Study: Sloppy Paperwork, Failure To Give Proper Notice, Non-Compliance With Licensing Ordinances Infect 1 Out Of 6 Default Judgments Obtained By Maryland Landlords In Tenant Eviction Actions

In Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:

• Landlords in the state have won cases in rent court despite failing to properly document claims, serve legal notice on tenants or prove that they are licensed to rent properties, according to a study released [] by Maryland Legal Aid.
  
  The organization, which provides free legal services to the poor, documented such errors in more than 17 percent of cases in which landlords won default judgments against tenants for failure to pay rent. Because those landlords didn't follow the law, the group said, they shouldn't have won in court.
  
  Once landlords receive a failure-to-pay judgment, they can proceed to file an order of eviction.
  
  Legal Aid called for better verification of landlord complaint forms, arguing that eviction can start a cascade of devastating consequences — from adults losing jobs because they can no longer get to them, to children missing class time or having to switch schools, to families suffering physical and mental health problems from being displaced.
  
  "Housing plays such an integral role in a person's life that the loss of that housing, for any reason, can have an enormous negative ripple effect not only on the person involved, but also on his/her family and the community at large," the report said.
  
  Problems with rent court tend to disproportionately strike those who are low-income or otherwise disadvantaged or vulnerable, such as the disabled and victims of domestic abuse, Legal Aid said.
  
  Among the most disturbing findings, Legal Aid officials said, was that in 8.5 percent of cases, tenants had not received proper notice they were being taken to court. A failure to appear generally results in a default judgment in favor of the landlord.
  
  "Proper service — the most basic tenet of due process, affording adequate notice of legal claims and a meaningful opportunity to be heard — was not provided to tenants in accordance with Maryland law," the study said. "Default judgments were, nonetheless, entered against the tenants."
  
  Legal Aid launched the study as part of the Human Rights Project at American University's Washington College of Law.
  
  The study was based on a random sample — 1,380 of the estimated 614,735 failure-to-pay rent cases heard statewide in 2012. Researchers reviewed court documents and listened to audio recordings of the hearings.

For more, see Legal Aid: Despite errors in complaints, landlords win rent cases.