Frustration with governor's moratorium on evictions

[Ryan Mulkins]

Recently, our governor posted a 90-day moratorium on residential evictions due to COVID-19.  We have had tenants contact us telling us they will not be paying rent due to reduced hours at work.  We have also had our own family members ask us if we were "going to be okay since the governor said tenants do not have to pay rent."  The governor did not specify in her Executive Order that her "moratorium" did not mean tenants did not have to pay rent.  It should have been specified that they STILL NEEDED TO PAY RENT to avoid the confusion for tenants and extra work for landlords to have to explain this.  

First, technically, the governor cannot forbid evictions.  Evictions are orders of the Court.  The Court is the judicial branch of the government.  The governor is a member of the executive branch of the government.  Because our government is based on a "separation of powers" the governor cannot prevent the Court, a member of the judicial branch, from doing its job - hearing evidence in eviction cases and rendering appropriate judgments.  But the governor can, and did in our state, prohibit our Sheriff's Offices (Sheriffs are members of the executive branch - like the governor) from enforcing a Court's order of eviction.  What makes this situation tricky is that landlords can still get a court to order an eviction but your local Sheriff cannot enforce that court's order...until the moratorium expires.

When tenants have said that they don't think they have to pay rent, my wife and I have responded (in a friendly and concerned manner) #1: The moratorium does not mean they do not have to pay rent.  Instead, it means the Sheriff will not come to the unit and physically remove them until the moratorium expires.  #2: We have told them we have a mortgage on the property and that we need their rent to pay that mortgage payment each month.  #3: We have provided them the option to pay their rent using a credit card on Venmo (which some will be doing) or provided insight on unemployment or upcoming stimulus payments. Have they exhausted all options, asking friends and family for help?  

In the worst case scenario, we can still go to court and file an eviction case and litigate to an eviction judgment.  We will just have to wait until the governor's moratorium is up before we can get a uniformed Sheriff's Deputy to the unit to physically remove the tenant.  However, I think most tenants in our town would vacate the unit before the case got to judgment in order to avoid having the eviction on their record.

Have any of your state or local governments been smart enough to elaborate in their press release on eviction moratoriums that rent is still due?

*This is how my wife and I are handling the situation. This is not meant to be legal advice. Contact an attorney in your area for any issues you are facing.