Tenants call out landlords for eviction threats during coronavirus crisis, prompting some to apologize: 'Significant mistake'

Kamilah Newton
Updated 9 min read
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Despite many jurisdictions temporarily banning eviction proceedings in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and economic shutdown, some landlords have been threatening their tenants with unsympathetic notices. (Photo: Getty Images)
Despite many jurisdictions temporarily banning eviction proceedings in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, some landlords have been threatening tenants. (Photo: Getty Images)

While many American cities — from Los Angeles to New York City and, as of this weekend, Oakland, Calif. and the entire state of Iowa —have temporarily paused most eviction proceedings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and residents' staggering loss of jobs, plenty of landlords seem to have not gotten the memo.

"I don't care if the kid is 5, if you don't come with rent you'll live on the street," one landlord noted on social media.

And that’s exactly where tenants have been calling out such behavior by sharing the unsympathetic letters and text messages they've received from building owners, many of whom are demanding that rent be paid on time “regardless of the circumstances.” One such incident, posted on Friday from New York City, the current epicenter of the pandemic, alerted a tenant that she needed to vacate her apartment on April 4. (When reached by Yahoo Lifestyle, however, a lawyer for the landlords said that the dispute had been ongoing since December, and that, “in the interim, we were all struck with the Covid-19 emergency and accordingly will not be proceeding with the action at this time.”)

Along with such social-media call-outs, the situation has prompted a resurgence of once-popular #EatTheLandlords Twitter hashtag, as well as an entire Twitter page called @RentStrike2020, dedicated to “demanding that state governors work to suspend a collection of all rent, residential mortgage and utility payments for two full months.”

“I don't know how many millions of landlords and housing providers there are in the country, but I'm not surprised that we've continued to see a big variation in how they themselves respond to these conditions,” Eric Dunn, director of litigation at the housing-justice non-profit National Housing Law Project (NHLP), tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Dunn says that there are five steps to an eviction process — written notice, landlord filing in court, eviction granted by a judge, judge assigning a physical enforcer and physical removal by marshals — and that jurisdictions “should be stopping all five steps of the process” right now. But some moratoriums might not go that far.

Related Video: Rent Strikes Being Planned Around U.S.

“It's important to stop all five stages so that not only do you reach every type of case, no matter how far it has gone but also so that you're not sort of setting up this avalanche of evictions that would come [when the moratorium expires],” Dunn explains. Further, he notes that a wave of evictions would be counterproductive to the idea of social distancing, as fully evicting a tenant requires numerous interpersonal interactions of the sort the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised us all to avoid.

That’s something Justin Leverton, of RJR Capital Management in Indiana, likely didn’t consider when he told tenants through emails to prioritize rent money over food money, as “it is better to go to a food bank than be homeless.” Further, the company’s emails, posted by tenants to Twitter, suggest tenants use their retirement savings, rainy-day funds or to simply “borrow money from parents.” When reached by Yahoo Lifestyle, however, Leverton said in a statement that he’s “made a significant mistake” by sending a “thoughtless” message to his tenants last week. He explains that the message was “sent in haste” and that he’s since issued an apology to tenants, addressing his “ignorance, insensitivity, and callousness.”

His reaction was similar to that of another landlord, Nat Hyman of Hyman Properties in Pennsylvania, who also expressed doubts over his decision to inform tenants that cable services would be removed and the eviction process would be started for any tenant who doesn’t pay the rent by April 6.

“Of course I regret the whole thing… I regret that I was so vilified about it. It’s shocking to me that it went viral the way it did,” he told a local publication. He had also issued an apology on Facebook, though it has since vanished. When reached by Yahoo Lifestyle, Hyman explained that a response would be “too long” to put in writing.

Meanwhile, another property management company, MetroWide Apartments of Louisiana, had sent out a letter to tenants saying that evictions will continue “despite the current circumstances.” When reached for comment by Yahoo Lifestyle, Joshua Bruno explained that the notice was “sent in error,” saying that “unfortunately, a groundsman attempting to help out made/copied an unauthorized ‘notice’ and has since sent over the ‘corrective notice’ that was sent out to tenants the following afternoon.”

AIY Properties of Ohio sent out a letter to tenants explaining how Trump’s promise to halt evictions did not apply, even listing local companies that were hiring. It prompted outrage — and an apology letter posted to Facebook, explaining that the letter had been written “from a legal perspective.”

Similar situations have unfolded in Canada, including with tenants of Golden Equity Management in Montreal, who were recently seen posting signs in their windows calling out their landlords for “sending eviction notices out in the middle of a pandemic.” To that, Ian Copnick, a representative of Golden Equity, tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “early last week, a few tenants in the building were issued what is referred to as an N8 [eviction] Notice,” but says that it was “a terrible misunderstanding.” The notices, Copnick says, “were issued as a result of a most unfortunate clerical error, and advised them that the notices were in fact being rescinded immediately.”

In Ohio, a text message was posted from a representative of Whitaker properties in Ohio, noting that the company would not be offering “any discounts or help,” and stating that if a tenant is not able to get a job, then said tenant should move out. When reached for comment by Yahoo Lifestyle, Whitaker Properties declined to comment.

“People shouldn't wind up in a situation where they have no chance of preserving their housing after the pandemic is over,” Dunn adds about the worrisome situation, further advising that landlords should not be charging late fees or pursuing evictions during a time like this and that landlords “should be prepared to try to work out payment plans with people at the end of the dependent period.”

NHLP has resources available on its website including a list of all current state moratoriums, model eviction moratoriums and best practices for officials at both the local and state level.

For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along at https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC and WHO’s resource guides.

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