The Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University and the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) have released the LSC Eviction Laws Database, an online interactive tool that allows users to examine state, territory, and local eviction laws. The laws and procedures in the dataset were in effect as of January 1, 2021.
The state/territory dataset contains information on landlord-tenant law concerning all aspects of the eviction process, including permissible causes of evictions, filing timelines, notice requirements, post-judgment proceedings, and other process-related details. For each element, the database links to the relevant portion of state, territory, or local law. An interactive map allows users to highlight states and territories that share select features. The dataset includes information on all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. The local dataset contains state/territory-, county-, and local-level eviction laws for 30 jurisdictions across the country.
Because some jurisdictions had temporary COVID-related measures affecting eviction proceedings on January 1, 2021, the database includes notes indicating how the laws were affected. Executive orders and uncodified law that affected the eviction process were not included in the database when existing non-COVID related law remained effective on January 1, 2021. Where COVID-related statutes or amendments were incorporated into existing statutes, and the permanent provisions were not effective on January 1, the requirement in the amended statute was included in the database.
The LSC Eviction Laws Database is part of a larger project called “The Effect of State & Local Laws on Evictions,” a congressionally-directed study to investigate the unmet legal needs surrounding eviction in the United States.
See Memo, 2/20/18 and 3/9/20 for more on legal surveillance work performed by the Center for Public Health Law Research on fair housing, landlord-tenant laws, and nuisance ordinances.
Find the tool at: https://bit.ly/3eIwWKC