virginia poverty law center (vplc) and campaign to reduce … · for non -attorney helpline...

Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) and Campaign to Reduce Evictions (CARE)

Volunteer Manual

Vol. 2: Intake Procedures For Non-Attorney Helpline Volunteers

Draft v. 1.0, 8/22/19

Eviction Legal Helpline Volunteer Manual, Vol. 2: Intake Procedures (v. 1.0 8/22/19)

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Acknowledgments

The procedural and policy content of this manual draws liberally on manuals and reference materials produced by other hotline/helpline programs, including Bay Area Legal Aid (Legal Advice Line: Overview of a Legal Advice Line, Rev. 2011), AARP Foundation Technical Support for Legal Hotlines Project (Legal Hotlines: A How To Manual, 2nd Edition, 2001), Center for Elder Law & Justice (Back to the Beginning: Building a Legal Services Helpline from the Ground Up, 2018).

Almost all of the substantive legal content of this manual was adapted from materials created by Martin Wegbreit of the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society. Many thanks to Marty for his (apparently inexhaustible) generosity in providing guidance and responding to questions about the law and practice of eviction defense in Virginia.

Photo of furniture on the curb: wolfpeterson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfpeterson/15313662683/), Creative Commons license.

Please share comments, corrections, and suggestions with Phil Storey, [email protected].


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CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction to Intake Procedure ......................................................... 4

Intake Procedure: Overview ..................................................................................................... 4

Description of a Completed Intake Case .................................................................................. 5

Information about the people in the case. ...................................................... 5

Information about the situation. ..................................................................... 5

Administrative information. ............................................................................ 6

Chapter 2: Creating a Case Record from a New Message ......................................... 7

Creating a Case Record from an Incoming Message: Step-by-Step ....................................... 7

Chapter 3: Conflicts Screening Procedure ............................................................. 16

Overview of the Conflicts Screening Procedure .................................................................... 16

Conflicts Screening Check: Step-by-Step ............................................................................... 17

Chapter 4: Intake Interview Procedure ................................................................. 21

Overview and Goals of the Intake Interview ......................................................................... 21

Intake Callback and Interview: Step-by-Step ........................................................................ 22

Chapter 5: Online Case Records Check Procedure ............................................... 36

Checking the Courts’ Online Case Info System: Step-by-Step .............................................. 36

Chapter 6: Receiving Client Documents Procedure ............................................... 41

Receiving and Attaching Client Documents to Case Records: Step-by-Step ....................... 42

Appendix: Scripts for Giving Legal Information ................................................... 47

Using the Scripts to Give Helpline Callers Legal Information .............................................. 47

The Eviction Process: Steps and Typical Timeline ................................................................ 48

The Tenant’s Right of Redemption ........................................................................................ 50

Illegal Evictions or Utility Cutoffs .......................................................................................... 51


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Chapter 1: Introduction to Intake Procedure

INTAKE PROCEDURE: OVERVIEW


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DESCRIPTION OF A COMPLETED INTAKE CASE

The intake procedures in this manual are designed to create a case record in HelplineCMS that is ready for a volunteer attorney to review before an advice callback. To complete a case intake and get all of the necessary information into the case record for attorney review, intake volunteers need to run through several different procedural tasks, which are detailed in the chapters below.

Here are the types of information included in a HelplineCMS case record that has been through the intake process, along with which steps in the intake procedures produce the information.

Information about the people in the case.

Type of information Intake procedures for getting the information

a. ID of the tenant/caller Creating a case record from a new incoming Helpline message (Ch. 2)

Intake interview (Ch. 4)

b. ID of the landlord and other adults involved in the case

Creating a case record from a new incoming Helpline message (possibly) (Ch. 2)

Online court case records (when applicable) (Ch. 5)


c. VPLC conflicts screening Conflicts screening procedures (Ch. 3)

d. Demographic information about the tenant and household


Information about the situation.


a. Description from incoming Helpline message

Creating a case record from a new incoming Helpline message (Ch. 2)

b. Tenant’s description of the situation


c. Information about current and previous court cases between landlord and tenant

Online case records check (Ch. 5)

d. Documents and notices sent from the client

Receiving client documents (Ch. 6)


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Administrative information.


a. Client’s acknowledgment of the Helpline’s scope of services


b. Client’s confirmation that they have not received attorney advice about this case (from legal aid, etc.)


c. Client’s agreement to share their case information with VCU research team (client may decline)



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Chapter 2: Creating a Case Record from a New Message

CREATING A CASE RECORD FROM AN INCOMING MESSAGE: STEP-BY-STEP

1. Log into the shared Hotmail inbox.

a. URL: https://outlook.live.com/mail/inbox

b. Account name: [email protected]

c. Password: [This will change regularly for security purposes. The supervising VPLC attorney can give you the current password if they have not already done so.]

2. Check the appropriate folder for new messages that haven’t been through intake.

a. First, check the Urgent Intake folder, completing the steps below.

b. Then repeat the process for the messages both in the Std. Intake folder and in the main Inbox folder.

o Messages forwarded from the Helpline voicemail system should not be in the main Inbox folder, but emails sent directly from tenants to [email protected] will be there.

3. Messages from the Helpline voicemail system, with .wav file attached:

Beginning with the oldest message still in the folder, save and listen to the caller’s voicemail message. (Emails sent directly from tenants without attached .wav files of voicemail messages are handled differently, explained in step 4 below.)

xxxxxx

xxxxxxxx

xxxxxx


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a. Save the attachment from the email to OneDrive by selecting Save to OneDrive from the attachment icon’s pull-down menu. (You may need to hover the pointer over the attachment icon for the pull-down menu to show up.)

b. After saving the file to OneDrive, select View in OneDrive from the attachment icon’s pull-down menu.

c. A new browser tab or window will open, automatically load the audio file, and should start to play it. (If it doesn’t start to play it, click on the play icon on the bottom of the window.) Listen to the message.


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d. When finished listening to the message, skip to Step 5.

4. For email messages sent directly to [email protected]:

If there are email messages in the main Inbox folder sent directly from a tenant, then beginning with the oldest message still in the main Inbox folder, review the messages to see if they contain adequate information for you to create a new HelplineCMS case record (the tenant’s first and last names and phone number) and call the tenant for an intake.

