Internet's first get-out-of-debt community - 122,000 members

My neice and girlfriend rent a house in Hessville Indiana. They are short $250.00 on December's rent. They have been in contact with the landlord the whole time. They have a written lease that has a list of things the landlord agreed to fix and has only fixed one. The day after Christmas they were both left an "Alias Summons" rubberbanded to their front door. The landlord has added January rent which not even due yet. One of the tenants just started a new job and does not want to jeopardize it, yet does not know if her appearance is mandatory.Can the other tenant appear for both of them?

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:31 pm Subject:

Here's what I found regarding an Alias Summons in the state of Illinois. I don't know about Indiana, but I would assume the process is similar in all states. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:32 pm Subject:

They should put their rent in escrow with the courts. That way if the landlord can not evict them, and if he wants his rental payments he will need to fix whatever is wrong.

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:49 pm Subject:

An alias summons is just subsequent attempts to serve a person with the summons. Generally they need to be served to the defendant personally. I don't think rubber-banding it to a door-knob counts, and that could actually be a defense in court that you were not properly served.

I am not sure as to whether all parties need to appear. I was reading in a FAQ somewhere on my courts' website, under "what to do if you cannot show up to court" -- the website basically said they will not change the court date, and if you cannot show up, then you should have someone else show up for you. ... Again, I wouldn't take that as fact, but that is a summary of what I read somewhere.

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:54 pm Subject:

If you google the words "indiana tenant law" you find a whole lot of hits regarding this subjetc and evictions

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:41 pm Subject:

I'm not sure how this varies state to state, but in Michigan a landlord/tenant dispute works like this:

If you go to court, you have an opportunity to make payment arrangements to catch up the rent..But I have heard that sometimes you really get hosed..

If you don't go to court, you have ten days to pay the past due plus court costs, if you don't you will be evicted.

Of course, I don't know the circumstances here..Is this a landlord/tenant dispute, or is it an official eviction from the court?

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:43 pm Subject:

That sounds about right for OH also. I know the eviction process can take awhile. In the end they send out somebody to tage your door and usually within 72 hours if you are not out, they have deputies from the court come and set you out. I used to lease apartments and had to go to court for evictions all the time. And sometimes it really sucked when it was families with children.

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:57 pm Subject: lease

In WV they change the locks. Big article in the paper about a mortgage company doing this to a woman 2 days before Christmas. She was in her car living. KYSIDE38

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:00 pm Subject:

You get a three-day notice in CA and if you pay rent in that time, it's torn up. I have heard of the sheriff coming to physically evict people and it is not pretty.

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:03 pm Subject:

They have the 3 day eviction notice here, but with that it is 3 days to pay up or the landlord will go to court and start eviction proceedings.

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:21 am Subject:

In Michigan, we have the deal with the sheriff evicting people - but it takes a long time to get to that point. I was looking at renting an apartment once, in a very nice apartment complex. The manager told me once they got these people out of the apartment, they would clean it up and it would be mine - they hadn't paid rent in 5 months, and it took another 5 months to finally get them out - the sheriff came with backup and physically removed them from the apartment. All their furniture was tossed out the door onto the sidewalk.

The previous tenants destroyed the apartment - I never did move in.

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:49 pm Subject:

Why do people do that? I also looked at a place that had been trashed and didn't take it. I would think that your next landlord would call that place for a reference, which could only be bad. Even if you hated your landlord, at least don't burn a bridge--cuz it can only bite you u-know-where, right?

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:21 pm Subject:

kscornell - it was pretty scary - lots of fist sized holes in the walls - in every single room, even in the stairwell leading to the upstairs. The carpet was actually crusty with dirt, food and goodness knows what.

I was worried that the guy that lived there with the previous tenant would come back after I moved in, thinking she still lived there. That was a big deciding factor for me in not moving in.

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:11 am Subject:

If you get a summons, go to court. If the summons was not served correctly, bring that up first when you appear in court. If you don't bring it up, then the judge may not ask, as you may get a judgment against you.

If it costs you anything to appear (filing fees, lost wages, etc.), you can ask for that money from the landlord.

If you don't defend your rights in court, you might as well not have them.

*Name:
*Email:
*Phone:
*Zip:
Debt

	* denotes required field

Internet's first get-out-of-debt community - 122,000 members

Is an appearance required for an Alias Summons?

Members Area

Free Debt Counseling

Ask the community

Featured Discussions

Featured Articles

Question of the Month

Useful Links

Recent Forum Discussions

Recent Blog Post