘These are the bad men who are kicking us out of our home.’ And you know what, it’s hard to look at the kids, but at the same time I don’t have sympathy anymore because they’ve had all this time to figure it out.” Mathews is quick to add that if a tenant looks as though they will comply with the moveout —and depending on the particular sheriff’s deputy handling the lockout—he will give leeway to those trying. “I’ll tell them, OK I’ll leave the place unlocked until 6pm and then I’ll swing around and hopefully they’ve moved out or they have made enough progress to allow them more time.” And for those who have evictions on their records and now are having a hard time finding a place, Mathews says that with all available pre-trial options, the ones who do have evictions on their records may have been able to avoid that. “If you mediate, it’ll be wiped from your record within a few months.” For potential landlords he advocates: “Screen, screen, screen,” he says. “If you screen correctly you’ll usually be able to avoid bad tenants.” Though he warns that in his experience sometimes past eviction records don’t show up in records. But, tenants aren’t all the worry. “There are just as many bad landlords as there are bad tenants,” he says. So he tell tenants that if something is wrong with your property, put it in writing. “Verbal agreements are as good as the paper they’re written on.” Finally, Mathews’ advice for those facing eviction? Communicate. “Nine out of 10 landlords want to work with you,” he says, “You just have to communicate.” SW
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VOLUME 22 ISSUE 28 / JULY 12, 2018 / THE SOURCE WEEKLY
“Sometimes tenants will send their kids to the front door to answer the sheriff and then they’ll point to us and say, ‘These are the bad men who are kicking us out of our home.’”