The email server automatically responds to each incoming email with instructions for tenants seeking help.

a. Check to see if the tenant’s message, either their initial email or a later reply to the instructions, includes their first and last names and phone number.

b. If the tenant’s email does not include their full name and phone number, leave the message where it is. VPLC supervisors will periodically file those messages if the tenant does not respond to the instructions sent by the server automatically.

c. If the tenant’s email includes their name and phone number, continue to Step 5.


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5. Log into HelplineCMS.

https://evictionhelpline.org/helplinecms/

Your user name:

Your password:

Contact VPLC if you need help logging in to HelplineCMS.

6. Check HelplineCMS to see if there is already a case record for the caller.

a. From the Cases tab in HelplineCMS, select the All Cases view.

b. Enter the tenant’s last name in the search field and press Enter on your keyboard to search for matches.

c. If there is an existing case record, open the record and confirm it’s the same client. If it is the same client, open the case record in HelplineCMS and add the contents of the new message in in the field Description from initial voicemail or email and specify that it is a new message and the date it was received.

o Scroll down in the case record to see if the client was already contacted by an attorney and given advice on their case. If so, please email [email protected] with the subject “New Call, Old Client” to let them know that the client called back and they should review the case to see if VPLC should follow up.

o If the case has not yet received an attorney advice callback, simply save the case with the new text added to the Description from initial voicemail or email field.

o Either way, save and close the case by clicking the Submit and Close buttons in the upper right corner.


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7. If there is no existing record in the HelplineCMS, create a new case record by clicking the New Case button in the top right corner of the Cases tab.

8. A new case will open in “edit” mode, meaning the data fields are ready for inputs.

NOTE: HelplineCMS is a rudimentary database and it does not automatically save the contents of each field as it is edited. Also, you will lose all unsaved edits if the system times out. To save changes from the edit mode, you must click the Submit button in the top right corner of the screen. Do so every few minutes to avoid timing out and losing changes.

Likewise, if you close the case or switch from the Case Data screen in edit mode to the Documents screen, you will lose any unsaved changes you have made.

9. In the new case record just created, enter as much of the following information into the appropriate fields as the caller/tenant’s message contained.

a. Date of first call/message to Helpline

b. Tenant’s first name and last names

c. Tenant’s primary phone number

d. Landlord’s first name and last name


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o If the landlord is a business entity, put the name of the company entirely in the field Landlord/owner’s last name or company name and leave the Landlord/owner’s first name field blank.

e. Scrolling down to the Eviction subsection of the Intake section in the case record, in the field Description from voicemail or email, put the following:

o If the email with the voicemail attached includes a decent transcription, paste it in the text field, beginning with “Comcast Business Voicemail…”, making any necessary corrections.

o If the email came directly from the tenant and not from the Comcast voicemail system, type “EMAIL:” along with the tenant’s email address in the field and paste the text of the email message.

10. When finished entering the above information into the Case Data screen, click the Submit button in the upper right corner to save it.


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11. Return to the browser window showing the preview of the voicemail audio (.wav) file in OneDrive.

a. Click on Share from the menu in the top left of the OneDrive window showing the attachment.

b. From the Share dialog box that appears, select Get Link.

c. The dialog box will create a link with a Copy button next to it. Click the Copy button to copy the link generated by OneDrive.

12. Return to the HelplineCMS browser window. Make sure the Case Data screen for the case you are working on is in “view” mode, not “edit” mode. (The upper right corner of the screen should have an Edit button visible. If not, but if a Submit button is visible, click the Submit button to save the data.)

a. Open the Documents tab of the case record.


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13. From the case record’s Documents screen, click the Upload button in the top right corner.

14. In the dialog box that appears, click the Web address button.

a. Paste the link you copied from OneDrive into the URL field that appears in the Web address dialog box.

b. In the Name field, enter “VM” or “voicemail.”

c. Click the Submit button to save the link to the case record.

d. Close the upload dialog box by clicking on the X in the top right corner.

15. After you have created the new case record and saved it, return to the shared Hotmail inbox. Move the email from which you just created the record into the inbox folder called Case Record Created.

16. You have completed the process of creating a new case record from a new Helpline message. You can now do one of the following.


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a. In the same case record you just created, continue to the next step in the intake process, conflicts screening. (See Chapter 3.)

b. Return to the beginning and perform the same steps for the next oldest message in the Urgent Intake folder, and then the messages in the Standard Intake folder in the shared Hotmail inbox.


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Chapter 3: Conflicts Screening Procedure

OVERVIEW OF THE CONFLICTS SCREENING PROCEDURE

One of the most important initial tasks for the intake process is checking to make sure that the parties involved in a tenant’s case do not pose conflicts of interest for VPLC. Attorneys and their law firms are subject to strict rules against conflicts of interest and must take reasonable steps to avoid them. That means checking the names of people involved in a case before accepting the case and even before getting substantial information about it.

The Conflicts Screening Procedure must be followed as many times as necessary during intake to ensure that we avoid a conflict of interest. That means you will run it each time you enter names for tenants, landlords, property managers, or other individuals involved in the case, such as adult roommates or spouses.

For example, if the voicemail left on the Helpline identifies the name of the tenant, but not the landlord or any other person involved in the case, this will be the process:

You will create a new case record following the instructions in Chapter 2, then run the Conflicts Screening Procedure described below.

If that initial screening does not result in a match for the tenant’s name, and the HelplineCMS case record indicates no need for an additional VPLC conflicts check, you will call the tenant to begin the intake.

After (1) explaining the scope of Helpline services, (2) confirming that the tenant has not already received advice from a lawyer about their case, and (3) asking where the tenant heard about the Helpline, the first information you will ask the tenant for will be the names of the landlord in the case, as well as property managers, other adult tenants on the lease or living with the tenant, and others involved with the case.

After entering those additional names, you will again run the Conflicts Screening Procedure described below.

If that new screening does not result in a match for any of the names you entered in the case record in the Other Conflict Check Information subsection, and the VPLC conflicts review needed field says No, you will continue with the case intake process.

At any point in the intake process, if you identify additional people involved in the case, you will return to the Other Conflict Check Information subsection, enter additional names in the fields there, and run the Conflicts Screening Procedures again.


