This will be a two-part series that will detail the process of evicting a tenant from a property that has been acquired by a real estate company in a foreclosure sale.
Step 1) Write a 3-Day Notice to Vacate. When a person remains on a property that has been acquired by a real estate company in a foreclosure sale, that person can be evicted. As such, the company or real estate manager responsible for the property must write a 3-Day Notice to Vacate. This document is to put the person or group of people on notice that they have three days to voluntarily vacate the property, or the company will file an eviction suit against them. After one has written the 3-Day Notice to Vacate, one should attach to the notice two documents. One is the original Deed of Trust that the person or group of people had made for granting their property to someone else as security for a promissory note. The other document is a Substitute Trustee’s Deed which is a deed that will show the real estate company to be the rightful owners of the property after acquiring the property with the highest bid in the foreclosure sale.
Step 2) Send the 3-Day Notice to Vacate. After you have written the 3-Day Notice to Vacate and attach the two documents, the company sends it out to the person or persons who are currently staying at the property. In terms of options, the company can send out the 3-Day Notice to Vacate and the two documents attached through regular mail, registered mail, or certified email. Ideally, the company should pursue at least two of the three mailing options to cover their bases when and if the company is in front of a judge. A judge will want to make sure the person or persons living in the property were properly notified that they needed to leave the property. If not, the judge will dismiss the eviction and the company will have to start from scratch.
Step 3) Draft an Eviction Petition. When the company sends out the 3-Day Notice to vacate and the documents attached, they need to wait three days after it has been delivered to the property. After three days, the company can then write an eviction petition. An eviction petition is a document that you file with a justice court. In the eviction petition, one writes that they are seeking possession of the property and want to evict the people that are still staying at the property.
Step 4) Attach Documents to the Eviction Petition. After the company writes the eviction petition, they need to attach certain documents with the petition. Attach the 3-Day Notice to Vacate alongside its two attached documents. Have attached an affidavit that certifies the people residing at the property are not active members of the military. Also, one needs to attach proof that the notice was properly delivered to the people living on the property.
Step 5) File the Eviction Petition. After writing the eviction petition and attaching the needed documents, the company then needs to file the petition in a proper court. Typically, one would file it in what is called a justice court. These are courts that deal with matters like eviction, debts, etc. If one wants to properly file the eviction petition alongside the attached documents, make sure to file it in a justice court within the county of where the property is located. Some counties will have websites that can help show which “district” the property is in to narrow your search. If there is not a website, call the courts and provide the address of the property. They will let you know right away whether their court is the proper one to file the petition and documents.
For further questions, please check our website or contact one of our Attorneys, at PLGLitigation@patellegal.com