Across the country millions of people have been following “Shelter-in-Place” or “Stay-at-Home” executive orders to slow the spread of COVID19 as it continues to tear across the country and world. Unfortunately, companies deemed non-essential were eventually forced to lay off thousands of workers. Companies in essential industries also face the potential for layoffs as business slows. Currently, the country faces an unemployment rate not witnessed since the height of the Great Depression.
Every day, as people face the challenge of making ends meet on a daily basis, the threat of eviction becomes very real. Some reports suggest that many Americans live paycheck to paycheck and a simple disruption of a single week puts many at risk. Faced with weeks and months of unemployment eviction maybe close at hand.
But the federal government put in place a moratorium on evictions, which is in place presumably until the end of the crisis.
Relief from rent allows people to survive and stay sheltered from potential exposure to COVID 19.
And yet there are those landlords and/or property managers that have sought to defy federal and local governments regarding the eviction moratorium and now face potential prosecution.
One such case exists in Minnesota.
From the Guardian (9 Apr 2020):
Authorities in Minnesota have pressed charges against a landlord who evicted a tenant during the coronavirus crisis and thus violated a state order forbidding kicking people out of their homes as the pandemic spreads across the US.
The move is one of the strongest actions yet taken to guard vulnerable people against the threat of eviction as unemployment in the US soars to levels not seen since the Great Recession in the wake of the economic crisis caused by the virus as widespread shutdowns cover the US. theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/09/evictions-coronavirus-minnesota-charges-landlord?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
In other parts of the country property managers and landlords potentially face legal action regarding evictions during a moratorium. Another case is pending in the State of Washington.
From Q13 Fox (20 Apr 20):
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is suing a property-management company for allegedly violating the coronavirus-related emergency moratorium on evictions, the Seattle Times reported.
It’s the first lawsuit filed to enforce the emergency orders issued amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a news release from his office. Filed in Pierce County Superior Court, the lawsuit says JRK Residential Group Inc., violated Gov. Jay Inslee’s emergency order by issuing notices to pay or vacate this month to 14 tenants in Tacoma.
The filing contends the violations ran afoul of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act, according to the news release… q13fox.com/2020/04/20/ferguson-files-lawsuit-against-property-management-company-over-eviction-moratorium/
In times of crisis where an eviction moratorium is in place a best practice remains for all landlords and property managers to work with a well-qualified third-party tenant screening agency in order to remain fully compliant with existing law, as well as emergency law, that govern tenant screening.
To learn more about why no one in this country should be evicted during the COVID 19 crisis and how evicted tenants could aid in the spread of the virus read recent TenantScreeningUSA.com press release: National Moratorium on Evictions Means “No Evictions”