A tenant's utilities were shut off for nonpayment three weeks
ago, and the rent hasn't been paid for Sept. Tenant is nowhere
to be found and does not answer his cell phone. All of his
belongings are still in the apartment. He hasn't picked up his
mail either. If landlord is going to evict, isn't a process

supposed to physcially hand him the eviction notice and court
date? How can someone be notified of eviction proceedings
when they're not living in the apartment and their wherabouts
are unknown?

A tenant's utilities were shut off for nonpayment
three weeks ago . . . .

[R]ent hasn't been paid for Sept. Tenant is
nowhere to be found and does not answer
his cell phone. All of his belongings are still in
the apartment. He hasn't picked up his mail either.

If landlord is going to evict, isn't a process server
supposed to physcially hand him the eviction notice
and court date?

How can someone be notified of eviction
proceedings when they're not living in the
apartment and their wherabouts are unknown?

Thanks!

"Jim" <johnson11012000@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:414E1AED.9E2187AC@yahoo.com...
server
State laws generally require delivery of written notice before
filing the eviction action in court. State laws allow various
sorts or delivery of that notice other than personal service.
Your state might allow delivery of the notice by regular mail
accompanied by posting a copy of the notice on the door of the
reneted premises. The mailing would be to the premises address.
It's up to the tenant to get the mail or arrange to have it
forwarded. After notice, and after filing the suit for eviction,
service of process concerning the eviction must be accomplished by
some method allowed by state law. Personal service won't be the
only method permitted.
State laws are unlikely to allow turning off a tenant's utilities
for nonpayment of rent. That could backfire in a costly way. You
could end up owing the tenant money and/or continued possession.
You should contact a tenant's rights or landlord's rights
organization in your state and learn how to do the eviction. Or
better yet, let an attorney handle it.
McGyver

On 19 Sep 2004, Jim <johnson11012000@yahoo.com> wrote:
You don't make suffiently clear whether by "shut off for nonpayment"
you mean that an outside utility provider did this pursuant to
whatever are its state's laws and its published and otherwise
law-prescribed procedures or whether you are suggesting that it is the
landlord who was providing the utilities at issue and did the shut off
as a matter of self-help, although this can be a signficant
distinction if there is a later dispute.
For some, apart from narrowly contractual landlord-tenant
lease-defined issues, these sorts of factoids (including that it is
still the month of Sept.) might raise ethical questions or, anyway,
basic human questions whether it is desirable to make more inquiries,
e.g., about whether there has been some sort of health emergency
requiring hospitalization.
Not necessarily, depending what the parties may have agreed as stated
in their lease and on where the property in question is located.
Most state's laws allow a comparatively more lax mode of service of
process in a proceeding (even as against a residential tenant) to
recover possession of real property than for some other kinds of
lawsuits.
The most typical, in addition to the option of personal service of
process, is what commonly is referred to as "nail and mail" service --
i.e., the law-permissible process server conspicuously affixing a copy
of the summons or whatever is the jursdition-specific comparable
process to the premises' entry door and same-day mailing of an
additional copy to the tenant's last-known address for which the
underlying statutory policy is to strike a fair balance between, on
the one hand, providing for some practical means of probable actual
notice and, on the other hand, not rewarding a deliberately absconding
debtor for self-concealment to avoid a just debt; although, also
typically, this alternative mode of service is not sufficient in some
jursidictions to sustain the grant of a personal money judgment (here:
rent arrears) compared with an "in rem" grant of relief as against the
"property" at issue itself (here: the grant of a judgment awarding the
landlord [re]possession of the leased premises).
What mode of service of what sort of process is allowed/required in
your jurisdiction, including who may make such service, will be very
easy to verify. Also, it should be verified, since, among other
things, there may also be a requirement for the pre-suit service (also
in a manner prescribed by state-specific law) of a demand for unpaid
rent as a predicate to a non-payment eviction proceeding.

How can someone be notified of eviction
proceedings when they're not living in
the apartment and their wherabouts are
unknown?