Barbara Grimm was evicted from her Pine Lake apartment in Oklahoma City in early October.
After a series of disputes with her landlord, she received a 30-day non-renewal notice on Sept. 5. The notice informs the tenant that the landlord will not seek to renew the lease after the agreed-upon term has expired.
Grimm had until Oct. 5 to vacate the premises.
“We recognize that your time here has not been without challenges,” Justin Schmidt wrote in the notice of non-renewal. “Although we have worked to address concerns, it seems clear that the home has not been the right fit for you. With that in mind, we believe it is in the best interest of both parties to bring the lease to a close and allow you the opportunity to find a residence better suited to your needs.”
The property had leaks, sewage back up and walls decaying from water damage. Grimm had requested it be fixed, but the problems kept creeping back in.
“All they had to do was fix the sewage stuff,” Grimm said.
She was evicted on Oct. 1, but it was later dismissed without prejudice after Justin Neal, an attorney with Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, informed the judge and the landlord’s attorney, Robert Goldman, that the wrong notice had been filed.
A 5-day notice to pay or quit had been filed, as opposed to a 10- to 15-day notice to vacate.
The 10- to 15-day notice to vacate is the appropriate form for evicting a tenant that the landlord claims violated the lease agreement.
After Neal alerted the judge and landlord attorney to that matter, a new eviction notice was sent, this time the appropriate 10- to 15-day notice to vacate.
“If it goes before the judge, the tenant is more likely to get a fair trial,” said Neal.
Eviction court can intimidate the tenants facing it, and without legal representation, tenants rarely reach the judge.
In Grimm’s case, her second time in eviction court for the 10- to 15-day notice, she was without representation, so when Goldman approached her with the judgment, she signed, not fully understanding what it was.
“I really didn’t want to sign the paper,” Grimm said. “But I was scared.”
In Oklahoma County, only 7% of tenants received legal representation, compared to 72% of landlords, according to a 2024 Shelterwell report. Having representation makes tenants more likely to show up for their hearings and to stay in their homes.
“An attorney’s role is to be a zealous advocate for their client,” said Katie Dilks, the executive director of Oklahoma Access to Justice. “The critical piece of information that’s missing is that their role is to be an advocate for their client’s wishes.”
The lack of representation often leaves tenants on the wrong side of policy.
Once a judgment is signed or a tenant defaults by not showing up to court, county sheriffs will perform a lockout and return possession over to the landlord.
“It is better to go before the judge than sign a journal entry,” Neal said. “A lot of people have better defenses than they think they do.”
In Tulsa County, some steps have been taken to ensure tenants get to eviction court and have legal representation.
The Landlord Tenant Resource Center is housed in Iron Gate, a food pantry and soup kitchen in Tulsa, and provides legal aid resources, tenant education tools and connects people to rental assistance resources.
The resource center has helped reduce Tulsa’s eviction rates, and in 2021, the Tulsa County District Court issued an administrative order that required every eviction notice to be accompanied by a resource sheet provided by the Landlord Tenant Resource Center.
Included in the resource sheet is a free bus pass to get to court.
“The bus pass is awesome,” Neal said. “A lot of people default because they can’t get to court.”
If the tenant is not present, the landlord wins by default and county sheriffs can carry out the lockout.
Neal said an administrative order like the one in Tulsa would drive evictions down.
“Tenants need to know that legal representation is available,” Neal said.
Having legal representation the first time she was evicted bought Grimm nearly an extra month to find new housing. However, she said she didn’t want to find somewhere new, she just wanted the issues with the apartment addressed.
“I was just tired of being threatened that I’ll lose my home every day,” Grimm said.
Grimm is now homeless with her dog, Sadie Sue.
“It’s uncomfortable,” Grimm said. “It’s not right, it’s so not right. I’m not doing drugs, I’m not running to the streets, I’m not doing any of that stuff.”
