My year end article last year started with: “2020 will be remembered for COVID-19 and more COVID-19.” 2021 has most definitely not been a return to normal and the pandemic continues to influence the industry but courts returned to action and legislatures continued to address the pandemic.
Moratorium on Certain Evictions and Foreclosures; Tenants Must Pay Rent — New York State’s restrictions on certain evictions and foreclosures which were initially implemented by Executive Orders in 2020 were adopted into law by statue in 2021 and later extended until January 15, 2022.
The restrictions apply to residential tenants and borrowers and certain commercial tenants and borrowers with 100 or fewer employees who, in each case, have suffered a hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The state has also created funding to assist residential tenants in paying rent. Notably the law does not absolve the tenant or borrower from paying the rent or mortgage payments due (but see below for a discussion of a separate city law absolving certain guarantors from obligations).
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