Queen of evictions runs a thriving business

Bob Shemeligian

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

On the front door of Nancy Maley's Las Vegas business is a sign: Eviction Queen.

For nine years Maley has owned and operated NMI (Nancy Maley Incorporated), a Las Vegas service that prepares eviction notices for landlords.

Because Maley has been in operation longer and handles more volume than her competitors, and because she is the only woman who operates such a service, the title is appropriate.

"When you're a queen, you're a queen," Maley says with a smile. "Anyway, I'm a Leo, so what else could I be but queen of the jungle?"

Once in a while a disgruntled tenant will tell Maley she's in a horrible business -- putting poor people who cannot pay their bills out on the street.

"I get that all the time," Maley said. "My feeling is simple: I have to pay my bills. You have to pay your bills. If you don't make you car payment, they're going to come and and yank it out of the driveway, we all have responsibilities that have to be met, particularly if you have children. What's more important than keeping a roof over your head?"

Maley pauses, then interjects: "Unless someone is having a very hard time for reasons they can't control, I have no sympathy for them."

Maley knows about raising children and going through hard times.

A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Maley was the single mother of four children when she moved to Las Vegas in 1987.

Today, her children are grown and doing well.

Indeed, her son, Scott Taylor, is a deputy attorney general in San Diego, and her other three children, Grant Taylor, Nancy Taylor and Cora Maley, are business professionals in Las Vegas.

Maley's business is also doing well.

"We're doing close to 1,000 (eviction notices) a month," Maley said. "We've done way over 100,000 since we started."

Maley's four full-time staff workers prepares the legal forms for notices and runs them to the address where the tenant must be served. They also help prepare documents and then run them down to Justice Court if a lock-out must be scheduled.

NMI mostly handles two types of evictions:

(bullet) A tenant who owes back rent is served with a five-day-pay-or-quit notice. If the tenant does not pay his back rent within five days of the posting of the notice, then the landlord files an eviction with the court.

(bullet) A tenant is served with a 30-day-not-cause notice. In this case, the landlord doesn't specify the reason for the termination of the tenancy. He simply wishes the tenant to leave in 30 days so he can take control of the unit.

Nevada's eviction laws -- considered to be among the strictest in the nation -- are often decried by tenants' advocates as harsh and unfair, but supported by apartment owners who point to the transient nature of the city and the many temptations, such as gaming and alcohol, that sometimes make a bad relationship between a landlord and tenant much worse.

"The truth is that most owners are more than happy to work with tenants who are falling behind," Maley said. "But what upsets the landlord is when the tenant owes the rent and avoids the landlord."

Indeed, Maley said landlords usually seek her assistance only as a last resort.

Maley, who is licensed with the City of Las Vegas as a document preparer, is not a peace officer. Nor are any of her employees.

"All we are, really is a document preparation and messenger service," Maley said. "We don't charge a lot for serving a notice ($16), and so my runner understands that if there's a hostile situation with a tenant, or any trouble, he's to simply turn around and walk away."

But, mostly the NMI runners encounter no trouble.

Often, they find the same situation at the apartment that the landlord -- who's been seeking his rent -- has found. No one appears to be home.

Then, the runner simply fixes the notice to the door, and the office mails a copy to the tenant.

If an eviction must be scheduled, NMI runs the paper work to Justice Court.

The court process gives the tenant a right to appear before a judge to explain why he should not be evicted.

Then, if a judge sides with the landlord and orders the eviction to take place, the lock-out is handled by a constable, who is a peace officer.

Maley enjoys a good working relationship with Las Vegas Constable Bob Nolen and his staff.

"Everybody at the constable's office, including the deputies and the girls in the office are doing a capital job. Everybody gets their stuff done efficiently and in a timely manner. They make doing business a pleasure."