About Us
LT Services, Inc., is a Washington corporation founded in 1982. The company handles evictions in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Our current client list exceeds 18,000 properties and averages between 1,000 and 1,500 cases a month.
The company uses the services of two attorneys. Donald E. Allen has been with the company since 1982, and Carol A. Kemp since 1983. There are four legal Assistants who have a combined total of 61years with the company.
With a customized computer system and the assistance of today's advances electronics, the staff and attorney are able to give every case the same level of attention and expertise. Services are offered on a set-fee basis. Cases that require more aggressive representation are handled individually by one of the attorneys, on a one on one basis with the client, at their hourly fees.
Clients have frequently asked us to handle tenant screenings and collections so that they would only have to contact one company for everything. These options were given some serious consideration over the years, but our own personal opinion was that there was a definite conflict of interest in representing all three phases. Therefore we have continued to concentrate solely on handling evictions and tenant related problems where with our combined expertise we can offer the best services possible.
SHOULD I USE AN EVICTION SERVICE OR AN ATTORNEY?
As an eviction service we offer:
1. Expertise and advice on procedural matters;
2. Speed of process;
3. Set fee schedule – plus costs.
We cannot give you legal advice, nor can we handle complex situations on a set fee
basis. Also, to stay within the guidelines of a set fee we have to handle the cases in a
routine manner. This does not mean that we neglect the client, nor do we “cut
corners” on how the case is processed. However, after the case is started we do have
to minimize the amount of time spent with a client on the phone.
Our policy, once a case has been started, is to contact our client verbally at each step
of the procedure – starting with letting them know when their tenant has been
served with the Summons and Complaint (we do not call and let you know when a
notice has been served as this has an automatic follow up date at the end of the
notice time frame), confirming when the response date is and the date we will call
the client back to see if the case needs to proceed into court. A week after court we
will again call the client to see if we need to assist them in scheduling a date and time for a physical eviction.
By our office calling the client, instead of the other way around, we can handle our
evictions in a more procedural manner, which in turn enables us to keep our fees at
a minimum.
If you have a complex situation, please let us know ALL the details at the very
beginning. Sometimes, even a complicated situation can be worked out to where it
can be handled on a set fee basis – but we NEED TO KNOW the details at the
beginning so that we can help you make the best decisions as to whether to proceed
with our service or if you should be dealing directly with an attorney from the very
beginning. If so, then you can be referred to any one of the attorneys we use to
handle our set fee evictions, as they all have a great deal of expertise in handling
evictions, or you can go to any other attorney. However, we do recommend you use
one who specializes in evictions if you have a very complex situation. When using an
attorney you will usually be paying them hourly for their services, in which case
they can spend a great deal more time with each client than when they are handling
your case on our behalf.
After more than 23 years handling set fee evictions we have a great deal of
knowledge in handling the eviction procedures and we strive to give our clients the
fastest and most economical results available. We also strive to keep your eviction
within the set fee guidelines and avoid trials whenever possible. Sometimes, this is
not possible. Certain situations are going to get set for trial or become heavily
contested and when you have one of these types of situations you would be well
advised to start out with an attorney rather than trying to “save money” by using an
eviction service – who in the end will have to turn your case over to an attorney to
handle on an hourly basis.
The following areas are frequently situations that should be handled by an attorney
from the very beginning and not by an eviction service – they are:
Tenancies where the tenant has a lease/option to purchase; Tenancies where the tenant has performed work for the landlord on either their own rental unit or some other rentals; Tenancies between family members where the tenant has been given permission to reside in the unit by a now deceased, or now “incompetent”, family member; There are several other areas that can create heavily contested situations, which if the landlord is aware of them going into the eviction, is sometimes well advised to discuss the problems with an attorney to see if it can be handled as a set fee procedure or not.
LTS has an excellent reputation in the industry when it comes to handling standard evictions. We strive to keep our clients satisfied, but in order to do that we always need to know the full background leading up to an eviction. Trying to hide information in the hopes that the eviction will “just slide through” is not fair to us or to yourself, because it usually explodes eventually and often at the wrong time.