North Carolina Eviction Resources
October 5, 2020
With so many out of work due to the virus, the CDC has released a federal ban on evictions nationwide for covered persons. North Carolina courts have also significantly reduced their court activity, which includes processing evictions. However, concerns have been raised about an eviction cliff when these measures end. Further, landlords may continue with parts of the eviction process and, although not necessarily happening in North Carolina, there is even a rise of an “Uber for evictions” app. The following list is a collection of North Carolina specific resources related to evictions.
To see if you are covered by the CDC moratorium, Legal Aid has a created an informational webpage. Legal Aid is an organization across the state that provides free civil legal services to qualifying low-income people. Their webpage includes a half hour video discussing the moratorium by their head of housing practice, as well as a link to the order itself. They include a brief step-by-step instructional what is required from tenants and a F.A.Q. They also have a version of the webpage in Spanish.
LawHelpNC.org offers a list of helpful links, primarily created by Legal Aid of North Carolina, that deal with various aspects of eviction and the process, such as the padlocking of the premises.
The North Carolina courts website is a great resource for legal information and news. We have a general write up about it as a research tool in a previous blog post but below are some specifically relevant links.
- Landlord Tenant Issues: This first webpage provides some basic information around eviction, or summary ejectment, in North Carolina. It starts from defining it to the appeals process. The end includes some information on legal representation and a link for filing a complaint of housing discrimination.
- Recent Court Orders regarding Evictions: The NC Court website also hosts copies of recent orders of the court. The above link directs to a centralized page where you can find COVID-19 information divided between landlords and tenants, either filing for eviction or facing eviction, respectively.
- eCourts Guide & File: NC Courts allow preparation of court documents online through the Odyssey Guide & File portal. If you need help interacting with portal they do link out the Odyssey’s online F.A.Q. and help webpage.
The North Carolina General Statutes are publicly available online and the following are some potentially relevant statutes that deal with evictions that can be used as a starting point for research.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42, Article 3 (2019). – This entire article deals with summary ejectment, or evictions, generally.
- N.C. Gen Stat. § 7A-223 (2019). – This section deals with the procedure of small claim actions for summary ejectment.