Friday, January 08, 2021
NYC Landlord Being Evicted While Delinquent Tenants Live Rent-Free
I’ve been writing about the looming eviction crisis since early in the summer. This entirely predictable disaster has been obvious to anyone who has been paying attention ever since the pandemic broke out. A well-intentioned “eviction moratorium” effort by the government to prevent renters from finding themselves out on the streets after government shutdowns eliminated their jobs did little or nothing to prevent the damages sustained by landlords. It also never answered the question of what would be done about all the back rent that was going to come due when the moratoriums expired. These challenges are already taking their toll in New York City and, in one case, we’re seeing a twist on the usual depressing tales. One landlord and owner of a modest apartment building in the Inwood neighborhood of the Big Apple is now facing eviction himself. The reason is that some of his tenants are simply refusing to pay their rent even if they kept their jobs or other sources of income through the pandemic.
