Articles

If you are a landlord in Lexington, I have bad news, and I mean very bad news. On October 10 at 1:00 p.m. Charlie Lanter, LFUCG’s Housing Commissioner, will be making a presentation about Source of Income Discrimination to the LFUCG Social Services & Public Safety Committee meeting. They already have a draft of an ordinance, and my guess is that they are looking to move this train down the tracks quickly.  Source of Income Discrimination?? What does that even mean? Well, there’s a technical legal answer to that question and there’s a practical answer. We’ll start with the technical...

On April 18, 2023, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued an order requiring all Forcible Detainer cases to be electronically filed using the Court’s e-Filing system, effectively July 1, 2023. While that may make the process simpler in the long run, we expect significant issues during the roll-out process. Simply put, the court’s e-Filing system is not set up yet for mass filings, so it may take longer than usual to get cases filed. We are working with the Clerk’s office and the Administrative Office of the Courts to get changes made to the system that will allow cases to continue...

I've written a lot about evictions, but most of it has focused on what to do prior to filing your case. Here are 10 things you should do (or avoid doing) after filing your eviction case that will give you the best chance of winning your case. Do not send any more notices. Once you’ve sent the case for filing, only bad things can happen if you send new notices. Pay special attention to any software that might auto-generate a notice each month. Make sure the person who gave the notice appears in court. This is the best way to...

The Kentucky General Assembly recently wrapped up its 2023 Legislative Session. There was no movement on most of the bills that would have been detrimental to rental owners, but one bill was passed into law that is concerning.  KRS 376.010 is known as the Mechanic's Lien Statute. You can read it here. It lays out the terms under which a contractor has the right to put a lien on real estate because he provided labor or materials to improve the property but was not paid for his work. Liens were available if the contractor provided the labor or materials under an agreement with...

On May 3 I joined Dave Krusenklaus on WVLK to discuss evictions and Tenant Bill of Rights issues. You can listen to the episode below.