March 2, 2012

A bill introduced in the Missouri Senate could make not paying rent a Class B misdemeanor.

“(There are) very few places that you can tell me where somebody is stealing from somebody, and you’d permit them to continue to steal,” the bill’s sponsor Sen. Kevin Engler, R-District 3, said.

The bill gives the tenant 10 days after receiving a court-ordered eviction notice to vacate the premises. If he or she fails to do so, a Class B misdemeanor conviction dictates a fine not to exceed $2,000, no more than 180 days in jail or both.

“It just makes it a more expedited process for the landlords to try to get their property back,” Engler said.

Evicting a tenant can be a lengthy process, Scott Sedgwick, general manager at Campus View Apartments off Providence Road, said. He said most apartment complexes will generally send tenants to Collections, invoke late fees, send notices and eventually take the legal route.

“It depends (how long that process lasts). It could take up to a month,” he said. “I mean it’s not easy to evict people in Missouri. It could take up to a month, or it could take as little as, you know, 10 days.”

Engler said once landlords take tenants to court, the process gets lengthier.

“In most places, it takes months to get a court date for somebody who hasn’t paid their rent to get a court order,” he said. “Then they’ve got months to comply, so it’s six to eight months that they’re on somebody’s property without paying.”

Engler said the bill is in the Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. If passed, it would be effective Aug. 28.

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