Over the last several months, evictions were put on hold because of Governor John Bel Edwards' order, but that's about to change.
On Monday, Louisiana's temporary ban will be lifted.
With unemployment at an all time high, many families are finding it difficult to keep up with rent or their mortgage.
Greg Landry with Acadiana Legal Services expects the court system to see a spike in landlords filing for eviction notices.
"We're expecting to see that pent up demand to resolve those issues to start showing up in court," Landry said.
His office, which provides free legal services to low income residents, has been inundated with calls about their legal rights once the Governor's order is lifted.
"When a case ends up in court, someone goes home very unhappy and if two parties can resolve their problem without that in a way that both find acceptable, they will be a lot happier than if they go to court and force a judge to make that decision," Landry said.
While some people have made deals with their landlords or mortgage companies, it might be a challenge to get caught up.
"As people return to work and those supplemental benefits are phased out, they're going to have to start not only paying the rent that they owe, but catch up for any rent that they're behind," Landry said.
Louisiana law says landlords must give a five day notice before evicting someone. The process stopped on March 16 and will pick up wherever it was paused.
Landry said, "In most cases, the landlord has to send a letter to the tenant to say you broke your lease for whatever reason. Then the landlord has to wait five days and then has the right to go to court to file an eviction. Three days after the tenant finds out, they will get a paper from the court and there will be a hearing. 24 hours later if the judge finds in favor of the landlord, the tenant can be removed from the property."
On Monday, Acadiana Legal Services will hold two Zoom webinars. The first will be for landlords from 10:00 until noon and the second one will be for tenants from 3:00 until 5:00.
For more details, click here.
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