A man walks outside of an apartment building in San Francisco, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Topline: As millions of Americans find themselves out of work because of the coronavirus, many are facing a dilemma: how do I pay rent on April 1? Calls for a national rent strike have been gaining momentum in some cities in California and New York. Though there are some federal protections for renters, those measures are relatively narrow, leaving most renters and landlords navigating a patchwork of state and local laws.
- Do I still have to pay rent at all? Yes—though in some cities, you may be able to delay payment if you can’t afford it. Tenants still have to pay rent because there are currently no federal or local measures freezing rent or waiving rent payments entirely (though some politicians, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio are pushing for that). Even in the areas with eviction moratoriums or a prohibition on late fees, landlords will still be able to ask for unpaid rent when the coronavirus emergency is over. In some places renters have anywhere from six months to 180 days to pay back rent after the crisis.
- What protections do renters have because of the coronavirus? Several states and cities, such as New York and San Francisco, have paused all evictions or rent hikes during the emergency. Here is a map showing those state and local actions. Federally, owners of multifamily units with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are eligible for deferred mortgage payments if they suspend all evictions for renters unable to pay rent due to the coronavirus. But that doesn’t apply to all owners, and Lupe Arreola, executive director of California advocacy group Tenants Together, told Forbes there is no way of knowing what kind of mortgage your landlord has unless they tell you.
- What should I do if I can’t pay rent? In the absence of a federal fix for rent issues related to the coronavirus, most tenants are on their own in trying to work out a solution for themselves. Arreola said people should first look at what kind of protections state, county or city governments have passed in the last month. After that, both Arreola and Robert Pinnegar, CEO of the National Apartment Association, a trade group for rental housing operators, said renters should try and work out a payment plan in writing with their landlord covering the duration of the outbreak and afterward. “From the standpoint of people who are operating rental housing, you need to be able to operate the business in a way that is functional and safe for the residents, but also it behooves the average operator to keep their residents in place as much as they possibly can because the process of an eviction, remarketing a property and the uncertain economic future may be more expensive than keeping a resident in place,” Pinnegar said. If a landlord won’t accept a payment plan or demands full rent, Arreola suggested renters contact mutual aid organizations or legal groups dedicated to helping people through the crisis.
- If I don’t pay rent, can I be evicted? It depends. If your state or city suspended evictions, landlords can’t kick you out—but those rules don’t apply to the entire country. Tenants rights groups, too, are worried about what happens after the coronavirus. In Oakland, for example, tenants can’t be evicted after the crisis because they were unable to pay rent during the emergency period. But in New York, some are worried people who can’t pay rent now will get penalized later.
- If I don’t make a payment, will my credit score be affected? There is no law preventing landlords from reporting those payments to credit bureaus. The major credit agencies are dealing with coronavirus like a natural disaster. Late or missed payments will be flagged to future lenders with a natural disaster code indicating the borrower isn’t at fault so their credit score isn’t harmed, the Wall Street Journal reported.
News peg: Tenants rights groups have been pushing federal, state and local lawmakers into eliminating rent owed for everyone in the wake of the coronavirus. “It’s really important that we’re talking about a complete suspension of rent,” said Arreola. “If in three months someone owes $6,000 in back rent, for anyone to expect that somebody could then pay that off immediately when they haven’t been working is unrealistic.”
A national group organizing the strike has one demand: “Every governor, in every state, must do what is necessary to ensure a 2-month freeze on the payment of rent, residential mortgages, and utility bills,” a website for the strike reads.
Both tenants rights groups and landlords are calling on lawmakers to offer forbearance on mortgage payments from all lenders, not just Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so landlords won’t depend on rent from tenants to pay their bills. But Pinnegar, whose association represents landlords, said he doesn’t support a rent strike.
“If the strategy is to keep people in housing that is safe and secure, a blanket across the board rent strike is only going to cause economic havoc with the owners of the properties in which the residents live,” he said.