E-file eviction response offered

Renters still shielded under federal rule

Renters looking to resolve an eviction notice can skip being in line at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas.

A new service by the Civil Law Self-help Center allows Clark County tenants to file their response to an eviction notice electronically. Tenants previously needed to visit Justice Court to file their signed paperwork.

Lauren Peña, Civil Law Self-help Center’s directing attorney, said the program makes it much easier and safer for tenants.

“What a person had to do was fill out the forms from home, print them off, come down to the courthouse and sign it by pen and then figure out how to file,” she said.

“(Our) summary eviction tenant’s answer (form) will ask a bunch of questions, and at the very end it will say, ‘Do you want to file this?’ and boom, right there in one sitting the tenant can file right from their home computer.”

Peña emphasized the tenant’s answer to an eviction summary — either a notice to pay rent or leave or a five-day notice to leave for unlawful detainer — is currently the only form that can be electronically submitted.

“The dream is, of course, that every form would be available (to submit online) but one step at a time,” she said. “The tenant’s answer is a huge win because we’re expecting so many tenants to get eviction notices, and if they can answer from their home, well, that’s hundreds

of people not coming to the courthouse each day.”

Self-serve

The state’s nonpayment-of-rent eviction moratorium ended Thursday. The temporary order kept landlords and property managers from evicting tenants for not paying their rent, though tenants were still required to repay the accrued payments.

Gov. Steve Sisolak said he would not extend the moratorium again since it “would just be duplicative” of the federal eviction moratorium that’s in place until Dec. 31.

The federal order, implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stops landlords from evicting an eligible tenant for nonpayment of rent. However, the tenant must opt-in by filling out this CDC declaration form and giving it to his or her landlord or property manager.

Tenants covered under the CDC order who still receive an eviction notice from their landlord can visit the Civil Law Self-help Center’s website and file their answer to the eviction summary. Once on the website, tenants would click on the Eviction and Housing Forms section and then scroll down to the section titled Summary Eviction Forms for Tenants.

In the questionnaire, tenants will

be asked whether they have given their landlord the CDC declaration form. If they have, they are asked questions to determine proof, such as when they delivered the form. If a tenant has not provided the CDC form, he or she will be asked a series of questions to determine if the tenant is eligible. If so, a form would be attached to the filing and submitted to the court.

However, Peña said renters covered under the CDC order should give their landlord the form as soon as possible.