Biden administration to extend eviction, foreclosure moratorium ...

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the extension will build on the executive order President Biden signed on his first day in office on Jan. 20, which extended the eviction moratorium through March 31 which is now extended til the beginning of July . . .

Interesting... The proposal specifies $25 billion to be used for direct rental relief to landlords.

I am curious how to request those funds for LLs in that situation. We'll have to see what comes of this.

- John...

Are we in any way surprised? No, we are not.

Are we going to comply? Oh yes, we will comply with every letter in the CDC moratorium. Anyone who has read it knows that the vast majority of non-paying tenants do not qualify for all five criteria. They must meet all of the following:

1) Have used best efforts to obtain all available government assistance for rent or housing. <-- Have they applied to ALL AVAIALBLE assistance? Probably not.

2) Earn no more than $99,000 in annual income for Calendar Year 2020-2021 (or no more than $198,000 if filing a joint tax return), was not required to report any income in 2019 to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or received an Economic Impact Payment (stimulus check) pursuant to Section 2201 of the CARES Act. <-- This one won't help most of us since our tenants don't earn more than this.

3) Unable to pay my full rent or make a full housing payment due to substantial loss of household income, loss of compensable hours of work or wages, lay-offs, or extraordinary2

out-of-pocket medical expenses. <-- Many jobs that were temporarily suspended or ended are now back.

4) Using best efforts to make timely partial payments that are as close to the full payment as the individual’s circumstances may permit, taking into account other nondiscretionary

expenses. <-- This one is easy to prove false if they are paying you nothing at all, but yet still buying stuff like TVs, new cars, going out to eat at restaurants, etc.

5) If evicted they would likely become homeless, need to move into a homeless shelter, or need to move into a new residence shared by other people who live in close quarters because I have no other available housing options. <-- This is where you contact their Emergency Contacts listed on their application or lease. If they have relatives who have spare bedrooms or large houses with only 1 or 2 people in them, they fail this criteria.

The more you know, the less you fear them. Our evictions courts are open and running full steam ahead! Do not be timid.

Indeed, here is the CDC form -- we should all have a copy of this handy:

www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/declaration-form.pdf

I like how the form puts a little fear into them for lying:

John...[MI] gets it. Remember those commercials for Saturday morning TV back in the day? "The more you KNOW!"

LLs don't need to panic over the CDC moratorium, unless you live in ultra-liberal states and the judges are interpreting the moratoriums broadly. If that's the case, I am sad to hear it, but we've seen the handwriting on the wall for years. This is not unexpected nor is it unprecedented.

My advice is sell now before they seize your units or make it unprofitable to own them...."for the common good."

Not picking sides here but the current and former administrations grossly mishandled the "can't pay my rent" problem.

Instead of broad eviction moratoriums, the section 8 program should have had increased funding available. Renters with genuine income problems could have applied and been fast tracked onto the program.

Many of these income/unemployment problems aren't long term.

Section 8 administrators have the luxury to demand periodic reviews of recipients' income / employment status along with the availability of government employment/with holding data.

Landlords are limited to taking tenant's word for this and in many instances, some unscrupulous tenants simply wouldn't pay as opposed to couldn't pay. Grossly unfair to rental property owners.

Most of you know this but I had a tenant on Section 8 who, for some reason that I cannot fathom, did not renew her lease with them after they gave her THREE chances to do so. Her rent more than tripled then. Right there I have that she did not follow the declaration by not trying to get government help to pay rent.

All of my one year leases (required by HUD the first year) switch to month to month after the first year. I just gave her notice of non renewal after the 30 days when she did not move out.

Regardless she never gave me a declaration. I think I would have gotten an actual eviction from the judge but she moved out later on actual court day. Just left enough stuff on the floor for one big bag of trash although the trash and recycle bins are running over and frozen down. Hope to get them loose and out at the curb for pickup before Friday.

I am so glad that my leases go to month to month after the initial period. If not on HUD, I do 6 month leases and now I may do 3 month leases. I don't want to start off with a month to month, get someone in there who finds another place right away and only has to give a 30 day notice. Too much work that way.

Biden is going to have this country so far in debt and probably borrow even more from China, that they will own us.

you can work it all you want but if your courts are closed-- you can't file. IF as in our case the courts-- electronically are open but the Sheriff refuses to serve the Writ of Possession or make a set out date.

So all the work around it you say to do is for nothing.

Guaranteed you if you self help and do your own eviction-- you will be fined (10K) and most likely jailed.

Evictions are halted only for “non-payment due to Covid”.

If they don’t pay and it isn’t due to Covid you can evict. If they stay after their lease ends they can be evicted. If they refuse to correct lease violations, they can be evicted.

How many of you really have a government backed loan on a rental property? You know a VA/FHA or USDA loan on a rental?

Ray-N-Pa: I've actually been having trouble trying to find out if the eviction moratorium applies to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac backed mortgages (which applies to a TON more people than just VA/FHA or USDA loans).

I keep seeing statements like this: "Holders of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are covered by the Biden administration’s extension of the moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. "

But, if you start to read that fine print, it appears to apply that part only to foreclosures.

There is clearly some confusion regarding whether or not the eviction moratorium applies to the Freddies.

Anyone have any conclusive info?

-John

John

You asked a good question about how to get the direct relief. If the county you are in has more than 200,000 people they will have their own program and own forms to distribute funds based on the DHS guidelines.