Lawmen balk at ‘cruel’ evictions of renters

Eviction notice (photo: Todd A. Heywood)

At least one Michigan sheriff has ordered his staff to stop some foreclosure-related evictions, while others have instituted reviews of their procedures and still others are waiting and watching what happens in the other cases.

Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell has ordered his Flint-area department to start a two-week moratorium on evictions related to foreclosed properties, in part because his officers were reporting that they were evicting renters who had no warning the properties had been foreclosed — let alone that an eviction process had started and been completed in circuit court. Pickell, according to the Detroit News, called the practice “cruel.”

A bill to address the rights of tenants in foreclosed properties was introduced in the state House in December by Detroit Democratic Rep. Shanelle Jackson, but it remains stuck in the Committee on Regulatory Reform, which is chaired by Democratic state Rep. Barbara Farrah.

Genesee County Undersheriff James Gage told the News the moratorium was necessary because:

“We started hearing about the guy who went to work and a process server empties all his belongings into a Dumpster parked out front while he is gone. The guy had been paying the rent and had no idea this was coming.”

The issue is complicated by the fact that each county handles evictions by its own rules and procedures, and there is no Michigan law requiring that renters of foreclosed properties be informed that the property at which they live has been foreclosed on or that eviction action has been undertaken in court.

In Ingham County around Lansing, the evictions are handled by a private firm on contract with the sheriff’s department and the courts. Trenton Taylor, a former sheriff who runs the company TC Processing Serving, told Michigan Messenger he is processing 40-50 evictions a week, of which seven to 10 are foreclosure-related. Taylor said the vast majority of the properties are empty when he arrives for the eviction, and many of them are “pig sties” because angry former owners exact some degree of revenge on the banks.

Occasionally Taylor has to evict tenants, as well as homeowners. The process, he said, can be painful for the people, but it is part of the legal system he believes in. That does not prevent him, however, from showing up and moving possessions out of a foreclosed-upon house.

“It serves everybody better if I give them notice and tell them to pack up,” Taylor said. “If I have to sit there while they do that, or I have to actually remove all the property, then the banks or [foreclosure specialists] Trott & Trott are paying for my time.”

When he has to evict a person, Taylor says he is obligated under law to remove anything of value and place it on the curb in front of the house. Once all the valuables are out of the house, Taylor secures the property and leaves. A clean-up crew later arrives to remove trash and debris left in the house.

According to Taylor, in Ingham County when a property goes into the eviction phase of foreclosure — which follows a sheriff’s sale and a six-month redemption period wherein an owner can pay off the entire loan — his company not only mails eviction notices to the property owner, but also to the property itself addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Occupant. That notice is also either hand-delivered to the occupant or taped on the front door.

“It gives them ample time to respond,” Taylor said in a phone interview. “It lets them know what is going on, that this is their opportunity to go to court and argue.”

No such courtesy is extended by law to renters.

According to Ingham County Undersheriff Alan Spyke, Pickell’s two-week moratorium in Genesee County is a big deal for law-enforcement officials because he faces possible court sanctions for refusing to act on eviction notices.

“Typically when a circuit court judge gives an order, they want it carried out immediately,” said Spyke. “They don’t want you waiting around for anything.”

“That’s the problem,” Taylor said. “They’re court orders. Somebody could be held in contempt of court.”

Nonetheless, Spyke said the Ingham County sheriff’s office would watch carefully what happened in Genesee County — specifically to see how the court responds to the refusal to immediately act on an order of the court.

The bigger issue goes back the fact that there is no state law mandating the way in which evictions are handled — specifically the rights of renters in foreclosed properties.

Taylor said the job of evicting people can be hard.

“They have all the sympathy in the world from me,” he said. “It’s tough. I’m a good Christian man. I have sympathy and I try to help out.”