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CONFLICTS SCREENING CHECK: STEP-BY-STEP

1. In HelplineCMS open an existing case record and look at it in the “view” mode rather than “edit” mode. (If you have a case record open in “edit” mode, switch to “view” mode by clicking the Submit button). Scroll down in the Other Conflict Check Information subhead to the field Initial conflicts check protocol followed. It should have a

Check button next to it.

2. If the VPLC conflicts review needed field does not contain any information beyond a Yes or No, then click on the Check button next to the Initial conflicts check protocol followed field to run the automated conflicts screening. Within several seconds, additional information should appear in the VPLC conflicts review needed field as shown below.

3. Review the field VPLC conflicts review needed.

a. The first value (line) in the field will be either Yes or No.

o Additional information will also show up in the VPLC conflicts review needed field, indicating which of the names checked may result in a


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potential match. You do not need to worry about that information right now, just whether the first value is Yes or Yes.

b. Yes: If the first value in the field VPLC conflicts review needed is Yes, that means the automated system has identified a potential match with one or more names of past and current clients and adverse parties in VPLC’s system. That could mean a conflict and you will continue with the steps of the Conflicts Screening Procedure below in Step 4.

c. No: If the first value in the field VPLC conflicts review needed is No, that means the automated system has not identified a match between the names checked from the HelplineCMS case record and the names of past and current clients and adverse parties in VPLC’s system.

This completes the Conflicts Screening Procedure for the information currently in the case record. If additional names are added or corrections are made to names in the Tenant Identity or Other Conflict Check Information subheads, you will repeat the Conflicts Check Procedure.

4. If the VPLC conflicts review needed field says Yes, look at the descriptive text that appears below it in the same field to see what potential matches are identified. (That text will be there immediately after a check has been run, but not when a case record is opened from the list of cases. To get that text to reappear if it is not showing up, simply click the Check button to the right of the Initial conflicts check protocol followed field.)

a. In the example above, the HelplineCMS system automatic screening function found no match for the tenant (Betsy Ross), but did find potential matches for the landlord (RRHA) and the property manager (Ben Franklin).


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5. For any names in the HelplineCMS case record (tenant, landlord, property manager, or others) that have a match (anything other than “No conflicts”), you will look at the next field, Notes re VPLC conflict review, to see if VPLC has already addressed the matches with the names.

a. If the Notes re VPLC conflict review field labels the name as “no conflict” or “OK,” that means there is no conflict with that person which would hold up intake. (E.g., RRHA and Ben Franklin in the above example.)

This completes the Conflicts Screening Procedure for the information currently in the case record. If additional names are added or corrections are made to names in the Tenant Identity or Other Conflict Check Information subheads, you will repeat the Conflicts Check Procedure.

6. If the name of the landlord in the HelplineCMS case record has a match (anything other than “No conflicts” (e.g., RRHA and Ben Franklin in the above example), but VPLC has not yet checked out the potential conflict (as reflected in the Notes re VPLC conflict review field), you will review the landlord name for any of the following indications that there is no conflict as to the landlord.

a. If the name of the landlord in the Helpline case includes the words “Housing Authority” or the acronym “…RHA” (e.g., Petersburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority, RRHA, HRHA), there is no conflict as to the landlord.

b. If the landlord in the Helpline case is a business entity or agency, as indicated either by LLC, Inc., Corp., Co., Partnership, LP, or similar, or by the obvious name of a company (Virginia Rental Management, American Eagle), there is no conflict as to the landlord.

Similarly, you will review the name of the property manager, if included, to check if the HelplineCMS system finds a match (anything other than “No conflicts”).


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a. If the name of the property manager in the Helpline case is a business entity or agency, as indicated by LLC, LP, Corp., Co., Inc., Partnership, or similar, or by the obvious name of a company, there is no conflict as to the property manager.

7. For a case with Yes in the VPLC conflicts review needed field, if any of the names with matches identified (anything other than “No conflicts”) are not cleared by following steps 4 through 6 above, then…

Stop intake before asking the tenant for any additional information.

a. Tell the tenant that we need to clear something up and a Helpline supervisor will do that as soon as possible and someone will be back in touch with them.

I’m sorry but in order to avoid conflicts of interest, one of the Helpline supervising attorneys needs to review this before we can take any more information from you or have an attorney advise you.

A supervising attorney will review this as soon as practical (usually in less than a day) and someone will get back to you with more information or to continue the intake process. Okay?

b. Send an email to [email protected] with the subject “Conflict Check” and include the last name of the tenant in the body of the email. That will let the VPLC supervising attorney know there is a new potential conflict to screen.

8. Once intake is stopped while VPLC checks on potential conflicts, one of two things will happen.

a. If the VPLC supervising attorney identifies a conflict, they will close the case, contact the tenant to let them know that we cannot help them, and refer them to other services, if applicable. Once it is closed, the case will no longer appear in the Intake view of the Cases tab.

b. If the VPLC supervising attorney finds that there is not a conflict from the potential matches the system identified at screening, they will enter a note in the field Notes re VPLC conflict review. This will explain which potential match is not a conflict, so that when returning to an intake to gather additional information for the Other Conflict Check Information subhead, you can refer to it.


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Chapter 4: Intake Interview Procedure

OVERVIEW AND GOALS OF THE INTAKE INTERVIEW

The intake interview is when you will speak with the tenant, get key information from them about their case and the people involved, and get their consent to receive our services.

Here are the critical priorities for the intake interview.

Obtain the tenant’s consent to the Eviction Legal Helpline’s scope of services and, if possible, their permission to share their case information with the researchers at VCU who are partnering with the Helpline to better study the eviction crisis in Virginia.

Confirm that the tenant is not receiving help or has not received legal advice from legal aid or another attorney about this case. (We cannot assist people who simply want another opinion, who are dissatisfied with their assistance from a local legal aid office, or who are already in the intake process at a legal aid office.)

Get the names of the people and/or companies involved in the case and run the conflicts screening procedures described in Chapter 3 to ensure that VPLC can serve the client without creating a conflict of interest.

Collect the tenant’s personal and household information. We need this in order to refer cases to local legal aid offices and we will use aggregated data from all Helpline callers to better understand the eviction crisis in Virginia.

