Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
In 2024, eviction filing rates in the United States reached historic levels, impacting the housing stability of millions of tenants. But the total cost of eviction extends beyond tenants and their landlords – to society. In a companion study, my co-author and I focused on the high costs of eviction that are borne by tenants. In that study, we produced an account of eviction from the tenant’s perspective, focusing on tenant-positive outcomes. This study seeks to better understand the use of the legal process of eviction from the landlord’s perspective, centering on how landlords behave in the formal legal process of eviction and the public costs stemming from these behaviors. Thus, the primary focus of this study is on the economy of eviction and the landlord as an agent within that economy.

Drawing on over 200,000 eviction cases in Kentucky, this Article uncovers a diversity of behavior that sheds greater light on landlords’ motivations for using the courts to collect on lost rent. In doing so, it elucidates the stark differences between small and large landlords, as well as rural and urban landlords, typologies that have been understudied.

This study finds that larger landlords use the formal eviction process as a standardized tool for recouping losses and are nearly twice as likely to proceed toward a final eviction judgment as smaller landlords. These findings, and others in the study, confirm that larger landlords are less sensitive to transaction costs of the eviction process. By contrast, smaller landlords, constrained by higher relative costs and the potential reputational hazards of tenant displacement, seldom proceed to a final eviction judgment against their tenants. Instead, they tend to resolve disputes before such a judgment is reached by the court. There are economic reasons for these strategic differences of behavior, which this Article explores before suggesting targeted policy reforms to mitigate the negative effects of eviction and promote fairer housing outcomes.

Ryan, Christopher, A Tale of Two Landlords (January 21, 2025), Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No 545; 114 Kentucky Law Journal (forthcoming 2025).