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Thanks to a collaboration between the Miami-Dade Courts and Miami-Dade County, landlords and tenants soon will have the opportunity to resolve their eviction cases online.
The courtHELP platform, launched as a pilot program on Sept. 3, gives landlords and tenants in eviction cases the opportunity to communicate, exchange information, and enter into mediation right from their smartphone, tablet or computer without ever having to go to court.
“As eviction moratoriums end, courts statewide are bracing for a sharp rise in eviction cases,” said the Hon. Nushin G. Sayfie, Chief Judge of the Miami-Dade Courts. “We believe that courtHELP will make it easy for landlords and tenants to start communicating and resolving their differences early on — well before the case proceeds to a full court process.”
Thanks to funding provided by Miami-Dade County, the Miami-Dade Courts were able to contract with Matterhorn — the same software developer that created the successful Online Case Resolution platform now used by drivers in Miami-Dade to resolve their traffic citations — to create courtHELP.
“Launching courtHELP is an important step forward in our ongoing efforts to address the housing crisis,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “I’m proud the county is partnering with Miami-Dade Courts to innovate and better facilitate negotiations between tenants and landlords.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to protect struggling landlords and tenants, and get relief to those in need; this is an important new tool in our toolkit to proactively prevent evictions,” the mayor added.
“The eviction process is what happens when the relationship between landlord and tenant is broken. This platform gives both sides a simple way to work out their differences quickly and get the help they need,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who sponsored the resolution funding the program.
courtHELP is free and voluntary for landlords and tenants to use. Upon receiving their first notice that an eviction case has been filed against them, tenants can immediately start communicating directly with their landlords online via email and SMS messaging. The parties have the opportunity to enter into an agreement entirely online.
If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the platform allows the parties to send their case to a court-supplied mediator to assist them in resolving their cases via the platform.
Agreements and other documents created using courtHELP are automatically e-filed with the courts, and the parties can sign electronically as well without ever having to take time off from work to attend a court hearing.
“Congratulations to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida for implementing online resolution for landlord and tenant cases,” said MJ Cartwright, Court Innovations CEO. “We are excited about this partnership to further increase access to justice for the people of Miami-Dade.”