Get information about the case from the tenant, including: why the landlord is seeking to terminate their lease and evict them and what documentation or notices the tenant has received from the landlord, the court, or the sheriff’s office.


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INTAKE CALLBACK AND INTERVIEW: STEP-BY-STEP



Your user name:

Your password:


2. When you log in, HelplineCMS should show you the Cases tab. As a non-attorney volunteer, you should see the Intake view of cases. (If it opens to a different view, select Intake from the pulldown menu of views, next to the Search field at the top of the list of cases.) The Intake view lists all of the cases that are not yet ready for an attorney’s advice callback.

In the Intake view, the columns indicate the dates for the following steps in the intake process.

a. When the call/message was first received by the Helpline.

b. When the first unsuccessful intake callback attempt was made.

c. When the second unsuccessful intake callback attempt was made.

d. When the intake interview was completed.

e. When the tenant has said they will submit documents to the Helpline to be uploaded to the case record in HelplineCMS.

3. For the cases with no date in the “Date intake complete” column, start with the cases with the earliest “Date of first call/message to Helpline” and click on the client’s name to open the case record.


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4. Before calling the caller/tenant, check the HelplineCMS case record to see if other intake attempts have been made already.

a. At the top of the case record in HelplineCMS, just under the CASE INTAKE header, there is a series of fields for recording the date of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd unsuccessful attempts.

b. The information you leave in a voicemail if you are unable to reach the tenant will be different depending on whether this is the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd attempted intake call.

5. Click the Edit button in the top right corner of the case record to enter in “edit” mode, meaning the data fields are ready for inputs.

NOTE: HelplineCMS is a rudimentary database and it does not automatically save the contents of each field as it is edited. Also, you will lose all unsaved edits if the system times out. To save changes from the edit mode, you must click the Submit button in the top right corner of the screen. Do so every few minutes to avoid timing out and losing changes.

Likewise, if you close the case or switch from the Case Data screen in edit mode to the Documents screen, you will lose any unsaved changes you have made.

6. Call back the caller/tenant to perform an intake.

a. Caller ID Blocking: If you do not want the caller/tenant to be able to call back to the phone you are using, dial *67 before dialing their phone number and your incoming call will show on their phone as Anonymous with no return number.


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7. If the caller/tenant answers the phone, go to Step 10.

If the caller/tenant does not answer, leave a brief message. Follow the scripts below for the introduction and the body of the message you’ll leave, depending on how many intake attempts we have already made to this client.

INTRO: Hello, my name is [your first name]. I am a volunteer with the Eviction Legal Helpline. I am calling to follow up on the message you recently left on the Helpline, asking for legal advice about your potential eviction.

1st ATTEMPT: We will try calling you back within the next business day or so. We will make two more attempts to reach you. We look forward to talking with you soon.

2nd ATTEMPT: I’m sorry we missed you. This is the second callback attempt, and we will try calling you again once more within the next couple of business days. If we cannot reach you on our third attempt, we will assume you do not still need our help. We hope to talk with you soon.

3rd ATTEMPT: I’m sorry we haven’t been able to reach you. Because we have not been able to make contact after three attempts, we will assume you do not still need our help. If you do still want to talk with a Helpline attorney for legal advice, please call the Helpline again and leave another message, including specific times when you would most likely be able to answer your phone. Thank you.

8. After leaving a voicemail for a caller/tenant who does not answer, enter the current date in the appropriate Date of __ intake attempt (unsuccessful) field at the top of the case record under the CASE INTAKE section header.

9. After leaving a voicemail for the tenant/caller and entering the date of the attempt, click the Submit button to save the edits to the case record, then click the Close button. (Both buttons are in the top right corner of the screen.)


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10. If the caller/tenant answers, introduce yourself as an Eviction Legal Helpline volunteer who is not an attorney.

Hello, my name is [your first name]. I am a volunteer with the Eviction Legal Helpline.

I am calling to follow up on the message you recently left on the Helpline, asking for legal advice about your potential eviction. I am not an attorney so I cannot give legal advice. I am calling to do a brief intake with you and collect information that I will pass along to one of the Helpline attorneys so they can call you back to give you advice.

11. Ask the caller how they learned about the Eviction Legal Helpline. Who referred them?

Record the answer in HelplineCMS near the top of the case record.

12. Confirm that the person you are speaking with is the tenant threatened with eviction. (A member of the household that lives at the property.)

Are you the tenant who is facing potential eviction, or are you calling for a friend or family member who is the actual tenant? Have you been living at the property, or is your name on a written lease for the property?

a. The Helpline can never offer information or advice to a landlord or an anonymous caller. If a landlord or anonymous caller wants help:

o Refer them to Virginia Lawyer Referral Service for legal advice: 800-552-7977 or [email protected].

o Move their message in the shared Hotmail inbox to the Reject Out of Scope folder.


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b. The Helpline normally only serves tenants themselves, not third parties. If the caller is a third party—a friend, family member, or service provider of the tenant that is threatened with eviction—tell them the following.

I’m going to need to talk to the tenant about this, unless they gave you their permission to ask us to contact them. The Helpline doesn’t normally serve tenants through a third-party caller. The person you are calling about will need to call or email the Helpline to leave a message for us to call them back. We can’t call the tenant unless they reach out to us directly or asked you to contact us to ask us to call them.

If that’s not possible and you want to talk to a Helpline supervisor about getting legal information or advice for someone who cannot contact the Helpline on their own, I can ask a Helpline supervisor to contact you sometime within the next few business days.

The tenant can call the regular Helpline intake number (833-NoEvict) or email [email protected]

13. Make sure the tenant understands and accepts the scope of services the Helpline can provide.

The Eviction Legal Helpline offers information, basic legal advice from an attorney, and referrals to other providers for additional legal services. Helpline attorneys will not represent tenants in court or in negotiating with landlords. Is that clear? (Yes or No)

a. If the tenant agrees, select Yes for the field at the top of the case record titled Tenant agrees to scope of services. (This is a very important step.)


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b. If the caller does not agree to those limitations on the scope of service, the Helpline cannot serve them. They can try calling legal aid (866-534-5243) or Virginia Lawyer Referral Service (800-552-7977) to seek assistance.

o Mark No for the field Tenant agrees to scope of services.

o Click the Submit button to save the edits to the case record, then click the Close button. (Both buttons are in the top right corner of the screen.)

o In the shared Hotmail inbox, move their message to the Reject Out of Scope folder.

