On this occasion we want to remind you that there is a tool to confront those tenants who persist on not paying the rent over a real estate property: the Monitorio Arrendaticio Law which was created in order to streamline the process of eviction.

The 9160 Law was approved by the Asamblea Legislativa on August 13, 2013 and came into force on September 5 of that year, with its publication in the Official Newspaper La Gaceta.

The Monitorio Arrendaticio Law changed the judicial process established in the Ley General de Arrendamientos Urbanos y Suburbanos (1995), thanks to the implementation of specific actions to easily perform an eviction, so it won’t take months or years in court.

An eviction process can start if the tenant:

• Fails to pay the rent.
• Hasn’t paid the bills for public services (there’s no need for them to be suspended).
• Fails to pay the condominium expenses; this proceeds only if the contract or document for the contractual relationship says that those expenses should be covered by the tenant.

The Monitorio Arrendaticio Law incorporates the oral resolution in eviction trials

The lawsuit would no longer be in court for years because it will be orally resolved before a collection court or a civil court, in one or two consecutive hearings, depending on the case.

The problem prior to the approval of the new law occurred with those citizens who knew very well the tricky legal procedure to execute an eviction, so they lived for free: they used to rent a house, paid the deposit and the month, and then stopped the payments, living for free during months or even years, explains Eduardo Rojas, founding partner of ERP.

Today, the problem is manageable and with it, the owner´s concern of not receiving the proper payment from his tenant simply vanishes.

Oral resolutions make us forget the long legal process of handling an eviction

Regarding to the oral trial, the Article 6 of the Law says: Once the lawsuit is admitted, the eviction is ordered. In the same initial resolution, the preventive retention of the tenant’s assets should be ordered.Also, he/she will have fifteen days to accomplish or object, interposing in that act the procedural and material exceptions that he/she considers appropriate (presentation of the lease and payment receipts, for example).

During the 15 days that the tenants have to submit their evidence, they have the obligation, by the judge’s order, to keep depositing the post-lawsuit rents; if not an immediate eviction will be ordered.

Once the judge signs the sentence, approving the eviction, Article 10 of the Law forces the tenant to pay the fees he/she owns, as well as the services and other expenses.

If the tenant doesn’t have the capacity to make a monetary payment, let’s remember that the assets were previously subjected to inventory and can be seized to answer for the debt.

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