On December 28, 2020, the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 went into effect in New York State. This law affects residential evictions in several important ways.
Hardship Declaration: If a tenant gives a signed hardship declaration to their landlord, the landlord’s agent, or the court, eviction proceedings are stayed (paused) until May 1, 2021. There is an exception if a tenant engages in nuisance behavior.
60-Day Stay: Whether or not a tenant submits a hardship declaration, this law imposes a 60-day stay in eviction cases that were pending on December 28, 2020, pausing those cases until February 26, 2021. Eviction cases filed from December 28, 2020 to January 27, 2021 are also paused 60 days from the date the case was filed. There is an exception if a tenant engages in nuisance behavior.
Landlords Must File Additional Documents with the Court: Landlords must file additional documents with the court, including certain affidavits, in order to start an eviction.
Landlords Must Give Tenants Additional Documents: Landlords must include additional documents along with pre-eviction notices.
Default Judgments: Until May 1, 2021, courts can’t issue default judgments authorizing evictions or authorize the enforcement of evictions pursuant to default judgment, without first holding a hearing upon motion of the landlord. If a default judgment was issued on or before December 28, 2020, it must be vacated, and the matter restored to the calendar if a tenant has made an oral or written request to the court before or during that hearing.
Stay of Execution of Eviction Warrants: If a warrant of eviction has been issued but has not been executed, execution of the warrant is stayed until the court has held a status conference with the parties.
Prior Judgments Based on Objectionable or Nuisance Behavior: If a court awarded judgment against a tenant on or before December 28, 2020 on the basis of “unreasonable behavior that substantially infringes on the use and enjoyment of other tenants or occupants or causes a substantial safety hazard to others,” then the court must hold a hearing to determine if the tenant is still engaging in that behavior.
Other Aspects of the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act: This blog post is a brief and general overview of this law. This blog post does not address all aspects of this law.
Note on the Federal CDC Eviction Moratorium: In addition to this New York State law, there is a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratorium on evictions in effect until June 30, 2021. Tenants under threat of eviction must sign a declaration certifying that they meet certain requirements. The tenant must give this declaration to their landlord or other person with authority to evict. The CDC order says, “This Order does not apply in any state, local, territorial, or tribal area with a moratorium on residential evictions that provides the same or greater level of public-health protection than the requirements listed in this Order.” It may be that the New York moratorium “provides the same or greater level of public-health protection” than the CDC order.
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James H. Cook, Attorney at Law 