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NYC Landlord Being Evicted While Delinquent Tenants Live Rent-Free
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| 01/03/2021
| Jazz Shaw
Posted on 01/03/2021 1:08:56 PM PST by SeekAndFind
I’ve been writing about the looming eviction crisis since early in the summer. This entirely predictable disaster has been obvious to anyone who has been paying attention ever since the pandemic broke out. A well-intentioned “eviction moratorium” effort by the government to prevent renters from finding themselves out on the streets after government shutdowns eliminated their jobs did little or nothing to prevent the damages sustained by landlords. It also never answered the question of what would be done about all the back rent that was going to come due when the moratoriums expired. These challenges are already taking their toll in New York City and, in one case, we’re seeing a twist on the usual depressing tales. One landlord and owner of a modest apartment building in the Inwood neighborhood of the Big Apple is now facing eviction himself. The reason is that some of his tenants are simply refusing to pay their rent even if they kept their jobs or other sources of income through the pandemic. (NY Post)
David Howson, now 88, has long used rental income from his 10-unit building at 9 West 129th St. to help pay for the co-op apartment in Inwood where he’s lived for decades. Now, out more than $40,000 and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, he’s had trouble paying his own maintenance charges and is himself facing the boot, his family claims.
The alleged deadbeats in Howson’s building will get another break, courtesy of Albany’s largesse. The legislature is expected to pass a new eviction moratorium that will keep wayward tenants in their apartments until at least May 2021.
“We have nothing. We are completely destitute,” daughter Jessica Howson, who manages her father’s affairs, told The Post.
The majority of the debt owed to Howson is being attributed to one apartment in the ten-unit building he maintains. The tenant in that apartment isn’t someone who lost their job due to the pandemic and could no longer afford the $926 monthly rent. She’s a woman who inherited the rent-controlled apartment from her husband in 2016 and has never paid the rent since the day she took posession. That debt has now stacked up into the tens of thousands of dollars. Social Services has paid Howson a piddling $215 per month on her behalf, but he can’t afford to soak up that much of a loss indefinitely.
Making matters worse is the fact that groups advocating for tenants’ rights have taken up the woman’s cause on a pro bono basis and battered Howson in court when he attempted to sue for the missed payments and evict her. The agency representing the deadbeat renter has told Howson’s daughter (who represents his interests because he has Alzheimer’s) that the tenant “has a ‘right’ to remain in the apartment rent-free.”
We’ve previously discussed the challenges that smaller landlords are facing all over the country. When you think of landlords, you probably picture large, faceless corporations in the investment banking sector who can suck up these sorts of losses, at least for a while. But the reality is that nearly half of all rental units in the United States are owned by small business operators or individual owners, many of whom are retired and rely on their rental properties to keep them afloat. Mr. Howson definitely falls into that category.
The moratorium on evictions in New York was recently extended yet again, this time until May of 2021. What’s going to happen then? Renters’ rights advocates are still calling for yet another federal bailout, this time paying everyone’s back rent. Considering the number of people we’re talking about in the entire nation, the cost of such a package would be beyond staggering. The states don’t have enough money to cover that either. While it may sound cold-hearted to say it, what we’re really seeing here is yet another example of what happens when the government (at any level) steps in and puts its thumb on the scale in the private sector. Preventing a huge surge in homelessness during the pandemic was obviously a noble goal, but the damage that will result on the back end should have been anticipated and prevented. At least for now, it doesn’t sound like anyone has a viable solution for this crisis and it’s coming at us in a very short period of time.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; eviction; landlord; nyc; tenants
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To: SeekAndFind
Toss her and her stuff out the door and change the locks.
To: LouAvul
The story doesn’t say..The only reason I knew the landlord was black is they had a picture of him sitting outside near his boxes.......
42
posted on
01/03/2021 3:38:51 PM PST
by
Hambone 1934
(When will the dems turn the US into Venezuela????)
To: minnesota_bound
The 36 unit apt building I live in has had 21 apts empty out and most fill back up and empty again since April.
Many left as they had no job or money and looking elsewhere.
I have been told many had paid 1st month then stopped paying. I imagine they repeat at other apts.
Currently 5 apts open.
To: ARGLOCKGUY
State government shutdowns are causing the problems.
To: Revel
But the cities will have to kick the tenants out if the tenants still won’t pay and no one will buy the buildings if the cities and states won’t enforce owners’ rights. The optics of Dem socialist politicians turning on their own will be something to watch. Cloven and Pliven are not the Socialists’ friends the socialists thought they were! The socialists’ promises are writing checks that they can’t cash and their own supporters will devour them!
The Gods of the copybooks will even out the back ends of the ledger books...they always do.
To: SeekAndFind
Full financial statements assessing renter’s ability to pay should be required. Hell, they do this for a utility bill.