14. Next, ask the tenant if they have already received legal advice about their case from an attorney, like from a legal aid attorney.

Have you already received legal advice about your case from a legal aid attorney or another legal service provider? (Yes or No)

a. If the tenant has already talked to and received advice from a legal aid attorney about their case, the Helpline cannot serve them. Select Yes for the field titled Tenant has already received legal advice on case and tell the tenant we cannot help them. (See the script below.)

b. The purpose of the Helpline is to expand the reach of legal advice to people who are not served by the local legal aid programs, for whatever reason. If someone has attempted to contact legal aid was told that legal aid does not have the capacity to advise them or that they are ineligible for legal aid services, the Helpline will serve them. But if they are in the process of intake or advice with a legal aid program or they were advised by legal aid but want a second opinion, we cannot serve them.

I’m sorry, but if you have already been in contact with a local legal aid office and either have received advice from their attorneys or are in the process of intake or advice with them, the Helpline cannot provide additional services for you.

The purpose of the Helpline is to reach tenants who are not served by or are not making contact with their local legal aid offices. In almost all cases when a tenant calls us for help, if it appears they have a good legal argument for avoiding eviction, we refer their cases to their local legal aid. The legal aid lawyers have much better knowledge of the legal arguments


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that are most successful with the local courts and judges, they know many of the landlords and other agencies, etc.

c. Like tenants who do not agree to the scope of service, they can try calling Virginia Lawyer Referral Service (800-552-7977) to seek assistance from another private attorney.

d. If the tenant tells you that they talked with a legal aid attorney but were told they do not have a case or the attorney provided inadequate service (or were rude, dismissive, took the landlord’s side, etc.), and the tenant is insistent that they want to talk to a Helpline attorney, do the following.

o Select Yes for the field titled Tenant has already received legal advice on case.

o Ask the tenant for the name of the legal aid program and attorney they spoke with and write those in the field titled Facts from intake callback in the Eviction section of the case record.

o Ask the tenant if they want a Helpline supervising attorney to contact the legal aid attorney they already spoke to and see if they can figure out what the problem was.

o If the tenant wants us to contact the legal aid lawyer, tell the tenant that you will ask the Helpline supervising attorneys to do that, but that because of the volume of Helpline calls and cases, it may not happen within a day or two. But someone will get back to the tenant to let them know the results and complete the Helpline case intake if that’s appropriate. Then send an email to [email protected] with the subject “Legal Aid Check” and include the last name of the tenant and an explanation of the situation in the body of the email.

15. Before you begin the main part of the intake interview, you will need to gather key information about the people involved in the case and run the Conflicts Screening Procedure described in Chapter 3 of the Helpline Volunteer Manual, Volume 2.

Even if you already ran the Conflicts Screening Procedure with the initial identities from the tenant’s message to the Helpline, you must get additional identities from the tenant now while you have them on the phone and run the screening before you can accept additional information about the case.

a. If you do not complete the Conflicts Screening Procedure before gathering additional information about the tenant or the case, you could be creating a conflict of interest that could harm other VPLC clients and cases.

! Turn now to Chapter 3 and run the Conflicts Screening Procedure.

Return and continue the intake procedure below if/when the case has made it through the Conflicts Screening Procedure.


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16. Interview the caller/tenant and enter data in the HelplineCMS case record.

The following steps may or may not take place in the order listed here. It’s likely that some caller/tenants will be eager to give you a description of their situation before completing the basic intake data questions. It is fine to take their description early on, and then return to collect the demographic and other data before completing the intake.

a. Collect or confirm basic data about the tenant, their household, and the property where they are at risk of eviction, as found in the intake form in the sections titled Tenant Personal Details, Household Size and Finances, and Housing. Each field in these sections is important.

To open a case and give it to an attorney to advise you, we need to collect information about your situation related to the potential eviction, but also about you and your household, including things like your income, your rent amount, type of housing, and that sort of thing. Collecting this extra information helps us better understand the eviction crisis in Virginia and who it is affecting. These questions will only take about five minutes. Is that okay?

o Remember to get the tenant’s date of birth and enter that in the DOB field in the Tenant Identity section near the top of the case record.

o In the Household Size and Finances section, the tenant can provide either the gross monthly or the gross yearly household income. The amount does not have to be exact; the tenant can provide a rough estimate. HelplineCMS will automatically calculate the corresponding monthly or yearly gross income and the % of Federal Poverty Level field.


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b. When you reach the section titled Eviction, have the caller/tenant explain their situation related to the potential eviction.

o The field marked Description from initial voicemail or email should already contain the automatic transcription from the tenant’s voicemail or the text of the tenant’s email to the Helpline.

o As the tenant explains their situation, type the most relevant information in the field marked Facts from intake callback.

o Some relevant facts to ask about, if necessary:

Are they threatened with eviction based on unpaid rent? If so, do they admit they are behind on rent?

If they owe the landlord money, do they have access to funds to pay off what is owed?

Are there potential lease violations other than rent that the landlord is using to justify the termination of the lease?

How long have they lived at the property?

When did their current lease term take effect? (Even if they didn’t sign the lease.)

c. If the caller/tenant’s situation fits in one of the “urgent” categories (below), select Yes in the Urgent situation field at the top of the Eviction section, otherwise select No.

o An eviction notice has been posted at the caller/tenant’s home by the sheriff’s office and the eviction is scheduled to take place; or

o The caller/tenant has an Unlawful Detainer (eviction) court date within 3 business days; or

o The caller/tenant’s landlord has effectively evicted the caller/tenant within the last 24 hours without going through the court process by either locking them out or cutting off utilities.


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17. Ask the tenant if there are any upcoming deadlines or important upcoming dates we should be aware of. Enter that information in the fields marked Important upcoming date and Important upcoming date description.

a. The pull-down menu for the Important upcoming date description includes the following:

o Sheriff’s eviction

o Court return date

o Court trial date

o 5-day Pay or Quit deadline

o 21-day breach remedy deadline

o Deadline to ask for an administrative grievance or appeal

o Other

18. Confirm the location of the tenant’s home where they’re at risk of eviction. Make sure to get the jurisdiction where a lawsuit for eviction would be filed—not just the mailing address. For example, if the tenant gave their home address as being in Richmond or Fairfax, make sure to find out if the actual jurisdiction is the city of Richmond versus one of the neighboring counties or if they’re in the city of Fairfax or the county. Select the jurisdiction from the pulldown menu for the field Jurisdiction of legal action for eviction.

