USFN | CT: Ejectment vs. Eviction — The Ejectment Process is Simpler

CT: Ejectment vs. Eviction — The Ejectment Process is Simpler

by Lawrence M. Garfinkel
Reiner, Reiner & Bendett, P.C. – USFN Member (CT)

Recently, a Connecticut court entered a ruling on an ejectment matter that should prove to be very helpful for the default services industry. Connecticut recognizes two methods for removing someone from real property following a foreclosure: We evict tenants and eject former owners. Ejectments are simpler, and the normal turnaround time is 30-45 days, as compared with evictions, which average between 75-105 days.

The ejectment statute directs that the marshal shall serve the execution for ejectment and remove all of the occupants, “provided that no execution shall issue against any person in possession who is not a party to the action …” Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-22(a). There haven’t been any cases regarding how to treat spouses or family members living in the house who are not parties to the mortgage. Based upon the language above, those individuals cannot be ejected because they were not a party to the action; however, they also cannot technically be evicted since there is no landlord/tenant relationship involved.

In the case of Wachovia Bank v. Hennessey, the court ruled that a 23-year-old child of the mortgagors is in fact subject to an execution of ejectment. In this case, the parents moved to quash the ejectment based on the language of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-22(a). The court ruled that “members of the family of the mortgagor, servants and guests live in the house by leave of the homeowner and they lose their right to occupancy when the homeowner-mortgagor loses his.” The court went on to note that “it would be absurd and unworkable to require foreclosing mortgagees to make such occupants parties to the foreclosure action in order to eject them when they have no independent right of possession. It would add significantly to the costs of bringing the action.”

This closes a loophole that has always existed, and in the right situation can greatly reduce the timelines for possession actions in Connecticut.