A wave of evictions is expected in North Carolina now that the statewide moratorium is expired.
North Carolina Lawyers Weekly recently interviewed several attorneys, including Ward and Smith litigator Eric Remington, who are "working to contain [the] 'mess' of evictions." In the article, Eric addresses two issues: first, the landlord-tenant relationship; and second, how courts are handling evictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the article:
“But the landlord-tenant relationship is a two-way street,” Remington said. “Tenants need to be proactive about reaching out to their landlords and making every effort to comply with the terms of their lease. Otherwise, landlords have no choice but to pursue eviction so that the leased space can be provided to a tenant who can and will abide by the terms of the lease.”
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The statewide moratorium on evictions had also forced appeals in eviction cases that had been filed before the pandemic started to be put on hold, but the lifting of that moratorium has allowed district courts to start hearing those appeals, although they still remain subject to social distancing requirements that limit the number of people in the courtroom at any given time.
“I feel that the new scheduling process is actually more efficient because having set hearing times eliminated a significant amount of time that used to be spent waiting for the case to be called after the calendar call,” Remington said. “It is hard to predict what the courts will do in the next several months with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, but I believe the situation will get better as the court personnel become more familiar with the new rules and gain more experience with scheduling and handling cases.”
You can read the entire article, here, by the paywall. If you need legal guidance with regard to residential or commercial evictions or lease disputes, contact our Litigation Practice Section.
