Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we're zeroing in, really focusing on a very specific local legal process. We're talking about evictions in New Orleans, Orleans Parish specifically. And anyone who's a landlord there knows it can be incredibly challenging, full of potential mistakes. Our source material today, it's a collection of guides, really practical stuff from legal support experts, process servers, people who navigate this system day in and day out for landlords. They know the pitfalls.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Exactly. And our mission here is pretty straightforward.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Cut through all that complexity and pull out the absolute must knows for you. Because look, the process in Orleans Parish is, well, it's intricate. Make one tiny mistake with a notice file in the wrong court building, a judge can just toss your case out.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Goss it out completely.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Completely. And you're right back at square one. You've lost time, you've lost potentially another month's rent. It's a big deal.
So based on these guides, we've boiled it down to four key takeaways that really structure this whole process. One, that five day notice, mandatory, absolutely essential. Two, the correct court matters immensely. First, city or second city court location is everything. Three, proof of service, specifically, that affidavit of service is your absolute defense. And four, you need two separate successful serves on the tenant, not just one.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Okay, four key things. Let's break that down, starting with that first big hurdle you mentioned, the one that trips people up right at the beginning, serving the tenant correctly.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Right. Step one, the a five day notice to vacate. You can't even think about going to court until you've done this and done it legally.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: So this notice, it's a formal piece of paper, right. Tells the tenant they have five business days to move out. But the devil's in the details. Like that five business days part.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. That's a huge potential mistake right there. Business days means Monday through Friday only.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Weekends don't count. Legal holidays don't count either. You have to exclude them completely from your calculation.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Wow. Okay, let me walk through that because I can see how you lose a week fast.
If I served the notice properly, say, hand it to them on a Friday afternoon.
When does that five day clock actually run out? When can I file?
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Good question. So Friday service, Saturday, Sunday, no count. Day one is Monday. Day two, Tuesday, three, Wednesday, four, Thursday, five is the following Friday.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: So I can't file until the next Monday morning, assuming no holidays in there.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Exactly. Serving on a Friday basically costs you that whole following week before you can file that detail alone. Miscalculating it can mean seven, ten days, just vanish. It really shows how the system builds in time for the tenant. And then there's how you serve it. Louisiana law is super strict here. You have two options, basically. Okay, one, hand directly to the tenant, person to person. Two, securely tack it to their front door, and that's it.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: So no texting, no email, not even certified mail?
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Nope. The sources are very clear. Text, email, mail, even certified mail, none of that counts for this initial notice. It simply won't hold up in court. It has to be personal delivery or tacking.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Which leads to the obvious problem. The tenant gets to court and just.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Says, I never got it. That's the number one defense, hands down.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: So how does a landlord fight that? How do you prove they did get it?
[00:03:10] Speaker B: And that is precisely why the guides call using a professional process server the gold standard for this first step. It's about creating undeniable proof.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: How does that work?
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Well, when a professional, a third party process server, delivers that notice, either by handing it over or tacking it, they immediately prepare and sign a notarized affidavit of service.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: An affidavit, okay.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: It's a sworn statement authenticated by a notary public. It details the exact date, the time, the place and the method of service. It's third party verification.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Ah, so it completely removes the he said, she said argument. The landlord shows the judge this notarized document and that's basically irrefutable proof.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Precisely. Without that affidavit, if the judge even slightly leans towards believing the tenant's claim of non receipt, you're done.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: You have to start the whole 5 day notice process over.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Start over. Lose your court filing fees from the first attempt, and you've probably lost another 30, maybe 45 days waiting for that original hearing date that just got canceled. That affidavit, it's the bedrock foundational.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Okay, so let's say step one is done perfectly. Got the affidavit. The five business days have passed. Tenant's still there. Now we're heading to the courthouse. Where does the landlord actually file the eviction lawsuit, which I think you said is called a rule for possession.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: That's right. Rule for possession. And this brings us to step two. Filing at the correct court.
And this really underscores how hyper local the New Orleans system is. You can't just file anywhere.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: It depends on the property location.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Critically, it depends entirely on which side of the Mississippi river the property is on.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: The river?
[00:04:48] Speaker B: Yep. If the property is on the east bank, that's the main part of the city. Downtown, uptown, mid city, gentilly, the east. You must file at the First City Court in New Orleans. That's the one on Loyola Avenue.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Okay. East bank, First City Court.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: But if your property is across the river on the west bank, which includes Algiers, you have to go to the Second City Court of New Orleans. That one's over on Morgan street in Algiers.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: Wow, that's a specific local trap. I imagine landlords with properties on both banks could easily mess that up. Filing the wrong building must be an instant, instant dismissal.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: The judge at First City Court has zero jurisdiction over a West bank property and vice versa. It's a fundamental error. You're back to square one again.
And because every single day matters, when rent isn't being paid, the source materials really emphasize this service called Courthouse Runners.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Courthouse Runners, I like that. What do they do?
[00:05:41] Speaker B: They're typically process servers who specialize in the filing part. Instead of the landlord having to, you know, drive downtown or over to Algiers, find parking, wait in potentially long lines at the clerk's office, the runner takes the landlord's rule for possession documents, often submitted electronically, and files them directly with the correct court, usually the same day. It just cuts out that bureaucratic delay in getting the case officially started and getting that crucial hearing date set.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Makes sense. Streamlining the paperwork. Okay, so the suit's filed in the correct court, they've accepted the rule of possession, and a hearing date is now on the calendar. But we're not done with serving papers yet, are we? You mentioned two serves earlier.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Correct. You're absolutely right. That brings us to step three, serving the rule for possession itself rule. Once the court assigns that hearing date, the tenant has to be formally notified. Again, a second service, A second required service.
