COVID-19 Emergency Moratorium on Evictions

Sign Up for our COVID-19 Mailing List.
Visit our Beyond COVID-19 Resource Center.

At the end of December, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 (the “Act”). The Act applies to co-op corporations and suspends eviction proceedings for nonpayment of rent (maintenance) until March 1, 2021, but the Act does not bar the cooperative from demanding maintenance from tenant-shareholders that are in default prior to March 1, 2021. Additionally, the Act will protect tenant-shareholders from eviction until at least May 1, 2021, if the tenant-shareholder:

• has lost income or had increased costs during the COVID-19 pandemic; or moving would pose a significant health risk for the tenant-shareholder or a member of his/her household due to an increased risk for severe illness or death from COVID-19 because of an underlying medical condition; and
• signs and delivers a “Hardship Declaration”, in the form required by the Act, in which the tenant shareholder states, in effect:

I am experiencing financial hardship and am unable to pay the rent or other financial obligations under the lease in full or obtain alternative suitable permanent housing because of one or more of the following reasons:

(i) Significant loss of household income during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(ii) Increase in necessary out-of-pocket expenses related to performing essential work or related to health impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(iii) Childcare responsibilities or responsibilities to care for an elderly, disabled, or sick family member during the COVID-19 pandemic have negatively affected my ability or the ability of someone in my household to obtain meaningful employment or earn income or increased my necessary out-of-pocket expenses.

(iv) Moving expenses and difficulty I have securing alternative housing make it a hardship for me to relocate to another residence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(v) Other circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic have negatively affected my ability to obtain meaningful employment or earn income or have significantly reduced my household income or significantly increased my expenses.

(vi) Vacating the premises and moving into new permanent housing would pose a significant health risk because I or one or more members of my household have an increased risk for severe illness or death from COVID-19 due to being over the age of sixty-five, having a disability or having an underlying medical condition, which may include but is not limited to being immunocompromised.

The Act requires the co-op to include the Hardship Declaration in each demand notice for nonpayment of rent and gives the tenant-shareholder who completes, signs and returns the Hardship Declaration a defense from eviction based upon a rebuttable presumption of financial hardship on any one or more of the grounds listed above.

The Act essentially defers until at least May 1, 2021, but does not forgive, the payment of rent. The co-op may still charge and collect from the tenant-shareholder lawful fees, penalties or interest for not having paid the rent in full or met other financial obligations as required by the proprietary lease. The Act also permits a co-op to evict a tenant-shareholder for persistently and unreasonably engaging in behavior that substantially infringes the use and enjoyment of other tenants or occupants or causes a substantial safety hazard to others.