46
posted on
01/03/2021 4:06:22 PM PST
by
headstamp 2
(Socialism- Institutionalized Deprivation)
To: ActresponsiblyinVA
Here at my building in Los Angeles, out of about 15 tenants, only a few of us are working. The rest of the tenants stand outside staring at the grass all day. These losers haven’t paid rent since March and at 1800.00 a month for a 1 bdrm, they have no plans to pay rent until the moratorium is over. As well, they have no idea they’re going to be on the hook for back rent since March, 2020 or face eviction.
I think one of the unintended consequences of the hoax “pandemic” lockdowns to kill Trump’s economy, coupled with the election fraud and theft is the fact that the pandemic hoax/ lockdown and eviction moratorium cannot end without having a MASSIVE homeless crisis in the democrat cities on Biden’s watch.
47
posted on
01/03/2021 4:25:31 PM PST
by
atc23
To: lee martell
Therein lies the typical personality disorder common to leftists.
Exhibit A: My neighbor is an obese lesbian fired from her job at KTLA TV in Los Angeles for stalking a C list movie actress - even going so far as to get caught attaching a tracking device to the undercarriage of the actress’s car to track her movements and surprise her with flowers and love letters at coffee shops and at the actress’s boyfriend’s home. The actress filed a police report and got a restraining order against the lesbian. The actress also notified KTLA mgmt and threatened them with legal action of some sort.
The lesbian claims that it’s only because of Trump and the republicans that she now cannot pass security checks to get another job at another local station. Along comes the “hoax” pandemic a week after all this went down. Here we are 10 months later and the lesbian is allowed to avoid eviction for nonpayment of 18,000.00 in back rent. Still, she continues to squat in her apartment with her cats, completely oblivious to the fact that the day of reckoning is coming but she’s convinced that Biden and Harris will cancel student debt and renters back rent.
Talk about living a pipe dream
48
posted on
01/03/2021 4:49:29 PM PST
by
atc23
To: SeekAndFind
Blue state voters get blue state blues.
49
posted on
01/03/2021 4:51:11 PM PST
by
Vision
(Obama is an evildoer.)
To: SeekAndFind
“Why, yes, I’m a lifelong Democrat. Why do you ask?”
To: atc23
Her name should be Nightmare-Girl.
What a complete toxic mess she is.
Her Tombstone will be etched with a litany of complaints, insults and blamings. Both sides!
To: MortMan
Plus fat thumb and no glasses on
Ergo man behind the plow
Yup
/-)
52
posted on
01/03/2021 6:40:51 PM PST
by
cuz1961
(USCGR Veteran 78 to 84 )
To: SeekAndFind
NYC landlord for years. It has always been stacked against the landlord, there are horror stories that make you say, I would NEVER be a landlord there. The only way you win is to have hugely deep pockets or, if you are the small landlord, to be so brilliant and hardworking and lucky you just get really, really good tenants.
The judges in NYC operate under the idea that landlords are all evil and rich. If you win an award, just try to collect. It’s almost impossible. It can take years to get someone out of a building, and pray to God they don’t trash it. You will never recover the cost.
The last time they decided to really abuse the property owner in NYC, people just walked out. Those were the years of blight, with tons of empty, burnt out drug riddled buildings and the democrats were “What to do, what to do”. Of course, conservatives all knew what was wrong but no one listened to us. Finally Guiliani came in and things changed, and the laws changed, and things got good. But liberals NEVER forget their agenda- they always head right back to making things a 3rd world nation and never figure it out. Or don’t care.
I watched them vote Willem in and knew all this was coming. I really did.
53
posted on
01/03/2021 8:26:03 PM PST
by
I still care
(The left's goal never was tolerance. It always was fascism.)
To: SeekAndFind
It sounds to me like this woman didn’t pay her rent even before the pandemic hit. They should be able to evict her based solely on that issue. At $925 each month and she owes him at least $10k, that’s huge.
Is this landlord a veteran? I’m going to guess not, but I can imagine that someone out there would take the case of a veteran with Alzheimer’s when he’s facing homelessness.
And what about a moratorium on HIS eviction?
54
posted on
01/03/2021 9:34:06 PM PST
by
Tacrolimus1mg
(Do no harm, but take no sh!t.)
To: KevinB
What does this issue have to do with lawyers? It's the politicians making the unconstitutional laws prohibiting evictions that are the problem. #1 I'd be willing to bet many of those politicians were/are lawyers.
#2 From the article: "Making matters worse is the fact that groups advocating for tenants’ rights have taken up the woman’s cause on a pro bono basis and battered Howson in court when he attempted to sue for the missed payments and evict her."
I wonder, if not lawyers, who is battering Howson in court on a pro bono basis?
55
posted on
01/04/2021 5:45:29 AM PST
by
Repeat Offender
(While the wicked stand confounded, call me with Thy saints surrounded.)
To: SeekAndFind
You will own nothing and be happy. The great reset is underway.
56
posted on
01/04/2021 5:46:45 AM PST
by
liberalh8ter
(The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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