“I hope that as the process becomes more well-known, more tenants will take advantage of it and we will see thousands of people benefit from it,” said Dayton Municipal Court Clerk Marty Gehres. “However, we cannot solve this issue alone. I would love to see more of our area courts join us in offering this.”
Alice Wood, a member of the Dayton Tenant Union, recently went through the record-sealing process and said it was quick and easy.
“All in all, I had a very good experience with the process,” she said. “The Dayton court made it very user-friendly.”
New rule
Dayton Municipal Court judges earlier this year approved a rule to create a new procedure to seal eviction records.
The court for about four years has been removing eviction case records from its online search tool after three years.
Court officials said too many people struggle to find decent housing because landlords often will not rent to individuals with an eviction filing on their records even if the cases were dismissed or the court ruled in favor of the the tenants.
Dayton Municipal Court Administrative Judge Deirdre Logan said magistrates have already held two dozen hearings to consider requests to seal eviction records. She said other requests were decided without hearings.
“This is a definite benefit for the community,” she said.
Gehres said 112 requests for eviction record sealing have been approved, 20 have been denied and 15 are still pending.
He said most of the denials stemmed from applicants being ineligible, mainly because they had multiple eviction judgments against them in the last several years.
To be eligible for the program, tenants cannot have had any other eviction judgments against them in Dayton Municipal Court within the past three years.
How it works
In cases in which the court grants an eviction, tenants can file to have these records sealed six months after a judgment on the first cause.
Renters can file for record sealing 60 days after an eviction is dismissed or a court judgment is made in their favor.
When requests are approved, all eviction case records will be removed from the municipal court’s case management system and website, and the files will be stored in a secure location, outside of where public files are kept.
Under the program, landlords in the eviction cases are notified about the requests to seal the records, and they get an opportunity to respond, request a hearing and object.
Wood, with the tenant union, said her request was granted without a court hearing, and the entire process only took about a month to complete.
She said people can find out if their cases are eligible for the program by reading the rules and requirements or by talking to court staff.
Sarah Weber, a staff attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc. (ABLE), said she believes there are a large number of people who are eligible to participate in the program.
Millions of U.S. renter households are threatened with eviction actions every year, and nearly 3,000 eviction cases were filed in Dayton Municipal Court in 2023.
Weber said eviction data show that most of Dayton’s evictions happen in ZIP codes where most of the residents are Black.
The 45406 ZIP code by far has had the largest number of eviction filings every year in this region for close to a decade — probably longer, she said. The ZIP code covers a large swath of northwest Dayton.
“Eviction sealing is a much-needed tool in eliminating barriers for people looking for housing,” Weber said. “It also removes the ability of unscrupulous landlords to use a past eviction as a ‘legitimate’ reason to not rent to a Black family.”
Weber said she hopes other court systems will follow suit and create pathways for sealing eviction records.
“Dayton’s eviction sealing process is a very good model and it appears to be working,” she said.
Gehres said the court plans to host informational clinics about the program, likely including in parts of the city that are hotspots for eviction filings. He also hopes that other courts will explore launching similar programs.
“This need doesn’t just exist in Dayton — across the Miami Valley and state, tens of thousands of people could benefit from a fresh start,” he said.
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