19. Ask if the tenant has any notices or documents related to the case that they can send to the Helpline by fax or email.

Do you have documents or notices from the landlord or the court or the sheriff’s office related to the potential eviction? If you do, it would be very


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helpful if you can send those to the Helpline by fax or by email or as pictures attached to text messages.

Without reviewing notices and documents related to the potential eviction, an attorney cannot advise you as confidently about your potential defenses to eviction.

a. They can send us documents the following ways:

o Fax to 833-744-8315

o Email to [email protected] with subject “notice” or “document”

b. Some examples of the kinds of documents or notices:

o Notice to Vacate

o Notice of Termination

o 5-day Pay or Quit notice (may or may not be titled that)

o Summons for Unlawful Detainer

o Writ of Eviction or Writ of Possession

o Sheriff’s eviction notice (“Final Notice” from sheriff)

o Notices of lease violations

o Lease (it would be good to have this, though it’s likely to be long)

c. If the tenant says they will send notices or documents to the Helpline, ask them when they will send them.

o Enter the date by which the tenant will send documents in the field Documents to Helpline by near the bottom of the Intake section of the HelplineCMS case record.

o Tell the tenant that we will have an attorney call them back only after we receive their documents or the date for submitting their documents has passed.

20. Use the script below to explain to the tenant the need for better information about evictions in Virginia and the partnership between the Helpline and VCU to study evictions, with the goal of proposing policy changes in the future to help address the eviction crisis. Then ask the tenant if they give their permission (1) for the Helpline to share their case information with the VCU researchers and (2) for the VCU researchers to contact them with some follow-up questions.

Because there is an eviction crisis in Virginia, the Eviction Helpline is working with other groups to understand the problem and come up with policy solutions that will help tenants throughout Virginia. There is a group of researchers at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) that is collecting and studying data on people who are in your situation. The hope


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is that in the future, Virginia can have better laws and better resources to help tenants so they can be protected better from eviction.

Will you give us your permission to share the data you have given us with this team of VCU researchers so it can help them with their study? (Yes or No?)

Will you give your permission to the team of VCU researchers to give you a call in the near future and ask you more questions about your situation, to help them better understand the issues tenants like you face? (Yes or No?)

a. Mark the tenant’s responses in the fields at the end of the INTAKE section of the case record.

21. After getting the facts and data about the tenant’s situation, remind them that you are not an attorney and you cannot give them legal advice.

Because I am not an attorney, I can’t give legal advice. That means I can’t tell you how the law applies to your specific situation. The Helpline attorney will have to answer those types of questions when they talk with you.

a. Ask if the caller/tenant has been through eviction process in Virginia or would like you to describe the basic process. If they want a description, you can provide them with that legal information using the scripts in the Appendix, as long as you do not seek to interpret how the law applies to the facts in the caller’s case.

b. You may also refer the caller/tenant to legal information on the Tenants’ Resources page on www.reduceevictions.org, the website for the Campaign to Reduce Evictions (CARE).


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22. Tell the caller/tenant that an attorney will call them back with advice.

I will get this information to the Eviction Legal Helpline attorneys so they can review it and give you a call back.

URGENT CASES (per Step 16.c above): Because we understand that this case is very urgent, an attorney will try to call you back as soon as possible to talk with you and provide advice.

NON-URGENT CASES: An attorney will try to call you back within the next business day or two to talk with you and provide legal advice.

If the Helpline attorneys are unable to reach you after trying to call you three times, and you still want to talk with one, you will need to call the Helpline back and leave another message. But because we’ve done the intake already, you won’t have to go through intake again.

Do you have any other questions for me?

23. Near the bottom of the Intake section of the case record enter the following dates.

a. Date when Tenant will submit documents to Helpline by

o If the client will submit notices or documents, this date will tell intake volunteers on future shifts when to expect them to arrive in the shared Hotmail inbox

b. Date intake complete

o The current date, if you have finished asking the intake questions.

c. Date ready for attorney callback

o The day after the date the tenant told you they would have (additional) notices and documents submitted to the Helpline, or

o The current date, if they are not sending notices or documents.


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24. After completing the intake call and making the necessary entries in the case record, click the Submit button to save the edits to the case record, then click the Close button. (Both buttons are in the top right corner of the screen.)

25. Proceed to the next chapter to check the courts’ online case records for the client.


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Chapter 5: Online Case Records Check Procedure

CHECKING THE COURTS’ ONLINE CASE INFO SYSTEM: STEP-BY-STEP

1. Accessing the Online Case Information System.

a. https://eapps.courts.state.va.us/gdcourts/captchaVerification.do?landing=landing

b. From the landing page, review the Terms and Conditions of Use, then click the Accept button at the bottom of the screen.


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2. Finding a case.

a. From the Welcome screen, use the Court pulldown menu in the left-side navigation column to select the jurisdiction (city or county) the case is in.

b. Then, click on “Name Search” from the Civil tab in the left-side navigation column.

c. From the court’s name search screen, enter the tenant’s names in the text input fields. (For easily misspelled names, you may have to enter different variants of the first or last name if needed.)

d. Then click the Search button.


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e. From the results page(s), look for the tenant’s name in the Defendant column, an upcoming or recent date in the Hearing Date column, and Unlawful Detainer in the Case Type column.

f. You may have to click through several screens of results. Even with “Current” Data Status for the search, you are likely to get results from the past several years.

g. When you find what appears to be the correct case, click on the link in the Case # column to see the individual case record.

3. Viewing Key Case Data.

a. The key information from the Civil Case Details screen for entry in the HelplineCMS case record is the following.


