On March 10, 2020, what feels like two years ago, Governor Baker declared a state of emergency due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Then, on April 20, 2020, he signed into law chapter 65 of the Acts of 2020 prohibiting landlords from imposing late fees for non-payment of rent for a residential dwelling unit or from beginning the eviction processes.
Neither may landlords share rental payment data to a consumer reporting agency related to the non-payment of rent, if the tenant provides notice and documentation to the landlord that the non-payment of rent was due to a financial impact from COVID-19 within 30 days of the missed rent payment.
The moratorium is set to end on Saturday, October 17, 2020, and many landlords and tenants having been eyeing this date with anxious concern. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has promised to keep the moratorium going in Boston, pressing for the one of the city’s largest landlords of low-income housing, Boston Housing Authority, to hold off on evictions for the remainder of the year. We’ll have to keep our eyes on what he does specifically for the city, come Saturday the 17th.
Broaching this subject with just about anyone involved in residential rentals, on either side, soon reveals how complex this problem is. While landlords rightly argue that they cannot pay their mortgages and other debtors and face foreclosures themselves on Saturday, renters have lived in abject fear since March of the impending October 17 date.
Many argue that the federal government should have assisted worthy landlords, whether through allowing those among them who qualify to apply for more funding to assist them in making mortgage payments or through simply affording renters who qualify with money to be used solely for rent payments. Others believe the markets should work through these difficulties without any federal, state or local assistance–likely a minority view, a many Americans believe that even more economic aid is currently necessary.
The Governor has seemed to listen, at least partially, announcing a $171 million aid package to be used to help tenants mostly. This aid includes approximately $100 million dollars for R.A.F.T. (Residential Assistance to Families in Transition) which program helps renters in need pay for rent and utilities or the arrearages that have occurred during the pandemic. It can also assist with moving costs.
This assistance will likely be quickly approved for many applicants and should encourage those who need this kind of help to reach out to R.A.F.T. quickly, as the aid could be depleted in a short period of time.
Landlords are assured, too, that help is on the way. One, the return of the right to seek evictions will allow them to stop the bleeding, so to speak, not only as from not receiving rent, but from a whole host of other issues that arise in a tenancy, like destruction of property, a tenant’s condition-related defenses or any breach of the warranty of habitability (issues for which many landlords have not had the income to address). Also, tens of millions of dollars will go towards increasing the number of judges to hear housing matters, ensuring that justice comes more swiftly.
All in all, buckle up. Whatever the governor proposes, it is likely to have huge legal and commercial consequences. This process will take lots of organization and good record-keeping on the part of the litigants as well as a fair amount of patience on the part of everyone involved. Those of us well acquainted with the hallowed halls of Housing Court are primed to witness a spectacle the likes of which none of us have experienced since the renters’ movements of the 60s.