A group of landlords in Westchester County on Thursday sued New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his executive order extending a moratorium on evictions during the COVID-19 crisis, saying the measure violated their contract and due process rights and amounted to an improper taking of their property under the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit, filed in White Plains federal court, seeks to nullify two provisions of the May 7 order, which prohibit landlords from pursuing eviction proceedings through Aug. 19 and give renters the option to put their security deposit toward their rent payment.
"In doing so, the order has given carte blanche to tenants to withhold rent without repercussion," attorney Mark A. Guterman of Lehrman, Lehrman & Guterman wrote in the 14-page complaint.
"Plaintiffs and all similarly situated landlords are precluded from asserting their rights and obtaining relief to protect their property, all the while remaining obligated to pay all of their own carrying costs and other expenses, including taxes to the various governmental divisions of New York State," the filing said.
The lawsuit comes as renters across the state are feeling the squeeze from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to widespread shutdowns and caused an unprecedented increase in unemployment claims. According to a recent survey by the real estate group PropertyNest, 37% of New York City renters said they would be unable to make rent in June, a figure that had more than doubled from the month of May.
Cuomo's order built on a similar measure in March that barred all commercial and residential evictions through June. It did not cancel rent payments altogether, and tenants are still responsible for making up any missed payments to their landlord.
The new order, however, extended the moratorium another two months for renters who qualified for unemployment benefits or are unable to pay rent due to the pandemic. Under the order, landlords are also required to apply tenants' security deposits to unpaid rent at the request of renters, though the deposits must be repaid in increments starting 90 days after their usage.
In Thursday's filing, the landlords said the order allowed renters to "unilaterally" violate leases without their consent and prevented them from using security deposits to recover for damages to their property.
The plaintiffs said they had all signed one-year leases with tenants and relied on the rents as the "sole source" of income.
While the landlords acknowledged that the order was meant to prevent struggling renters from being evicted, that goal could have been achieved through "less intrusive" actions, such as permitting courts to hear each individual case of non-payment on its merits or providing tenants the means to afford their rent during the crisis.
The order, they said, "creates a palpable and immediate threat to plaintiffs' ability to maintain their ownership interest in their properties and comply with plaintiffs' own contractual and statutory obligations by threatening the ongoing stream of rent."
The governor's press office did not respond Thursday to a request for comment.
The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is captioned Elmsford Apartment Associates v. Cuomo.
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Tom McParland
Tom McParland of New York Law Journal can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TMcParlandALM.
