The Eviction Moratorium Has Ended: What Does it Mean for Owners and Tenants

We are  pleased to know that the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 and COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Business Act of 2020 expired on January 15, 2022 and were not extended. This means that both residential and commercial eviction proceedings can move forward or be commenced unless the residential tenant has an Emergency Rental Assistance Program (“ERAP”) application pending in which case the Owner is stayed from proceeding until the application has been processed and decided.
 
It will, of course, be some time before the Courts are back up to full speed and we expect that there will be some hiccups and difficulties along the way as there are literally thousands of cases that were either in process before Covid started or filed since the Court started accepting new cases. There are only so many case that can be heard in a  virtual forum on any given day and the Courts cannot have a high volume in person appearances, if any, as the pandemic continues.
 
With the expiration of the moratorium, not surprisingly the Court has issued a new set of directives and/or administrative orders that include the following:
 
1-              Owners must continue to make motions in order to obtain a default judgment and warrant against a tenant.
2-              A motion and/or a conference must be held in order for the landlord to be allowed to execute upon a warrant of eviction
that was issued prior to March 16, 2020 or between March 16, 2020 and September 2, 2021.
3-              If a warrant of eviction was issued after September 2, 2021, no motion or conference is needed in order to execute.
4-              These directives do not apply to warrants related to a tenant that is committing property damage or is a nuisance
the other tenants in the building.
 
It should be noted that the filing of a Covid Hardship Declaration by a tenant is no longer an impediment to a landlord that wishes to proceed to file or prosecute a case.
 
It should be noted  that residential tenants will still retain the protections of the Tenant Safe Harbor Act (“TSA”) which provides residential Tenants with the right to assert the affirmative defense that the Tenant has suffered a financial hardship as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic for rent accrued between March 16, 2020 through June 15, 2021. If the Tenant successfully raises this affirmative defense then the Landlord will only be able to obtain a non-possessory money judgment for the outstanding rent that accrued during that relevant period meaning the tenant cannot be evicted for not paying  that money. 
 
With respect to pending ERAP applications, our understanding is that ERAP began to accept new application even though all prior funding was exhausted. We are informed that legal service providers and tenants continue to apply for ERAP the hope that more funds will be made available and as a means to prevent the landlords from proceeding with evictions because an ERAP application is pending.
 
We are excited at the prospect of continuing to serve our clients and help them achieve the best possible outcomes as the Court system increases its operations and processes cases. Our attorneys and staff will be in touch with  you regarding your existing cases and we will do whatever we can to get matters moving as quickly as possible. We will continue to keep you updated as things develop.
 
As always, we appreciate your business and look forward to providing you with whatever support we can as things move forward into waters that are yet to be tested in the post moratorium era.

Steven, Jamie & Eric
and the entire SDKH Team