Startup recruits cash-strapped gig workers to help landlords evict tenants

A startup is enlisting cash-strapped gig workers to help landlords evict tenants who can’t make rent during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Civvl has been posting Craigslist ads in cities across the country, including Denver, Los Angeles and Nashville, boasting pay as high as $125 an hour to individuals willing to work as process servers and promising that “there is plenty of work due to the dismal economy.”

“Unemployment is at a record high and many cannot or simply are not paying rent and mortgages,” the posting, which was first spotted by Vice, reads. “We are being contracted by frustrated property owners and banks to secure foreclosed residential properties.”

The listing calls for workers who are a minimum of 18 years old, and brags that it provides a “true flexible schedule” and a “minimal background check.” The average Civvl worker, the post says, completes six jobs a day.

Other open positions include clean out crews, eviction crews and independent contractors.

Civvl’s website featured a fake quote from The New York Times, Vice reported, claiming that “too many people stopped paying rent and mortgages thinking they would not be evicted.”

Civvl couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.