Don’t Try This at Home: Self-Help Evictions

A magistrate once told me that the advice given to members of the public by many law enforcement officers and courthouse personnel may be summarized as ATM: Ask the Magistrate. The locations of magistrates’ offices, unlike those of judges, are known to the public, and their doors are — if not actually open – at least accessible. Their telephone numbers are publicized, and when the public calls, that call will be answered by a magistrate. So it’s not surprising that magistrates spend a significant amount of time interacting with citizens seeking legal assistance, walking that fine line between helpfully providing legal information and carefully refraining from giving legal advice. While the questions a magistrate may be asked on any given day are likely to vary over a truly amazing range of topics, there are a few subjects that come up all the time. One of them – the subject of this post – has to do with whether and under what circumstances a landlord may lawfully force a tenant to vacate rental premises—a practice commonly referred to as self-help eviction.The first distinction that must be observed in answering this question is between residential and commercial tenancies. A commercial landlord is not prohibited from using self-help eviction, provided that the tenant’s ouster does not cause a breach of the peace. The most common method of accomplishing this is by padlocking the door of the rental premises. Despite the availability of this alternative, many commercial landlords elect to file a summary ejectment action instead. While slower and more expensive, eviction by way of the court system allows a landlord to avoid exposure to tort liability for wrongful eviction. If, despite best efforts and good intentions, self-help eviction results in a breach of the peace, or the landlord is mistaken in believing there are legal grounds for eviction, a landlord may come to regret attempting self-help eviction in commercial situations.