In Case You Missed It - NY State Extends Eviction / Foreclosure Moratorium till 2022
It was a crazy week leading up to the Labor Day weekend, with everything going on in the World between Hurricane Ida, Afghanistan and the delta variant dominating the news headlines.
So in case you missed it, early on the morning of September 2nd, New York's State new-interim Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a new moratorium on COVID-related residential and commercial evictions for New York State.
March 16th, 2020 was officially the first day that the City postponed evictions, due to the Corona virus pandemic. At that time, after Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks issued a memo halting most housing court proceedings and evictions.
Subsequently, former Gov. Andrew "Sorry I was just being Italian" Cuomo proceeded to issue a series of stopgap orders that ceased evictions in most cases before state lawmakers began to pass legislation protecting New York renters whose housing court cases had not yet been adjudicated.
During the first 16 days of March 2020, for example, marshals executed 124 residential and commercial evictions in Queens, according to reports compiled by the Department of Investigation, which oversees marshals.
Over the next 12 months, they completed just three in a borough of 2.3 million people. Startling numbers.
Under the new law, all protections of the Tenant Safe Harbor Act for residential tenants who are suffering financial hardship as a result of the pandemic will remain in place, along with new protections on commercial evictions.
The silver lining for landlords in the new law, allows them to evict tenants that are creating safety or health hazards for other tenants, intentionally damaging property, and where a tenant did not submit a hardship declaration.
Unfortunately, if a tenant did submit a hardship declaration, it is unclear if they can be evicted, despite whether or not they create safety or health hazards for other tenants, and/or intentionally damage property. To date, these lovely people have been sheltered in place. Amazing.
The legislation's moratorium on commercial evictions and commercial foreclosure proceedings apply to small businesses with 100 or fewer employees that demonstrate a financial hardship.
What was championed as a real benefit to property owners was the so-called provision allowing for a "due process mechanism for landlords to challenge the Hardship Declaration". As of right now, there are estimates of between 100,000-200,000 pending cases for eviction across the state. At least 45,000 of these cases in the State have tenants who filed Hardship Declarations.
This new change in law requires landlords to bring tenants before a Judge to merit the Hardship Declaration. Just under 24,000 households across New York City, including 4,056 in Queens, have submitted “hardship declaration” forms that were instituted by the state in December of 2020, according to the Office of Court Administration.
How many of these cases will actually make it before a Judge from now until January 15, 2022. Most likely, not enough to make any significant difference. Hardly a viable solution for landlords who have been suffering since March 16, 2020.
In summary, the legislation, S50001 and S50002, being passed will:
● Extend the residential and commercial eviction and foreclosure moratoria to January 15,
2022.
● Allow residents of localities that opted out of the statewide program to apply for financial
assistance through the State program if their locality has exhausted all of its funds.
● Expand the eviction protections in the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program
(CERAP) to residents of localities that have applied for assistance through a program
administered by a locality that opted out of the statewide program.
● Add a nuisance standard to CERAP’s eviction protections to provide landlords with a
basis to start an eviction proceeding against a covered tenant if a tenant is a nuisance or
has inflicted substantial damage to a property.
● Create a due process mechanism for landlords to challenge the Hardship Declaration
submitted by residential and commercial tenants and for banks and mortgage holders to
challenge the Declaration submitted by property owners to avoid foreclosure, and direct
judges to require residential tenants to apply for CERAP if their hardship claim is valid.
● Authorize the Office of Court Administration (OCA) to access limited CERAP
application information in order to allow the court to determine whether to stay an
eviction proceeding.
● Extend the period covered by the Tenant Safe Harbor Act to January 15, 2022.
● Increase the appropriation for CERAP from $2.35 billion to $2.6 billion and amend the
appropriation to allow these funds to be allocated to residents of localities that opted out
of the Statewide program.
● Increase the Hardship Fund from $100 million to $250 million and provide for the fund
to be used for tenants whose incomes are between 80% -120% AMI, landlords whose
tenants vacated their property with rent unpaid, and landlords whose tenants are
unresponsive or uncooperative.
● Provide a new $25 million appropriation to fund legal services for tenants facing
evictions.
The Marmarou Team continues to market a number of other development sites in Jersey City. They are currently marketing;
For more information, feel free to contact the team directly at TheMarmarouTeam@b6realestate.com
In Case You Missed It - NY State Extends Moratorium till 2022
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