SC mega landlord filed to evict thousands of tenants. Why did company suddenly stop?
After years of regularly filing hundreds of eviction notices each month in South Carolina, Powers Properties appears to have stopped that practice, at least temporarily.
An investigation published in mid-August by the Sun News and The Island Packet found that, since the beginning of 2019, the Florence-based landlord company filed to evict tenants across the state more than 6,700 times — part of what appears to be an aggressive use of the courts against renters who fall behind, regardless of their circumstances.
Since September, the company has filed a total of only nine eviction notices in the nine counties where it owns properties, court records show.
The timing of the massive drop-off coincides with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium, which went into effect Sept. 4, though other S.C. landlords have been able to continue successfully evicting tenants, and current Powers Properties tenants that remain behind on rent payments told reporters they hadn’t taken the steps necessary to be protected by the CDC order.
Voicemail messages left for the company’s owner, Wilbur Owens “Billy” Powers, were not returned, so it’s unclear what caused this shift, and whether it’s permanent or if it will expire when the CDC moratorium does at the end of the year.
Powers Properties responds
Powers did speak with Sun News reporters after publication of the initial story, which detailed the common practice experts call “serial filing,” with landlords filing to evict the same tenants month after month, keeping them in a vulnerable position, with additional fees piling up, and negatively impacting their long-term housing opportunities.
It’s legal, although critics say the practice violates the true intent of the state’s eviction laws.
Powers disputed the characterization of the filings as aggressive and said his company has to file eviction notices right away because it can take months to get resolved in the court system, and there’s a high likelihood those tenants won’t pay them another penny once that process is initiated.
However, less than 10% of Power Properties’ eviction filings since 2019 resulted in a court-ordered “writ of ejectment” — which permits the landlord to use law enforcement to remove a tenant — according to a review of case records. And in many of those instances, Powers Properties filed to evict those same tenants in the following months, indicating they were never actually forced to move.
Housing attorneys explained that, while serial filings aren’t unique to South Carolina, the low filing fee — landlords can file for as little as $30 in some counties — is an outlier compared to other states. In Alabama, for example, that fee is more than $250.
But Powers told The Sun News that a higher filing fee wouldn’t change his company’s tendencies, and he argued that South Carolina’s court system actually favors tenants more than landlords due to the length of the court process.
He also introduced reporters to Paul Seward, his longtime friend and banker, who touted Powers as a philanthropist and role model for the community. Powers and his wife recently donated $60 million to Clemson University for a new business school, according to an Associated Press report.
CDC eviction moratorium
Powers Properties tenants that get behind on their rent, though, say they haven’t witnessed that charitable reputation.
“They’re not a company that wants to work with tenants. There’s no flexibility, none whatsoever,” Lakeesha Byrd, a former tenant at one of Powers’ Richland County complexes, previously told The Island Packet. She faced eight eviction filings in a year after getting sick and losing her job.
“Every time they send me (an eviction) letter, I break down,” a resident of one of their Florence properties, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, previously said. “I don’t want to go to court.”
That same tenant, who has faced more than a dozen eviction filings from Powers Properties, told The Sun News that he’s been pleasantly surprised no eviction notices have been posted on his door in recent months.
He still receives monthly notices about how much he owes, but he’s now starting to catch up after getting a new job.
“I really appreciate it so much,” he said.
He and two other current tenants behind on their rent at Powers facilities in Richland and Florence counties have also noticed the sudden pause in eviction filings without explanation. None were aware of the federal CDC moratorium, they told reporters.
The moratorium, enacted to reduce the spread of COVID-19, restricts landlords from evicting certain covered persons for nonpayment of rent. To qualify for the moratorium, tenants must sign a form declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they fulfill certain conditions, including an inability to make full payments due to sudden loss of income or extraordinary medical costs, and that they would likely become homeless or have to move into closely shared living quarters if evicted.
Powers Properties previously halted eviction filings in March and April amid a statewide eviction moratorium, but that had restricted landlords from filing for nonpayment of rent regardless of the tenant’s circumstances. Other landlords in South Carolina have continued to file eviction notices despite the CDC moratorium.
In Horry County, landlords have filed 685 eviction notices since September resulting in 170 writs of ejectment, court filings show.
The Island Packet reporter Lucas Smolcic Larson contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 12:10 PM.
