A lady I know who owns mutuple properties went to a lawyer for an eviction case of a resident who hadn't paid rent in months 

the lawyer charged her 1,500.00 for the initial fee and then also insisted she pay separate additional fees for the filing and serving charges (360.00 so far)

Im wondering if this is normal (are these fees supposed to be covered by the initial fee or is it normal for the client to have to pay all the additional fees for court and such?)

Not only that but the lawyer kept trying to make her meet with a realtor and kept offering to have someone buy her houses 

we feel like he is pushing his own agenda instead of persuing the eviction 

Also one day he showed us a "lease agreement" that the tenants gave him.. but there was no lease agreement and this paper he had only had their signatures on it (the tenants only and Not the owner) 

my opinion is that it's BS and obviously not a legit agreement; so why is he acting like it's legit? 

we feel like he is double crossing and assisting the person to stay longer instead of having them evicted asap 

they haven't paid rent in over five months and are insisting on staying past December and June 

its really getting on our nerves  

It's been 33 days now and the lawyer's office only filled the eviction with the court last week 

Is this normal or is this lawyer dude trying to string her along? 

the lady is elderly and I don't want to see her taken advantage of (I have to drive her to all her appointments because she's going blind and all this nonsense is really upsetting her) 

i guess my question is should we be concerned about this lawyer or are we over reacting? He just doesn't seem right to us but 😐 I don't really know anything about this stuff 

IDK if I should even post this but 😐

@Ligaya Bales

That’s high for an eviction. I charge $750 plus costs (usually about that $360 number you were quoted). I can say from missed payment to out-date we normally are looking at 120 days, but that’s in the most tenant friendly market in America.

33 days to get it filed is not unusual. Many jurisdictions require a 30 day notice to get to court, and that has to be placed before you file. So it may be that he got on the work 3 days after you hired him but then couldn’t do what you wanted until after 30 days passed.

Hope that helps. Best of luck!

Ok so aside from his initial fee the rest is mostly normal procedure? ☺️ Ok thank you.. 😊 that makes me feel less annoyed lol 

The attorney is supervised by a state board. Contact them and file a complaint. I would also consider firing the attorney and hiring someone else immediately before this gets worse.

The fee seems extremely high. I pay $550 and that includes all my filing fees etc. In regards to the 33 days it depends on your area. We have to serve them here in with a 14 day notice and then wait 14 days to file with the court for am actual court date. They are then served again with the court documents. 

@Ligaya Bales that is an extremely high price simply to evict someone. There’s really not much to an eviction. I found an attorney for $125 (covers the court docs and him appearing in court) plus the $136 filing fee with the state and he was fantastic (I’m pretty sure he just lines these things up and does a handful each week—easy $). Don’t overpay unless there is a complicated aspect to the eviction. I would definitely encourage you to shop around.

@Jeff Tyndall can you please share the attorney details.

I am also looking for property in Columbus. It will be helpful to keep the information.

@Sharry San I will PM you details

@Ligaya Bales

Good lord! I have an eviction scheduled Monday and it'll cost $250 (court fee + attorney fee).

I'd say shop around for another attorney

Way too high . I’ve had 7 evictions in 10 years and never paid more than $700

Cost depends on where you are. In Chicago we can hit $3-5k in fees (not always), and that's assuming the tenant doesn't put up too much of a battle. 

However, if he's taken 33 days to file the eviction, thats an issue. I can understand doing some initial checks to make sure she isn't going to be screwed by not realizing something she did was illegal, but that doesn't take 33 days.

Hi eveyone.. thanks for your replies. I'll take all the responses into consideration.. much appreciated. 

😬 I was mostly just venting and wondering what was normal (seems his initial fees and such are way over priced 🤪)  

It just sucks that such people like that exist who take advantage of others.. as if a bad deliquent renter wasnt enough .. then to have what seems to be a rippoff lawyer ☹️ and we really suspect he is assting the tenant to stay longer instead of evicting him asap.. it's maddening 

hopefully it will all be over soon tho .. ugh 

Maybe she will file a complaint with the board if things get any worse 😐 ugh

Its not really my business but to stand by while she goes though all this was really getting on my nerves 

she almost wants to sue him for being a bad lawyer 😲