COVID-19 letters to tenants?

[Mike A.]

Is anyone sending letters to their tenants in regard to the COVID-19 outbreak? If so, anyone have a sampling of what they are using?

[Vinny Maida]

Hi Mike, 

I am a little late with this. I have not been on the forums as much as I should.  Here are the two letters we sent to our residents.  I am not an accountant or attorney so this is not legal or financial advice but we wanted to let our residents know we will work with them if they will do the same. 

We wanted to establish early on that we had responsibilities to our residents and they to us.  We wanted to start as partners for the benefit of both. The good news is all rent has come in so far on time.  Some of the formattings were lost in the paste. 

March 23rd 2020 letter to residents

Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is a difficult time for everyone and we are all learning as we go. We are grateful, that as far as we are aware, none of you are in the high-risk groups.
This can be a very dangerous time and this is a serious situation. Please follow all local, state, and federal government guidelines to stay safe and prevent the spread of this virus. Remember, this virus can be transmitted by people who don’t show any symptoms and is persistent for days on some surfaces.
We are sensitive to the tenuous nature of the current situation and want to work with each and every one of you if you encounter financial difficulties.
CPLLC cannot sustain making mortgage payments without rent coming in. That said, we are waiving all late fees for April because we know it may be a challenge to get the rent by the 5th.
We will do our best to be sensitive to your situations. We were not intending to evict for non-payment during this trying time. Regardless of our intent Governor Hogan has declared a moratorium on evictions for the duration of the state of emergency. To take advantage of this the governor’s decree requires “… the tenant can demonstrate to the court, through documentation or other objectively verifiable means, that the tenant suffered a substantial loss of income resulting from COVID-19 or the related proclamation of a state of emergency and catastrophic health emergency, including, without limitation, due to job loss, reduction in compensated hours of work, closure of place of employment, or the need to miss work to care for a home bound school-age child.” Here is a link to the Executive Order for your reference.
Please note that evidence suitable for presentation in court will need to be provided. If you are not aware, this has in the past included full financial/bank statements, paystubs, monthly budgets, doctor’s statements, etc.
When the state of emergency is over, we will not jump to evict if you are behind and in our opinion making good faith efforts to catch up as quickly as possible.
These protections do not extend to us as property owners and we are still subject to foreclosure for non-payment of mortgages. I have reached out the the Secretary of Commerce to inquire if property owners will be given similar protections to enable us to catch up or in the event of a foreclosure to ensure a change of ownership will not affect our residents.
Please do your best to keep up minor maintenance to prevent small problems becoming bigger, more expensive problems as articulated in your leases.
We are all in this together. If you find yourselves in difficult circumstances please reach out, regardless of the reason. We want everyone to get through this in good shape. It is possible to thrive in difficult circumstances and we hope each of you will throughout this state of emergency.

//Signature Block//

4 Apr 2020 letter to residents

Ladies and Gentlemen,
We hope this finds you all well. We are following up on our original email on this topic (included below).
First, thank you all for paying this month's rent. I understand many are concerned about what the future holds, but we WILL get through this.
It appears we may need to plan for this event continuing for another month or more. In this time of uncertainty we want to ensure you have as much information as possible on programs that can assist you.
To that end we wanted to provide the information below that we hope will be helpful.
1. LOST WAGES/JOB
If you have lost employment you should consider applying for unemployment with the State of Maryland. https://www.dllr.state.md.us/employment/uibenefits.shtml
The Small Business Administration has programs for lost income if you are a small business owner, lost wages as an independent contractor and others. This link is for one of the programs https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/
Here is a rough order for planning purposes:
Recovery Rebate - $1,200 per person mailed to your latest address or bank account on file with IRS. Eligibility is determined based on your last income tax return filed. These should come between April 12 and 21. You may be able to get coverage through sick leave, or family leave (if you are caring for yourself or someone else affected by COVID-19) or the Pandemic Unemployment Act. File for unemployment - This is a generous program, but takes time. File for the Economic Injury Disaster LoanThere are other programs as well. 

2. FOOD ASSISTANCE.

Food Pantry Catholic Charities-St Peters 725 Fallsway Baltimore MD 21202
Food Pantry DSS East Baltimore Church of God 800 S Oldham St Baltimore, 21224

The Door Food Pantry 219 N Chester St Baltimore,, 21231
Salvation Army non-profit grocery store 400 E 29th St Baltimore, 21218
Additionally, many churches have food and food delivery if needed.
3. MAINTENANCE
Many maintenance companies are limiting their activities to outdoors. We will only conduct emergency maintenance until this passes. Please continue to advise us of maintenance issues, but understand the limits on our ability to respond.
4. HELP WITH RENT
SavingsFamily MemberRetirement Accounts
Nationwide Databases of Numerous Rent Assistance Programs
https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/get_help_paying_rent.html
https://freefinancialhelp.net/emergency-rent-assistance/
https://www.debt.org/advice/i-cant-pay-my-rent-what-to-do/
https://www.rentassistance.us/
Volunteers of America - Nationwide Assistance with Basic Needs
https://www.voa.org/assistance-with-basic-needs
Salvation Army Locations Nationwide
https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/covid19/
Catholic Charities
https://catholiccharities.org/ (be sure you are seeing info for your local area)
Red Cross Locations Nationwide
https://www.redcross.org/find-your-local-chapter.html
United Way offers assistance nationwide.
United Way sponsored website 211.org provides an easy-to-use search bar by zip code, or by community and state, to find sources of help with rent as well as many other essential services. Fill in the required information, click "search" and get information about available help
If you are having difficulty of any kind please reach out. We want to help.
Please follow all safety guidelines from the state and federal governments. We are people of faith and are praying for all the best for you and yours during this national emergency.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer or accountant. This is educational and I encourage you to seek professional advice before pursuing these ideas if you are not confident you are acting correctly. Some of the government programs above may overlap. Be sure you are using any funds gained in accordance with the rules. Accounting for spent funds may be required.
Be well!

Regards,

//Signature Block//

p.s. Please remember to pay the water bill. 

p.p.s. In addition to not charging late fees for April or May, we will not report any late payments to the credit bureaus for any of you who lost income due to the virus.

Best!

Vinny