Covid-19 how to deal with non-paying tenats

[quincy]

No they are not

That is good news, at least.

I have several rentals but both my wife and I have full time jobs and have been able to work remotely during Covid closures so we have never depended on rent payments to survive.

That allowed us to offer free housing for three months to our suddenly out-of-school and out-of-work tenants. We have worked with each of our tenants to come up with reduced rates or deferred payments since then.

I know that many landlords have taken advantage of various and assorted state and federal no-or-low-interest loans, and/or have worked with their mortgage lenders to defer mortgage payments with no penalty or interest during the pandemic (adding excused payments to the end of their loans - essentially extending the life of the loan).

There is help out their for landlords, in other words. Housing assistance is not just for tenants.

 

[Torx2]

That is good news, at least.

I have several rentals but both my wife and I have full time jobs and have been able to work remotely during Covid closures so we have never depended on rent payments to survive.

That allowed us to offer free housing for three months to our suddenly out-of-school and out-of-work tenants. We have worked with each of our tenants to come up with reduced rates or deferred payments since then.

I know that many landlords have taken advantage of various and assorted state and federal no-or-low-interest loans, and/or have worked with their mortgage lenders to defer mortgage payments with no penalty or interest during the pandemic (adding excused payments to the end of their loans - essentially extending the life of the loan).

There is help out their for landlords, in other words. Housing assistance is not just for tenants.

As a Landlord I'm running the business to make money not give it away. Taking out a loan is not the answer it just puts you deeper in the hole. Here in NY its very difficult to collect on back rent. Even debt collection agencies don't want to pursue back rent cases. The court just grants you possession, court filing fee and rent owed but does not help you collect the judgement. If the tenant does not vacate the apartment the Landlord has to pay the Sheriff to get them out.

Now we have to deal with eviction moratorium regulations these boneheads put in place.

 

[quincy]

As a Landlord I'm running the business to make money not give it away. Taking out a loan is not the answer it just puts you deeper in the hole. Here in NY its very difficult to collect on back rent. Even debt collection agencies don't want to pursue back rent cases. The court just grants you possession, court filing fee and rent owed but does not help you collect the judgement. If the tenant does not vacate the apartment the Landlord has to pay the Sheriff to get them out.

Now we have to deal with eviction moratorium regulations these boneheads put in place.

You are right that it will be on you as landlord to collect on any judgment awarded you for past due rent, if you take a tenant to court and are successful with the suit. That is how it works for everyone who wins a judgment in court. The hardest part is often not winning but collecting.

Like you, I would prefer that all of my tenants pay their rent on time and in full. Covid-19, however, has changed pretty much everything and everyone.

How a person or a business chooses to make it through this period is often as individual as the person or business. Assistance is available to both tenants and landlords, though, if they need it and search for it.

I have faith that eventually life will return to normal (or as normal as its ever been).

Good luck.

 

[Pinkie39]

I've been a renter my whole adult life, for various reasons.

I have a problem with this idea that there's all kinds of programs to help tenants and that it's somehow more financially advantageous to be a renter than a landlord or homeowner.

When my husband and I went through a long stretch of repeated layoffs during the Great Recession, including both of us getting laid off a week apart one time, there was no help for us with our rent. Believe me, I looked everywhere.

Homeowners meanwhile were able to get federal funds to restructure their mortgages to keep their homes. And if they couldn't get a modification or still couldn't afford their mortgage, many mortgage companies and courts were so backlogged with foreclosures that homeowners could often stay in their homes without paying the mortgage for a year, if not two or three. Renters meanwhile could get evicted and put on the streets within 30 days. Or less if they had an unscrupulous landlord who would do things like change the locks without going to court.

Maybe there's some protections against eviction for tenants now, but it's not every renter in every community nationwide.

There's tax breaks for homeowners and landlords that renters don't get. Renters don't benefit from any increase in equity in a home they are renting either, no matter how long they live there.

We live in a country that favors homeowners vs renters all around.

 

[quincy]

I've been a renter my whole adult life, for various reasons.

I have a problem with this idea that there's all kinds of programs to help tenants and that it's somehow more financially advantageous to be a renter than a landlord or homeowner.

When my husband and I went through a long stretch of repeated layoffs during the Great Recession, including both of us getting laid off a week apart one time, there was no help for us with our rent. Believe me, I looked everywhere.

Homeowners meanwhile were able to get federal funds to restructure their mortgages to keep their homes. And if they couldn't get a modification or still couldn't afford their mortgage, many mortgage companies and courts were so backlogged with foreclosures that homeowners could often stay in their homes without paying the mortgage for a year, if not two or three. Renters meanwhile could get evicted and put on the streets within 30 days. Or less if they had an unscrupulous landlord who would do things like change the locks without going to court.

Maybe there's some protections against eviction for tenants now, but it's not every renter in every community nationwide.

There's tax breaks for homeowners and landlords that renters don't get. Renters don't benefit from any increase in equity in a home they are renting either, no matter how long they live there.

