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COVID-19: No Evictions

May 7, 2020
eviction

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the state's moratorium on COVID-related residential or commercial evictions will be extended for an additional 60 days until August 20th. 

The Governor also announced the state is banning late payments or fees for missed rent payments during the eviction moratorium, and allowing renters facing financial hardship due to COVID-19 to use their security deposit as payment and repay their security deposit over time.

"During these incredibly difficult and stressful times we must protect New Yorkers who are facing financial hardships due to COVID-19," Governor Cuomo said. "The majority of people in the state live paycheck to paycheck, and all of a sudden the paychecks have stopped for these individuals but the rent bill keeps coming in. In March we issued a moratorium on all residential and commercial evictions, and we are going to extend that moratorium until August 20th to provide some relief to those New Yorkers who are struggling."

Leah Goodridge, Supervising Attorney at Mobilization for Justice informs New Yorkers on what happens if you don't pay rent on #RepresentNYC.

For more information on #cancelrent and #rentforgiveness read our blogs here and here. 

Can a landlord still file a nonpayment or eviction case? Eviction proceedings are paused for the time being. Gov. Cuomo’s executive order has blocked new cases. This means that come mid-August, New York landlords will have the option to file new nonpayment and eviction cases against tenants, but those new cases will be temporarily adjourned.

Even if a landlord tries to get the ball rolling by filing a new case now, tenants are currently not at risk of a default judgement if they don’t respond in court. It bares repeating that the courts are closed for nonessential functions and that tenants cannot be evicted with the moratorium in place until at least August 20th.

In March, the city’s Department of Investigations notified all marshals that eviction proceedings are suspended, and that directive has since been extended indefinitely. If a marshal tries to execute an eviction warrant, do not comply, and report the activity by calling DOI’s Bureau of City Marshals at (212) 825-5953.

Contact these organizations for Free Housing-related Legal Advice. (Phone calls only.)

  • Housing Conservation Coordinators at (212) 541-5996, Monday evenings, 7-9pm
  • Take Root Justice Housing Hotline at (646) 459-3022
  • Goddard Law Project at (212) 799-9638, x0
  • PALANTE Harlem, Inc. at (212) 491-2541 -- English & Spanish spoken
  • Legal Services NYC at (917) 661-4509 -- serves residents city-wide in several languages