Landlords also seeking COVID-19 relief

By Katherine Donlevy
Posted 8/19/20

A family living in Wendy Crowell Sutherland’s Wallkill family home for a year and a half has refused to pay rent since December, which they’re legally allowed to do since Governor Andrew …

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Landlords also seeking COVID-19 relief

Posted

A family living in Wendy Crowell Sutherland’s Wallkill family home for a year and a half has refused to pay rent since December, which they’re legally allowed to do since Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Tenant Safe Harbor Act in June.

“You can’t evict them, you can’t do anything,” said Sutherland. “I don’t sleep at night and they’re just scammers. They started this prior to the pandemic and there’s basically nothing I can do about it.”

The family of three had at one point been Sutherland’s tenants, and under the state legislation technically still are. Their one-year lease was set to expire in February, just as the COVID-19 crisis started to unravel. Moratoriums on rent were quickly enacted to offset the financial pitfalls caused by the pandemic, allowing the renters to continue living in Sutherland’s home, even though she said they don’t qualify for the rent relief outlined by the bill — the Tenant Safe Harbor Act prohibits eviction for renters who have experienced financial hardship during the COVID-19 State of Emergency. The legislation allows tenants to forgo rent payments during the pandemic without consequence.

“Throughout the pandemic he’d say he’s at work and wasn’t able to talk on the phone or drop off rent,” said Sutherland. “I couldn’t tell you 100 percent [if he’s still working] because they don’t talk to me anymore ... but they’ve never told me, ‘I’ve lost my job, I can’t pay rent anymore.’”

The deception began in the months before the pandemic, and the State of Emergency has only offered the family an opportunity to continue their scam, according to Sutherland. The relationship between the landlord and renters soured after their tendency to post monthly rent payments late escalated to not paying at all. The two parties stopped speaking near the end of 2019 and Sutherland accepted she wouldn’t ever receive their last three months rent. Assuming the renters are still employed, thus not covered by the legislation, the family owes Sutherland closer to $118,000 or nine months rent.

“We need to address the fact that landlords have to pay bills as well,” said Sutherland. “They’ve wrecked my credit ... I don’t have money to repair my house. Certain things have to be done and I can’t do anything. There’s help for the renters, but landlords have rights too.”

Though Cuomo had issued a mortgage moratorium back in March, and it had similar guidelines to the Tenant Safe Harbor Act — it only applied to those who were “eligible for unemployment insurance or benefits under state or federal law or otherwise facing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Sutherland, who is self employed at her family’s nonessential business, the J. B. Crowell and Son Brick Mould Mill Complex, did not qualify for either relief benefits until early July, approximately four months after the pandemic began.

Another tenant lives below the family of three and recently reached out to Sutherland to alert her to damage leaking from the upstairs, which has ruined the wall. Sutherland worries that further damage has occurred in her family home that she is unable to see because communication between the two parties has been cut off.

“I just want them out of there because they’re ruining my family home,” she said.

Andrea Leah Gellen, a Landlord/ Tenant Lawyer based in Poughkeepsie, said the situation between Sutherland and her tenants is not uncommon and recommends continuing legal proceedings as usual, despite the fact that courts in Ulster County are closed.

“They’ve already been given the grace period,” she said. “Everybody thinks of the tenants during these times … this notion that we should feel bad for the tenants and leave landlords out to dry is not right … they’re not all corporate entities like in New York City. Many are mom-and-pop landlords looking to build their retirement.”

According to Gellen, a landlord would have recourse against a tenant who is not paying rent and not showing proof of unemployment during the state of emergency. As per Ulster County’s landlord rights, the landlord is entitled to file a Petition to Eviction, and though the courts in the county are closed to the public during this time, virtual hearings are being scheduled to settle disputes such as Sutherland’s. Both parties would be required to attend the hearing with respective legal counsel, and the judge would either approve or deny the eviction of the tenant. The tenant could also be evicted if they neglect to respond to the petition or to show up to the hearing. However, if the tenant can prove they are receiving unemployment during the pandemic, they would be allowed to stay in the home.

“Serve the notice, it’s all it takes. You proceed with an eviction,” said Gellen. “This is a pandemic and we all have to get through it, but if the tenant is ignoring the landlord then use the law as a recourse … Landlords have needs and they’re members of the community, too.”

Limitations on eviction notice and response time, hearing scheduling conflicts and the general state of emergency could delay resolution beyond the typical 30-day eviction standard. A lawyer Sutherland contacted provided a hopeful timeline ending in late October, but Sutherland is unsure the fight will end so easily.

“They’re destroying me so much mentally and physically that they’re putting my health at risk.”

Sutherland, who has Diabetes and Hepatitis C, expressed concern about her stress taking a toll on her health, which she could not afford to address as she remains unemployed.