This time, you're serving the actual court document. The summons that tells the tenant the specific date, time, and location of the eviction hearing. This is the formal notification that they're being sued and need to appear. Due process requires it.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: Okay, and this second service, unlike the first five day notice, the landlord can't just do this themselves, right?
Why the difference?
[00:06:55] Speaker B: That's a key distinction. Because this is an official court summons, it carries more legal weight. It has to be served by someone officially recognized by the court system.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Like who?
[00:07:05] Speaker B: It has to be either the Orleans Parish constable's office. They're the court's enforcement officers, or alternatively, a court appointed private process server.
The landlord or their employee cannot serve this specific document.
And here, the sources draw a really important practical contrast. The constable's office, they absolutely can do it. It's the official route, but they handle everything for the court. Warrants, seizures, other summonses. They're often overloaded. So serving your rule for possession might face delays just due to their workload.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: And delays mean the hearing gets pushed back.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Exactly. Which costs the landlord more lost rent. So the alternative presented is using those court appointed private process servers. Again, their only job is serving documents, so the argument is they're faster, more persistent, they'll make more attempts, maybe at different times a day.
The whole point is to get that summons served quickly and properly so the case stays on track and moves towards resolution every day. Saved matters financially, that really frames it.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Well, the delays aren't just inconvenient, they directly hit the landlord's bottom line. Okay, we've walked through the three main steps, the two crucial services. Let's pivot now to the big warnings, the major don'ts, and maybe any legitimate shortcuts landlords should know about. What's the absolute biggest mistake, the thing landlords must avoid?
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Without a doubt, it's attempting what's called a self help eviction. It's illegal.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: Meaning?
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Meaning the landlord gets impatient, maybe after filing the suit and decides to take matters into their own hands. The classic examples are changing the locks so the tenant can't get back in, or shutting off the utilities, the power, the water.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: People ask if they can do that.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: All the time, according to the sources. Can I just change the locks now? Can I cut the power? And the answer is a hard no, absolutely not. That is an illegal eviction under Louisiana.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Law and the consequences if they do it anyway, severe.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: The tenant can turn around and suit a landlord and the tenant will win that lawsuit. The landlord will likely owe damages. You must let the court process play out completely. Only the constable executing a judge's final order of eviction can legally remove the tenant. That's the only way.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: Crystal clear, no self help. Okay, now for the flip side. Is there any legal way to speed things up? Specifically, can you bypass that whole initial five day notice step?
[00:09:25] Speaker B: Yes. There is one major potential shortcut and every landlord listening needs to pull out their lease agreement right now and check for this specific clause. It's called the waiver of notice clause.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: Waiver of notice.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: And it's a big yes. If your written lease explicitly states that the tenant waives or gives up their right to receive that five day notice to vacate specifically for nonpayment of rent, then what? Then you can skip step one entirely. Think about that. Rent is late, you check the lease, you see that waiver clause, you can immediately go to step two and file the rule for possession directly with the court.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Wow, that's huge. It cuts out that whole initial waiting period and the potential for messing up the first service.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: It's arguably the single most powerful clause a landlord can have in a New Orleans lease agreement. It saves time, it reduces procedural risk right at the start. It's a game changer if it's in there and written correctly.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Definitely something for landlords to look for or consider adding to future leases. So as we're kind of pulling this together, it sounds like these legal support services, the process servers and runners, they really position themselves as a partner through this whole maze, don't they?
[00:10:34] Speaker B: They absolutely do. The guides really emphasize that full service, they can handle delivering that critical first notice and getting you the notarized affidavit. Then they can act as the courthouse runner to get the lawsuit filed quickly and correctly. And finally, they can be appointed to serve the actual court summons that second required service, often faster than waiting for the constable. It's presented as a way to manage the entire chain of service and filing efficiently. Sort of an all in one logistical partner for navigating this specific complex local.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: System, which makes sense given the potential costs of errors. And of course, we have to include the standard but very important disclaimer that the sources themselves provide.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. This deep dive, all this information, it's for educational purposes. We're relaying what these procedural experts highlight in their guides.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: But this isn't legal advice. If you have a specific eviction situation, a tenant issue, a complicated lease question, you really must consult with a qualified Louisiana attorney who, who practices in this area. The people writing these guides are process serving experts, not lawyers giving legal counsel on your specific case facts.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Absolutely. Critical distinction. So let's wrap this up. What's the big takeaway for you, the listener? It's that the stakes in New Orleans eviction court are incredibly high. And success really rides on getting the procedure exactly right. A simple mistake. Calculating days wrong, filing in Algiers when you should be on Loyola Ave. Not having proof of service can cost you weeks, maybe another month or more of lost rent. It boils down to those two successful documented services and filing in the correct city court.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: Yeah, and thinking about that proof aspect, it raises a really interesting final thought based purely on what these guides emphasize. They stress over and over that the notarized affidavit of service is the single most powerful sort of ironclad document a landlord can have. So if proving service is the biggest vulnerability, the main point of attack for a tenant defense. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, how much does winning an eviction case truly dependent not just on whether the landlord has a valid reason like unpaid rent, but maybe just as much on the sheer speed, the documentation, the persistence of the person whose job it is to deliver the paperwork correctly.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: That's a fascinating point. The process, the verified paper trail, becomes almost as important as the underlying reason for the eviction itself. It really highlights the power of procedure in these localized legal battles. A very compelling thought to end on. Thanks for joining us for this deep Dive into the very specific, very demanding world of New Orleans property management and eviction law. We'll catch you next time on the Deep Dive.
