LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Did you know that if you don't pay your trash bill, Republic Services can put a lien on your house and threaten to sell it out from under you?
That's what happened to one local woman who reached out to ask "Darcy, What's The Deal?"
WATCH: Unpaid trash bills can lead to liens on your Las Vegas area homes
Pauline Williams says her household doesn't produce trash. They only use recyclables, which she'd been taking to a plant on Sunset Road. So you can imagine her shock when she received a summons stating multiple liens had been put on her home and she owed Republic Services more than $7,000.
Williams is a disabled single mother of four. Many sleepless nights have passed since she received a notice in April that told her she is being sued by Republic Services and may lose her family's home. The company says she hasn't paid for collection services and they are asking a court to foreclose on and sell her house, using a portion of the proceeds to pay them $7,125 plus interest "at the highest legal rate" along with attorney's fees and costs.
In an email to 13 Investigates, Williams explained how her household doesn't produce trash.
"I have backyard chickens. I feed my scraps to them," she wrote. "I do bin-composting for my garden. I used to take my cardboard, paper, and plastics to the recycling place on Sunset Road ... using the few dollars I got to put gas in our family car."
Williams said she tried explaining that to Republic Services but was told she has to have something picked up each week and that they told her to stop selling her recyclables. She says she asked to be billed only for recycling but that didn't happen.
She is not the first Republic Services customer to contact Channel 13 about liens and lawsuits. In fact, we've been hearing from frustrated locals for years.
"When I called Republic to set up my trash service, that's when they hit me and said oh, there are liens on your home because you didn't pay your trash service," customer Alex Mack previously told us.
He said his trash bill topped $2,600 after an unpaid bill began to pile up liens and late fees. He bought his home in 2009 but continued living full-time near San Francisco, telling us he only visited occasionally and never placed a single bag of trash at the curb until he moved to Las Vegas full-time in 2016.
"If this lien process is in place wherever they are, that is a huge revenue stream for the company," Mack said.
CHANNEL 13 ARCHIVES: Las Vegas resident Alex Mack questions liens placed on home
Local law requires all residents to have trash service and Republic Services is the only game in town, as the sole franchisee for solid waste collection in Clark County.
The monopoly utility's use of liens led to a class action lawsuit in 2016, which has been settled. However, attorneys at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada tell us they're currently seeing a spike in cases where new liens are placed on homes due to non-payment.
"They can either try to pay the debt that's being asked of them by Republic Services, that's being alleged in the complaint, or they can fight it in court and for most of our clients, they can't afford to do either," attorney Taylor Altman said. "It is very scary and we see clients at their most vulnerable, at their most anxious."
Altman says the costs can soar with customers having little recourse.
"When Republic Services sues over unpaid trash bills, they also include thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees, which is very predatory on our clients: low income, seniors, disabled individuals, people on fixed incomes. These attorneys' fees — often the clients won't know what they're for, what work has been done. There's no chance to negotiate the fees and they are also not decided by any court."
Williams is getting help from the Legal Aid Center and if you're in this situation, you can too if you're income-qualified.
You can stop by the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, which is located at 725 E. Charleston, near Downtown Las Vegas. They have walk-in hours on Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can meet with a legal advocate. Bring documents with you and attorneys will review them with you to discuss your options.
You can also learn more about their services by visiting their website here.
As for Republic Services, they tell us the lien process is usually their only recourse if customers don't pay their bills. They encourage anyone with questions about their accounts to contact them by calling 702-735-5151.