We live in a country that favors homeowners vs renters all around.

All landlords take certain risks when renting out their property. These are known risks. One of their tenants can default at any time for a variety of reasons and the recourse for landlords has always been eviction.

The smart landlord prepares for these risks by saving money for the times that their properties might be empty and not generating income, or are in litigation limbo.

I have always had more sympathy for tenants than for landlords, quite frankly. The tenants do not have any housing security.

Yes. These eviction moratoriums can be tough on landlords. But these are not great days for tenants, either, who are unemployed through no fault of their own.

 

[Torx2]

My point on all of this is that the government should be helping the renter and not putting the financial burden on the landlord. Let the government lend money to the renter so he can stay up to date with his rent payments then do their own collections.

 

[Zigner]

My point on all of this is that the government should be helping the renter and not putting the financial burden on the landlord. Let the government lend money to the renter so he can stay up to date with his rent payments then do their own collections.

Yep, that would be nice, huh?

 

[quincy]

My point on all of this is that the government should be helping the renter and not putting the financial burden on the landlord. Let the government lend money to the renter so he can stay up to date with his rent payments then do their own collections.

More federal assistance would be nice, perhaps in the form of a stimulus check and increased unemployment benefits ...

 

[Pinkie39]

My point on all of this is that the government should be helping the renter and not putting the financial burden on the landlord. Let the government lend money to the renter so he can stay up to date with his rent payments then do their own collections.

Use your votes wisely. Vote for politicians who recognize that we need a true social safety net in this country, rather than the crumbs that are tossed out to the "peasants", which are intentionally just enough to keep them from rioting in the streets.

 

[quincy]

Use your votes wisely. Vote for politicians who recognize that we need a true social safety net in this country, rather than the crumbs that are tossed out to the "peasants", which are intentionally just enough to keep them from rioting in the streets.

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Torx2]

Finally its happening, landlords are going to courts, claiming that the national eviction moratorium unfairly strains their finances and violates their property rights.

At least 26 such lawsuits have been filed by property owners this year, including several federal challenges of President Donald Trump’s directive, delivered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that broadly prevents evictions through the end of 2020. Dump Trump now.

In Memphis, seven landlords who together manage or own more than 5,000 rental units sued this month, accusing Trump and other federal officials of unconstitutionally violating their due process protections and wrongly preempting state laws. The National Apartment Association joined a separate federal lawsuit this month in Georgia against the CDC. Another legal battle has been filed in Ohio.

“All plaintiffs have tenants in units who are delinquent in the payment of rent and who would be otherwise lawfully evicted from the units ... but for the halt order,” the complaint in Memphis says. These landlords are required by law to spend money on repairs and upkeep of the rental homes, but aren't getting federal help under the ban, it says.

As I said before let the government pay the landlords for the deadbeat renters.

 

[quincy]

Finally its happening, landlords are going to courts, claiming that the national eviction moratorium unfairly strains their finances and violates their property rights.

At least 26 such lawsuits have been filed by property owners this year, including several federal challenges of President Donald Trump’s directive, delivered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that broadly prevents evictions through the end of 2020. Dump Trump now.

In Memphis, seven landlords who together manage or own more than 5,000 rental units sued this month, accusing Trump and other federal officials of unconstitutionally violating their due process protections and wrongly preempting state laws. The National Apartment Association joined a separate federal lawsuit this month in Georgia against the CDC. Another legal battle has been filed in Ohio.

“All plaintiffs have tenants in units who are delinquent in the payment of rent and who would be otherwise lawfully evicted from the units ... but for the halt order,” the complaint in Memphis says. These landlords are required by law to spend money on repairs and upkeep of the rental homes, but aren't getting federal help under the ban, it says.

As I said before let the government pay the landlords for the deadbeat renters.

Pelosi and Mnuchin seem to be working out a plan that could help ... but no doubt it will be opposed by Senate Republicans.

Mark Cuban had an interesting idea about sending out checks to everyone every other week through at least the end of the year. That makes more sense than a one or two time small payment that does nothing really to stimulate the economy. The $1200+/- was only enough to help people buy a little bit of food, keep utilities on or pay rent/mortgage for a month.

 

[FarmerJ]

In some cases it is not even about non payers but about unwanted tenants , meaning tenants who have been given notice to leave before the moratoriums began and because of the moratoriums were created while the landlord was waiting to file after proper notice was given and has had that ability taken away by the state.

 

[quincy]

In some cases it is not even about non payers but about unwanted tenants , meaning tenants who have been given notice to leave before the moratoriums began and because of the moratoriums were created while the landlord was waiting to file after proper notice was given and has had that ability taken away by the state.

Well ... in many cases the courts were closed or cases were being heard only on a restricted basis. It was not so much the state taking away the ability to sue as Covid-19 making it unsafe for anyone to do so.

Covid-19, in other words, pushed the country’s pause button. It appears now that the pause was not long enough.