Can You Garnish Wages if Someone Breaks a Lease in Alabama?

Alabama law regulates wage garnishments.

Rental agreements, also referred to as leases, in Alabama are regulated by the state's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. The act gives certain rights to both the landlord and the tenant. The landlord has the right to collect the agreed rent as it's due and not suffer damages caused by the tenant.

Landlord Tenant Act

The act allows a rental agreement to be either oral or written. Such an agreement cannot be over one year in length unless there is a written document of the agreement. The Landlord Tenant Act provides the landlord with seeking judicial remedy for a tenant's breach of the agreement. Such court action remedy must be for actual monetary damages suffered, such as unpaid rent amounts and property damages caused by the tenant. The act allows the landlord to ask for three months of rent for extra damages if the tenant has to be legally evicted. Any awarding of damages will entitle the landlord to a judgment against the tenant.

Wage Garnishment Procedure

A wage garnishment cannot occur until the landlord first obtains a judgment against the tenant. Then, the landlord can ask the court for a writ of garnishment to be served on the employer of the tenant. The writ must clearly state the nature and amount of the debt plus the identity of the landlord and the tenant. A copy of this writ is also served on the tenant. The employer is legally compelled to pay a part of the tenant's periodic wages, per state and federal law, until the judgment debt is satisfied.

Wage Garnishment Amount

Alabama state law follows federal law restricting the amount that can be garnished from wages. The maximum amount that can be garnished is the lower of either 25 percent of the disposable weekly wages or the amount earned in a week that is over 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage. That means no garnishment can be made if the debtor-tenant earns only 30 hours or less of minimum wage per week. Disposable wages means the gross wage amount payable less legally required payroll deductions, such as Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Other Provisions

The landlord must seek legal relief within six years of the tenant's breaking of the lease to secure a judgment. However, once securing the judgment, the landlord has up to 20 years to take a wage garnishment action. The legal maximum of garnishment is an aggregate amount for all outstanding garnishment orders against the debtor. Federal law also prohibits the debtor from being fired due to a single wage garnishment action. Filing for bankruptcy by the debtor will usually preclude any wage garnishment actions.

References

• Alabama Law Institute: Legislation -- Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act
• U.S. Department of Labor: Wage and Hour Division: Regulations: Compliance: Fact Sheet #30: The Federal Wage Garnishment Law, Consumer Credit Protection Act's Title 3 (CCPA)
• Debt Settlement Lawyers: Resource Center: Debt Settlement: Debt Collection -- Alabama Wage Garnishment Laws
• FindLaw: ALA Code § 5-19-15, Alabama Code, Section 5-19-15 -- Garnishment