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b. The data from the courts’ online case record is entered into the HelplineCMS case record’s following fields:

o Court Case Number: this is the Case Number from the top of the courts’ online case record.

o Date of judgment for possession: this is the “Hearing Date” with the “Result” listed as Default Judgment or simply Judgment, IF the “Possession” field in the courts’ online case record says either Immediate or Possession. (Occasionally a case will result in a judgment to the landlord, but for money only and not possession. If that’s the case, note it in the Information from court records online field.)

o Date of writ of possession: this is the “Writ Issued Date” from the courts’ online case record.

c. If the identity of the landlord the tenant gave during intake does not match the name of the landlord (Plaintiff) in the courts’ online case record, you should add the name from the court record to the Other Conflict Check Information section of the HelplineCMS case record as either the landlord or an Other Party (Adverse = Yes) and run the Conflicts Screening Procedure from Chapter 3 again.

4. Looking at Related Cases.

a. After getting information from the case record for the immediately relevant case (the one with the recent or pending action—whether that’s a first hearing, a trial, or a recently issued writ of possession) return to the screen with the list of cases.

b. Look for other Unlawful Detainer cases brought by the same landlord against the tenant within the last year.

o Even cases that were dismissed within the last year could be relevant to the tenant’s rights in the present case.


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o Judgments for possession against the tenant within the past 6 months are especially important to note in the HelplineCMS case record.

c. For each case, view the Civil Case Details screen and, in the tenant’s HelplineCMS case record’s Information from court records online field of the Eviction subsection, make a note of each case that resulted in a judgment for possession. Also note if a writ of possession was issued for each case.

5. This completes the procedures for checking the courts’ online case information system.


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Chapter 6: Receiving Client Documents Procedure

OVERVIEW OF PROCEDURE


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RECEIVING AND ATTACHING CLIENT DOCUMENTS TO CASE RECORDS: STEP-BY-STEP

1. Log into the shared Hotmail inbox.

a. URL: https://outlook.live.com/mail/inbox

b. Account name: [email protected]

c. Password: [This will change regularly for security purposes. Contact VPLC for the current password if they have not already given it to you.]

2. Check both the main Inbox folder and the Documents folder for new emails with documents attached.

3. Open each new email and view the attached files to identify the tenant(s) they apply to.

4. If you cannot tell who the tenant is in documents you are reviewing, then move the email with the attached document into the subfolder named UNKNOWN in Documents.


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Your user name:

Your password:


6. Check HelplineCMS to see if there is already a case record for the tenant. (You may need to look for multiple tenants’ names in the attached document and HelplineCMS, for cases in which the caller is one of multiple tenants on the same lease.)

a. If there is a case record for the tenant, continue with the next steps. b. If there is no case record for the tenant, leave the email in the Documents

folder in the shared Hotmail inbox. (We will eventually move it to the Unknown subfolder in Documents if the tenant is never identified as a client.)

7. Save the attachment from the email to OneDrive by selecting Save to OneDrive from the attachment icon’s pull-down menu. (You may need to hover the pointer over the attachment icon for the pull-down menu to show up.)


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8. Once the file has been saved to OneDrive’s email attachments, select View in OneDrive from the attachment icon’s pull-down menu in the email. This will open a new browser tab or window to display the attachment just saved to OneDrive.

9. From the top row of icons in the OneDrive browser window, click on the Share icon on the far left.

10. In the dialog box that appears, select Get a Link and then Copy the link that OneDrive generates.


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11. In HelplineCMS, open the tenant’s case record and select Documents from the menu at left.

12. From the case record’s Documents screen, click the Upload button in the top right corner.

13. In the dialog box that appears, click the Web address button.

14. Paste the link you copied from OneDrive into the URL field that appears in the Web address dialog.

15. In the Name field, enter a very brief description of the document (i.e., termination notice, receipts, lease, UD summons, etc.).

16. Click the Submit button to save the link in the case record and repeat the same procedures with any other attachments to the same email.

17. Returning to the shared Hotmail inbox, once all of the attachments included with an email are uploaded to the case record, move the email with its attachment(s) to the Uploaded subfolder in the Documents folder.


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Appendix: Scripts for Giving Legal Information

USING THE SCRIPTS TO GIVE HELPLINE CALLERS LEGAL INFORMATION

In Volume 1 of this manual, we explain why and how the non-attorney volunteers staffing the Helpline must avoid giving legal advice to callers. In short, giving legal advice means attempting to apply general legal principles (the law) to specific facts (a caller’s situation). But non-attorney volunteers may communicate general legal principles, which is considered sharing legal information. Please review the appropriate section from Volume 1 if you have any questions about this distinction.

So that non-attorney volunteers can give useful legal information to tenants who call the Helpline, we have prepared scripts that volunteers can read to callers to explain some of the most useful legal principles and rights for tenants facing potential eviction. If you have questions about any of the information contained in the scripts, feel free to ask the VPLC supervising attorney about it. We will be happy to explain it to you.

When you offer a tenant the legal information contained in the scripts below, the tenant may ask your opinion about how the legal principles apply to their case. They may say something like, “So that means that I have at least a month before I have to find a new place to live, right?” or “So I don’t need to do anything yet because I haven’t received a written notice?” Even if the answer seems obvious or you have been volunteering with the Helpline long enough to know how the law should apply to a given case, you must not speculate how the law applies to the caller’s situation. You should tell the tenant something like the following.

I’m not an attorney, so I can’t tell you how the law applies to the facts in your case. A Helpline lawyer will need to tell you that. I just need to get the best information into the case record so that an attorney can advise you about your rights as completely as possible.

If the tenant pushes for you to give your opinion of what it probably means in their case, you can tell them that you could get in real trouble and so could the Eviction Legal Helpline’s supervising attorneys if you offered your opinion on how the law applies to a given situation.


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THE EVICTION PROCESS: STEPS AND TYPICAL TIMELINE

First, if a landlord believes a tenant has violated the lease (for example, by falling

behind on rent) and the landlord wants to terminate the lease, they must give the

tenant a written notice before doing anything else. If it’s for unpaid rent, the

landlord gives a notice that tells exactly how much the tenant owes and that they

have to pay within 5 days or the landlord will terminate the lease and start court

proceedings to evict them. This is often called a “5 Day Pay or Quit Notice.” If it’s not

about unpaid rent, but about some other lease violation, the landlord must still give

the tenant a written notice but it will usually state that the lease will terminate in 30

days.

Next, after the time period in the notice expires (5 days if it’s about rent, usually 30

days if it’s about something else), the landlord files a lawsuit to evict the tenant.

