NY Judge Halts Eviction Proceedings Due to Coronavirus, Follows REBNY’s Statement

By: Dave Dougherty

In a memo, New York’s Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Malks said that starting Tuesday, eviction proceedings and pending eviction orders will be suspended statewide, until further notice. The judge’s rule will apply to all evictions, including commercial evictions, Real Deal reported.

Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks made this announcement, Curbed NY explained.

The suspension applies to both residential and commercial evictions, Lucian Chalfen, a spokesperson for the New York Office of Court Administration, confirmed.

Housing court will remain open, but as of Monday state officials said they “will be postponing all non-essential functions of the courts until further notice,” wrote Marks. Vital housing court functions such as landlord lockouts, repair orders, and serious code violations will continue.

Real Deal reported: “The decision to halt evictions comes amid calls from officials and community organizers from all over the state to implement an immediate ban on evictions — including a letter signed by two dozen state senators, followed by a similar letter from the state Assembly”.

Initially Crain’s reported: “The Real Estate Board of New York, the largest real estate association and lobbying group in the city, issued a statement on behalf of the ownership coalition—all of whom are REBNY members—stating it would refrain from pushing out any residents “unless it is for criminal or negligent behavior that jeopardizes the life, health or safety of other residents” for the next 90 days. The group, which together owns about 150,000 apartments, stated it was voluntarily suspending evictions because “with all the stress, health risk and economic suffering going on now, no one should have to worry about losing their place to live during this crisis.”

One can look at this as the real estate industry in New York trying to fix its image. The industry has been battered by what some consider extreme regulatory laws and is a frequent target of progressive and community activists. Let’s face it, landlords are not usually popular!

REBNY apparently got the ball rolling with the suspension of evictions and now New York officials will follow thru. Obviously, landlords that are part of REBNY are in a better financial position to deal with lack of cash flow from tenants not paying rent as opposed to say someone who owns one house and rents to one negligent tenant.

The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords who own buildings with rent-stabilized units, is not thrilled with this ruling. Crain’s reported that its membership is comprised overwhelmingly of landlords that own buildings with 15 or fewer units—and are more vulnerable to the economic impact of postponing an eviction.

Activists however are pleased with the court’s decision. “Now is a moment when we need to double down and protect the people who are most vulnerable to this,” Housing Justice for All spokesperson Cea Weaver said in a recent interview. “This isn’t going away. We’re stuck with coronavirus; we have have to figure out how to deal with it.”