What Will Happen To Apartment Owners Tenants Not Paying Rent

[Francis Louis Vogel Jr]

As jobs disappear and unemployment claims mount, it begs the question: What will happen to tenants and landlords when the moratorium lifts?

A lot of possible problems come from the fact that many people do not know what is legal and what isn't in the face of rapidly changing laws. For instance, the federal government and states have all passed eviction moratoriums of a sort, but they apply to different people and initially had different end dates.

The United States recorded 10 million first-time unemployment insurance applications in two weeks, shattering previous records from the financial crisis of 2008-2009. State and federal systems have been overwhelmed with applicants, causing technical delays. Money from the $2 trillion stimulus package will be a while in coming, but it will give people who make under $75,000 individually a $1,400 financial boost, as well as an extra $600 bump in their unemployment checks if they lost their jobs. Rent relief, in this case, means the government steps in to pay rent when people faced with an economic collapse cannot. 

Without rent relief, tenants who were recently fired could find themselves thousands of dollars in debt when the moratorium is eventually lifted — and with little standing between them and a 14-day eviction notice.