Back in March, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a moratorium on evictions to prevent people from being forced out on the street during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. However, with waning infection rates across New York, some of the justification for the moratorium is disappearing with it. Unfortunately, this means that many New Yorkers are now facing the prospect of homelessness once the moratorium ends. The Chief Administrative Judge for courts in New York has most recently ruled that no warrants of eviction can be executed until at least October 1.
The coronavirus pandemic is the single greatest public health crisis to have faced the United States in more than one hundred years, and New York was among the states hit hardest and earliest. Thanks to carefully implemented quarantine procedures, however, the rate of infection has dropped significantly, allowing emergency measures that were implemented to deal with the crisis to be relaxed. Unfortunately, these measures included shutting down or limiting the operations of many businesses, resulting in many tenants losing their income and losing the ability to pay rent. This necessitated the moratorium on evictions, to ensure people would not be evicted when they were supposed to be staying at home.
While landlords were less than pleased about these measures, most understood that extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures, even if that meant being stuck with tenants who could not or would not pay their rent. However, landlords have already been filing eviction petitions in anticipation of the end of the moratorium, creating a backlog for evictions that may take months to resolve. Anyone who has tenants they want to evict, therefore, should file as soon as possible, or else get stuck at the back of the line while the court sorts through the backlog.
The attorneys at Blodnick, Fazio & Clark are ready to assist you in your landlord-tenant dispute. With offices conveniently located in Garden City, Nassau County, and Babylon, Suffolk County, the firm provides high-quality legal care at reasonable prices. If you require legal assistance concerning evictions, rent disputes or other landlord-tenant issues, call (516) 280-7105 or fill out our contact form for a free consultation.
