Attorney for nonprofit housing urges shorter eviction timelines, clearer service and trespass rules in 7 72 testimony

BURLINGTON — Attorney Nadine Sebec, who represents nonprofit housing providers including Champlain Housing Trust, told the House Committee on General & Housing on Feb. 13 that draft bill "7 72" contains useful reforms but needs clearer procedural language to work in practice.

"It's been 35 years coming this fall that I've been practicing," Sebec said in opening testimony, describing a practice that is now strained by high caseloads and fewer landlord-tenant attorneys. She urged lawmakers to shorten timelines for expedited cause evictions (for violence or drug dealing), tighten jury-demand rules that she called a common delay tactic, and adopt clearer alternative-service ("tack") orders so sheriffs need not repeatedly attempt service.

Sebec told the committee that while mandatory answer forms introduced in recent years have reduced defaults, the overall eviction process remains lengthy. She described typical timelines of roughly three months where tenants do not answer and six months or more when they do, and noted that scheduling, sheriff service and county distances add delay. "It's costly," she said, listing state filing fees she estimated at…