Are landlords being reimbursed for eviction moratorium?

[Corey Frank]

Hey everyone! I am a super newb that is currently getting ready to buy into multi family units. Hopefully this isn’t a naive question but in all of my research on this topic I have come up empty. My question is, have landlords been getting reimbursed from the tenets that don’t pay their rent during this nightmare eviction moratorium? And has the reimbursements been country wide? Thanks in advance! 😁

[Alexander Coleman]

Hey @Corey Frank great question! Happy to shed some light on this subject from the perspective of a Property Manager that works at a 200 unit complex as well as just recently opened up my own PM company. I also happen to practice in the same state as poster @Alessandro Vene. There is a lot of confusion on this matter and it's understandable why. The simple answer is it depends! Although I practice in Oregon, I am aware that many of the laws and regulations in place are the same or very similar in other states. This is due to the majority of the funding for rent reimbursement / compensation is coming from the federal government. They set forth some general guidelines that each state must follow to receive the funds to then distribute to those needing relief in their state. There are also federal and state funds being provided to private organizations to distribute based on more specific criteria but still falling under the general guidelines that fall under the federal umbrellas.

To address @Alessandro Vene since we are in the same state. There is not a program out there that would advise a tenant NOT to pay rent if they can afford to. Especially considering the moratorium only covers specific months. There are two programs offered in most states with different criteria for each. One is a tenant focused program where they can apply on an individual level for rental assistance. This is what it sounds like your tenant potentially applied for and why you had to fill out a W9. Be careful as there is paperwork but there are also a lot of scams out there from illegitimate organizations just looking to steal Landlords info and use it for various purposes. Be sure to vet the organization that is requesting information and to screen the information they are asking for. This shouldn't scare you just make sure you're doing your own due diligence and not relying on the tenant for the facts. This is also why most programs don't send the money directly to the tenant as the likelihood of them just taking the money and skipping is higher. All moneys owed are still due and can be collected through the courts as the moratorium doesn't forgive any back rent simply delays when it has to be paid. Any paperwork you filled out should've been sent directly to the organization requesting it not passed through the tenant as a middle person as there is an opportunity to alter documents/addresses/amounts owed etc. If you've not heard back from the program the tenant applied for its possible they didn't have enough funding and ran out. There is a the second type of assistance funding that Landlords / property managers can apply for on behalf of their tenant/s.

@Corey Frank The moratorium doesn't forgive any past due rent it simply provides a grace period to pay it back instead of allowing tens of thousands of people to be evicted during a pandemic. Now this, like any program out there doesn't mean people aren't abusing it and taking advantage of the situation. But ultimately this will bite those tenants thinking they can just skip rent as eventually their bill will come due if not covered by assistance programs /and or they will get evicted. With an eviction or collections or both on their record it should be extremely difficulty to qualify for many future rentals or apps. Landlords have it tough if they are not in a position to wait it out, but there are some relief programs out there for them too just have to do a good deal of research and applying. So again, to answer your question...Depends. Some landlords are being reimbursed so are not. Those being active keeping up with what programs are out there, actively encouraging their tenants to apply or providing info to them on how to apply and where, are fairing better than those that like their tenants are just doing nothing.