The solution that involves simplifying an eviction

On this occasion we want to tell you that there is a tool to deal with those tenants who persist in delinquencies when renting real estate: The Lease Monitory Process, regulated in the new Civil Procedural Code (CPC), Law number 9342.

Initially, the Lease Monitory Law came to change the judicial process established in the General Law of Urban and Suburban Leases (of 1995), thanks to the implementation of specific actions to more easily pose an eviction, and that these would not last for months or years in court; but with the entry into force of the new Civil Procedure Code (CPC), said law was repealed and the process became regulated in this new CPC:

The Code states that the eviction process can be started if the tenant:

• Does not meet the rent payment.
• Is delinquent with utility bills (not required to be suspended).
• Fails to pay the expenses of the condo; this proceeds “only if the contract or document that gives rise to the contractual relationship provides that they will be covered by the lessee”.

Civil Procedural Code incorporates orality in trials

The order for payment procedure will no longer spend years in court, but will be resolved orally before a collection court or a civil misdemeanor court, in one or two consecutive hearings, depending on the case, as stipulated in the new CPC regarding the summary eviction processes or lease payments, as appropriate.

“The problem that existed prior to the approval of the new law was with those citizens who knew very well the cumbersome judicial procedure to execute an eviction, so they lived on free rents: they rented a house, paid the deposit and the month, and later they no longer paid, living free for months or even years, until they were evicted by the police.” explains Eduardo Rojas, founding partner of ERP Lawyers.

Now, the problem is left aside, and with it the concern of the owner of the property, who saw a valuable monthly income disappear due to the non-payment of the renters.

Orality makes us forget the long legal process of an eviction

Regarding the oral trial, Article 112.2 of the Code establishes: “Once the application has been accepted, the eviction will be ordered. In the same initial resolution, at the request of the party, the preventive retention of assets of the defendant will be ordered.” In addition, a period of five (5) days will be conferred for him to comply or oppose, interposing in that act the procedural and material exceptions that he considers appropriate (that the lease contract and payment receipts present, for example).

During the five (5) days that the tenant has to present his opposition, he has the obligation, by order of the judge, to continue depositing the rent after the lawsuit, if the immediate eviction of the property is not ordered.

If the tenant is not in a position to make a monetary payment, let us remember that his assets were previously subject to inventory and can be seized to answer for his debt.

ERP Lawyers offers an interdisciplinary team to cover this and any other topic related to Real Estate. Contact us for personalized attention.