That lawsuit is called an Unlawful Detainer. The court will set the date and time for

the first hearing, called the “return date.” The tenant will get a copy of the court

paperwork, called a summons, telling them the date and time to show up at court

for the hearing. That first court date is usually about 3 weeks after the landlord files

suit.

At the first court for a case based on unpaid rent, the judge will ask the tenant if

they admit they owe money to the landlord. If they admit they owe money, even if

it’s far less than the landlord claims and even if the tenant has a reasonable excuse

for falling behind on rent, the judge will give the landlord a “judgment for

possession” at that first court date. A judgment for possession means the landlord

won the case and has the right to proceed with the eviction process.

If the tenant disagrees with the landlord’s claim that they violated the lease—they

believe they do not owe the landlord any money or they didn’t break the lease in any

other way the landlord claims—the tenant will dispute it and the judge will set a

date for a trial to hear evidence and argument. Usually judges set a trial pretty

quickly for evictions—within a week or two. The landlord and tenant return to court

for the trial and present evidence and argument. At the end of the trial the judge


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will decide the case. If the landlord wins, the judge gives them a judgment for

possession.

Once the judge gives the landlord a judgment for possession, the tenant has 10 days

to appeal the decision to the circuit court. Within those 10 days the tenant must file

the paperwork and pay money to the court. The money a tenant has to pay to the

court within those 10 days to appeal the case is everything the judge decided the

tenant owes the landlord, plus any additional rent as it is due. Because of this, it is

very difficult for a tenant who has fallen behind on rent to appeal a judgment,

because it can require a lot of money.

But because the tenant has 10 days to appeal the judgment, no sheriff’s eviction can

take place until at least day 11 after the judgment.

Usually after the 10 days have passed, the landlord can ask the court clerk to issue

instructions to the sheriff to schedule and carry out the eviction. Those instructions

are called a “writ of eviction.”

Usually within a few days after the landlord gets the court clerk to issue the writ of

eviction, the sheriff will deliver the writ and an eviction notice to the tenant. That

will state the date and time when the sheriff or a sheriff’s deputy will return for the

eviction. The sheriff must give the tenant that notice at least 3 days before the

eviction can actually happen. Often they give people more like 5 or 7 days, but they

have to give at least 3.

Then when the eviction date and time arrive, if the tenant hasn’t moved out already,

that’s when the sheriff’s eviction actually happens, whether the tenant is ready or

not. The sheriff or sheriff’s deputy will come to the property and put the tenant out.

The locks are changed on the doors. The landlord can move the tenant’s belongings

to the curb.

So typically, from the time the landlord files in court until the sheriff’s eviction is at

least 5 or 6 weeks.


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THE TENANT’S RIGHT OF REDEMPTION

For eviction cases that are only about unpaid rent, the tenant has a limited right to

pay everything the tenant owes and have the case dismissed. It is referred to as the

“right of redemption.” A tenant can use that right once per year with that landlord.

After the landlord files with the court for eviction based on unpaid rent, if the tenant

can get together all of the money owed to the landlord—overdue rent and late fees

including rent that has become due after the case was filed, the costs the landlord

paid to file the lawsuit, attorney fees if the landlord is asking the court for them, and

any other damages the landlord is claiming—and can pay that to the landlord either

before or at that first court date, by doing this the tenant exercises their right of

redemption and the lawsuit has to be dismissed.

Something called a “redemption tender” is similar. If the tenant cannot get together

all of the money owed to the landlord by that first court date, but finds nonprofits or

government agencies willing to pay it on the tenant’s behalf, the tenant can bring

letters to court from the nonprofits or agencies (written on their official letterhead)

promising to pay amounts that add up to the total owed by the tenant within 10

days after the first court date. If the tenant presents those letters to the judge, a new

court date will be set for 10 days later. Before that later court date, if the nonprofits

or agencies have paid off the tenant’s debt to the landlord, the case is dismissed. If

they have not paid off the tenant’s debt, then at that court date the landlord will get

a judgment for possession.

A new law went into effect on July 1, 2019, that gives tenants another opportunity

to pay all they owe to the landlord and avoid eviction. It is often referred to as the

“extended right of redemption.” If the tenant cannot come up with the money by the

first court date to exercise their right of redemption and cannot get letters from

nonprofits or agencies to offer a redemption tender, they have until 2 business days

before the sheriff’s scheduled eviction to pay everything the tenant owes to the

landlord and the eviction will be cancelled. The tenant can pay that to the landlord,

the landlord’s attorney, or the court to exercise that right. If it is done in time (at

least 2 business days before the scheduled eviction) the eviction will be cancelled and

the judgment should be dismissed. This is so new that we recommend tenants who

exercise this right do it by paying the money to the court, making sure the court


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clerk has the eviction cancelled by the sheriff’s office, and asking the court clerk to

mark the unlawful detainer case’s judgment as dismissed.

But the key thing to remember is that a tenant can only exercise this right one time

in 12 months with the same landlord for the same property. So if a tenant paid

everything they owed before a court date with their current landlord 10 months ago

and the landlord cancelled the lawsuit, they probably cannot exercise any of those

rights of redemption again in a new eviction lawsuit with the same landlord and

property now. But only an attorney can advise a tenant if a payment they made

earlier qualifies as using their right of redemption.

ILLEGAL EVICTIONS OR UTILITY CUTOFFS

In any landlord-tenant situation—as opposed to a temporary stay in a motel or

something like that—it is against the law for a landlord to evict the tenant by

changing the locks or shutting off utilities instead of going through the entire court

process to evict. If the landlord, without going through the entire legal process with

the courts and the sheriff, changes the locks or cuts off utilities to get the tenant out,

the tenant can call the police for help when that happens.

If the police are not helpful (maybe it happened several days ago or the landlord

isn’t around for them to talk to), the tenant can sue in court and the judge can order

the landlord to let the tenant back in, pay the tenant for costs the illegal eviction

caused them (assuming the tenant can prove what the costs were), even pay for the

cost of a lawyer if the tenant finds a lawyer to represent them in the case. This kind

of lawsuit is called a “Tenant’s Petition for Relief from Unlawful Exclusion” and the

clerk’s office of the local General District Court can give tenants the correct form to

file that lawsuit.