Follow Up:Recent Changes to Rent Laws
For those of you that joined us on our January 5, 2021, zoom conference, we hope that you found it helpful. If you have not had a chance to view it, you can watch it here.
We will continue to do our best to keep you up to date on what is going on with the Courts and as a result of the recent or any further changes in the law or procedures.
Notably, no filings can be made against commercial tenants until after January 29, 2021. The Housing Courts are closed for purposes of any conferences until at least February 28, 2021, except for HP cases, allegations of illegal lockout or pending nuisance holdovers. We can continue to serve rent demands, notices related to breach of lease and both non-payment and holdover petitions. If any tenant or their legal representative files a COVID Hardship Declaration, the case will automatically be stayed until at least May 1, 2021.
Here are links to a copy of the Hardship Declaration Forms in English and in Spanish.
This form must be served with every notice that is required to be served as a matter law together with the attached list of free legal service providers. We are recommending the forms accompany each 5 day reminder letter which is sent out as per the 2019 HSTPA. If you choose to proceed on a case against any tenant, we will need you to fill out this form Affidavit of No Response to certify to the Court the tenant has not notified your office of or returned the Covid Hardship Declaration to your office. This affidavit must be filed with the filing of the notice of petition and petition with the Court. If your office or our office does receive the declaration from the tenant, then we cannot proceed.
On a recent conference call, the Chief Judge of the Housing Court advised in part that: ".....Proof of the service of the Hardship Declaration must be filed for each notice that was served including notices that pre-date the passage of the law on December 28, 2020.
While we strongly disagree with this position, we are recommending that in all instances, other than service of a Golub notice related to non-primary residence, new notices or demands be served should you wish to proceed as a means to avoid unnecessary motion practice or dismissal when the Courts actually do start calendaring and hearing new cases.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or email to discuss. Please respond to any requests for information or status from our reporting system or support staff so that we have the most current information on each case requiring any follow up or attention. We look forward to continuing to help you through this extraordinarily difficult period.
Stay tuned for weekly updates and feel free to register for more of our upcoming classes at
https://www.sdkhlaw.com/class-calendar including this weeks classes on Wednesday (Renovations and Construction loans 10am-12pm) and Friday (Commercial Leases at 10am).
With Support,
