Adelphi apartment tenants allege they were unfairly evicted

Management says adequate notice was provided

‘‘I didn’t get notified,” she said. ‘‘They didn’t give me anything. I called them to discuss the June 18 court date and they told me I had to be out by tomorrow.”

McClam said she originally went to court on May 15 for failure to pay April rent, but provided a receipt showing she paid it and said she was told to re-appear on June 18.

Pam Martin of Virginia-based Southern Management, which owns University Gardens, said property staff is not responsible for notifying tenants of evictions and that all evictions are done through the District Court of Maryland.

‘‘We would never do the physical eviction without the sheriff’s department doing it,” she said. ‘‘We follow the letter of the law when it comes to doing any type of physical eviction.”

Lt. Lydia Williams, of the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office, said in order to evict a tenant for failing to pay rent, a landlord must notify the courts and the court will schedule a date for the tenant to appear before a judge.

If the judge rules in favor of the landlord, the sheriff’s office will send a writ of eviction to the landlord, notifying them that the sheriff will be coming to evict the resident.

McClam and her three children are staying with a friend in Adelphi. She said she has evidence that she paid her rent and is planning to file a class action suit against the complex.

McClam said she has hired a lawyer and hopes to be able to file the suit before the end of the summer.

‘‘They’re not truthful,” she said. ‘‘It’s just killing me inside, because they’re doing me wrong. You’re supposed to always give notice. This is how they operate and it’s wrong.”

Mr. Miller and Ms. Otis, former tenants who requested to have their first names withheld because of job concerns, said that they were also evicted despite making all their rent payments.

‘‘They said that we had a history of late charges, and that’s not true,” Miller said. ‘‘We did [turn in] our rent every month, and we have receipts to prove it. This eviction is illegal.”

Martin said she could not comment on Miller’s case specifically, but said that she was not aware of any instances at Southern Management properties where a tenant paid rent but was not credited for it.

Miller, who now lives in Baltimore, said that he would be willing to participate in McClam’s class action suit, because he feels that University Gardens treats tenants unfairly.

Martin said that University Gardens, as well as Southern Management, ‘‘follows the law consistently and every resident is treated consistently and fairly.”

E-mail Jonah Schuman at jschuman@gazette.net.