Many commentators have opined over the years that North Carolina’s summary ejectment statutes and procedural rules and regulations, which are the legal vehicle used by landlords to evict defaulting tenants in North Carolina, are too unwieldy and time consuming and unfairly favor tenants.

North Carolina recently amended several statutes in an effort to expedite the process of evicting defaulting tenants. On July 16, 2013, the General Assembly passed House Bill 802, entitled “An Act Amending the Laws Related to Landlord and Tenant Relationships to Shorten the Time Period Required to Evict a Tenant,” and Governor McCrory signed the bill into law on July 23, 2013. The act becomes effective September 1, 2013, and applies to all summary ejectment actions (relating to both commercial and residential leases) filed in the state on and after that date.

The new legislation modifies the summary ejectment process as follows:

• With the exception of complex cases (e.g., cases instituted for tenant breaches other than the nonpayment of rent, such as an alleged criminal activity), the presiding magistrate must render a decision on the same day as the conclusion of all the evidence and submission of legal authorities unless the parties agree otherwise. The rule formerly allowed the magistrate up to 10 days to render a decision. For complex cases, the magistrate now must render a decision within five business days.
• Unless all parties consent to a longer continuance, the magistrate may not continue a case for more than five days or the next session of small claims court, whichever is longer.
• For a party appealing a magistrate’s decision to District Court, the time afforded to such party to deposit the costs of court has been reduced from 20 days to 10 days following the entry of a judgment in the summary ejectment proceeding. If a party petitions to appeal as an indigent and is denied, that party will have an additional five days to pay the court costs.
• A plaintiff now has a statutory right to move for dismissal of a defendant’s appeal if the defendant (1) failed to raise a defense in the small claims court summary ejectment proceeding; (2) fails to timely file a motion, answer, or counterclaim in the District Court appeal proceeding; or (3) fails to timely make any required payment under the appeal bond. The motion to dismiss must indicate that the court will decide the motion without a hearing if the defendant fails to respond within 10 days. The court must review the file to determine if the defendant has made a sufficient response to defeat the motion and is authorized to enter an order resolving the matter without a hearing.
• Following a lockout from the leased premises by the sheriff, an evicted tenant now has only seven days to demand access to its personal property inside the premises, instead of the 10 days previously allowed. However, the act may have placed an additional obligation on landlords wishing to dispose of unclaimed tenant property. A landlord now has the right to dispose of such property only if the landlord “has offered to release” the property to the tenant. The statute does not indicate whether such offer must be express or whether it would suffice for the landlord to simply be ready and willing to allow retrieval of the personal property if demanded by the tenant within that seven day period.
• The time within which the sheriff must enforce a writ of possession has been reduced from seven days to five days.