New York
Related: About this forumElected Officials Want Legal Counsel for Tenants Facing Eviction
?w=635&h=476Paula Duran
A coalition of elected officials and activists rallied on the steps of City Hall around a series of bills that would provide legal counsel to low-income tenants facing eviction.
We have come together today with one voice to call for fairness in housing court, which today gives us no measure of equal justice in tenant-landlord disputes. said Councilman Mark Levine, who co-authored the bill with Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson.
By no definition are tenants getting equal justice in housing court, where only 10 percent of tenants have legal representation and 90 percent of landlords have attorneys. Mr. Levine, a Manhattan lawmaker, added. The result, predictably, has a terrible human cost in New York City.
According to advocates, nearly 30,000 families were evicted in New York City last year. The figure is steadily rising, up more than 20 percent in the past decade. Two-thirds of evictees have annual incomes of $25,000 or less and two-thirds live with children under 18 years of age, advocates say.
Read more at http://observer.com/2014/06/elected-officials-want-legal-counsel-for-tenants-facing-eviction/#ixzz34N83hxJr
Gothmog
(145,176 posts)These tenants could use legal counsel
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Most eviction hears are held before a JoP or magistrate (neither of which requires being an attorney, in most jurisdictions). The landlord typically doesn't attend the hearing, rather he sends a attorney ... many of which do nothing but eviction work at $100-$500/case ... which is not bad since most eviction hearings last about 3 minutes; since the tenant is, typically, unrepresented and the JoP/Magistrate only asks one question: "Did you pay your rent on time?" ... never-mind, the notice requirements, or affirmative defenses to evictions or opportunities for counter-claims ... if the tenant answers anything but "yes" the next sound they here is the gavel.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Eviction hearings are the proverbial "knife to a gun fight" scenario, especially since the landlords attorney can quote anything he/she wants as "The Law" and the JoP/Magistrate is likely none-the-wiser.
rug
(82,333 posts)Having a lawyer in these cases is as important as having an attorney for misdemeanor criminal charges. Especially in NYC where the statutes and regulations are complex, where there is a separate Housing Court dedicated to just these cases, and where there is a clamor of landlords lusting to decontrol or destabilize an apartment.