Working With Them: Small-Scale Landlord Strategies for Avoiding Evictions

Abstract

This study draws on 71 indepth, semistructured interviews with landlords and property managers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We find that the perceived burdens associated with evictions often make evictions less desirable for small-scale landlords than finding ways to work with tenants to keep them in their homes, including developing payment plans to help tenants catch up on back rent, adjusting rental rates, accepting services in lieu of rent, and aiding in referrals to housing and social service programs. Some landlords employ a technique of paying tenants to vacate, a practice referred to as cash for keys, which is an informal, off-the-books eviction. Our findings suggest that off-the-books evictions are far more prevalent than has been measured in official eviction data; therefore, the prevalence of residential displacement is more severe than previously documented.

The Effect of Community Organizing on Landlords’ Use of Eviction Filing: Evidence from U.S. Cities

“…Some jurisdictions, like Chicago and Philadelphia, are already experimenting with eviction diversion programs modeled on violence diversion programs to disperse resources, legal aid, and mediation services to help tenants and landlords settle evictions out of court (Parrish 2021). Research on these programs reinforces previous findings that landlords prefer not use eviction if it can be avoided (Balzarini and Boyd 2021;Garboden and Rosen 2019), but more importantly, that advocacy education can convince landlords to not evict in addition to cash payments (Parrish et al 2020: 26). Nonprofit service and advocacy organizations are critical stakeholders in these institutions, and by formalizing these institutions, local governments could play an active role in confronting eviction.…”

Sheltered From Eviction? A Framework for Understanding the Relationship Between Subsidized Housing Programs and Eviction

“…This analysis encompasses only eviction filings documented by the formal court processes. Thescale of illegal evictions, those happening outside the purview of the law, may vastly outnumber formal evictions (Balzarini & Boyd, 2020;Desmond, 2016;Hartman & Robinson, 2003). Additional regulations and administrative oversight placed on subsidized properties may decrease the likelihood of illegal evictions in those properties.…”

How Landlords of Small Rental Properties Decide Who Gets Housed and Who Gets Evicted

“…Whether rent delinquency leads to eviction is up to the rental property owner or manager. When the rent goes unpaid some owners and managers move quickly to file for eviction, but owners often use a range of other methods to get their tenants current, such as developing payment plans, forgiving back rent, or accepting services like property maintenance in lieu of rent (Balzarini and Boyd 2020). For some tenants the first missed payment starts a series of events that leads to them leaving their unit.…”

“…This often leads landlords to start the eviction process multiple times for the same tenant over the course of a year, a practice referred to as serial filing. Conversely, many landlords faced with a rent delinquency eschew even starting the eviction process, instead working with tenants to establish payment plans, or allowing the tenant to catch up by providing services such as property maintenance, or even forgive the back rent (Balzarini and Boyd 2020). In other situations landlords simply want delinquent tenants to leave and use eviction or informal methods, such as paying tenants to leave, to achieve this end.…”

“…Turnover usually incurs cleaning, painting, advertising costs, and some amount of vacancy loss, all of which are relatively more expensive (Downs 1983; Verbrugge and Gallin 2017). Speaking with landlords in Philadelphia, Balzarini and Boyd (2020) found that smaller-scale owners’ aversion to turnover factored into their reactions to rent delinquency, making them more likely to pursue actions other than eviction, such as rent payment plans and tenants providing services (generally property maintenance) in lieu of rent.…”