NY Landlord Covid-19 Legal Survival & Pay No Tax When Disposing of Investment Property  Webinar

 Attorney Robert Friedman of Friedman & Ranzenhofer, PC with over 41 years of experience representing landlords and real estate investors  answers questions and explain how New York landlords can: Russell J. Gullo, CCIM, CPM, founder and CEO of R. J. GULLO COMPANIES: Real Estate Investment Services discusses “How to Pay No Tax When Disposing of Investment Property.” Webinar Video Robert Friedman/Justin Friedman Powerpoint Russ Gullo Powerpoint   Comments from webinar attendees:
  • “ I appreciate knowing you are available if I run into a tenant issue and need to evict.”
  • “As an investor and real estate broker, I appreciate hearing rules and requirements from an expert in their field.”
  • “Would you be willing to come to my real estate brokerage to do the same presentation once Covid is over?“

New York Landlord COVID-19 Legal Survival – America Apartment Owners Association

Attorney Robert Friedman with over 41 years of experience representing landlords and real estate investors will answer questions and explain how New York landlords can: Webinar Video Robert Friedman/Justin Friedman Powerpoint

I. Warranty of Habitability New York Tenants Rights

 New York residential (including cooperative) tenants are protected by the warranty of habitability (WOH) under New York Real Property Law §235-b. It is implied in every New York residential lease that the premises are habitable and fit for the uses reasonably intended by the parties and that there are no conditions that are detrimental to the tenants’ life, health or safety. The WOH creates an unqualified obligation which is not excused by the acts of third parties or natural disaster. The landlord’s good faith may be raised as a defense only if the landlord is prevented from making repairs due to strike or labor dispute. For example, many of the conditions that usually result from a severe storm, including the loss of electricity, heat and hot water; the reduction of elevator service and other essential services; non-functioning appliances; leaks and flooding; and odors, mildew and mold, have been held to constitute a breach of the WOH. Courts have placed the burden of repairs on landlords even when they are required by events that are wholly out of their control. The expansive view of the WOH taken by the New York courts would include even the extraordinary damages caused by Hurricane Sandy. Landlords have been held responsible for air pollution and other conditions resulting from clean-up of the destruction of the World Trade Center after 9/11/01; an apartment flooded due to a defective roof during a large rainstorm and a below grade apartment flooded after the New York City storm sewers were overwhelmed by extremely heavy rainfall. These are the limitations on the enforcement of the WOH that protect landlords: (a) the landlord must have had either actual or constructive notice of any conditions requiring repair; (b) the tenant must provide the landlord with reasonable access to make repairs; (c) the tenant may undertake any necessary repairs and set-off their cost against the rent only if the landlord has first been notified of the conditions in need of repair and fails to take action in due course to provide a remedy; and (d) breach of the WOH does not give tenants the right to unilaterally cancel the lease. The WOH permits tenants to withhold rent and use the breach as a defense in a nonpayment eviction proceeding or to raise the breach as a counterclaim or in lawsuit against the landlord. In determining the appropriate abatement or rent reduction to which a tenant is entitled, courts balance the nature, severity and duration of the breach against the landlord’s diligence in making repairs. The abatement can range from a rent reduction of a few percent to the full amount of the rent. Where habitability issues affect an entire building, such as in a storm, a group of tenants can organize a rent strike to collectively withhold rent until necessary repairs are made by the landlord.

II. NY Housing Stability & Tenant Protection Act of 2019

  1.  Eviction Procedures,
  2. Screening procedures
  3. Required Lease Provisions.

III. Evict tenants during the pandemic.

 Landlord’s ability to evict a tenant will depend on whether:
  1. the property is commercial or residential ;
  2. the eviction grounds are nonpayment or holdover;
  3. the tenant is suffering financial hardship;
  4. the time period for which the rent was due;
  5. the court is accepting filing of the notice of petition and petition; and/or
  6. the property mortgage is backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

IV. NY Courts Protocol For Commercial and Residential Evictions

V. NY Tenants Experiencing COVID-19 Financial Hardship Can’t be Evicted Under The Tenant Safe Harbor Act

VI. NY Residential Eviction & Foreclosure Moratorium Extended To May 1, 2021

  1. Staying pending residential eviction proceedings (“Proceedings”) and residential real property mortgage foreclosure actions (“Actions”) for sixty days.
  2. Staying Proceedings and Actions filed within thirty days of December 28, 2020 for sixty days.
  3. Publishing form “Hardship Declarations” to be used by tenant-respondents in eviction matters and defendant-mortgagors in residential foreclosure actions in reporting financial hardship during or due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  4. Staying Proceedings and Actions until at least May 1, 2021 in Proceedings and Actions where a tenant-respondent or defendant-mortgagor submits a completed Hardship Declaration.
  5. The COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020
  6. Administrative Order AO/340/2020
  7. Memorandum of Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks, dated December 30, 2020
  8. Hardship Declaration in Eviction Matters(English).
  9. Hardship Declaration in Eviction Matters(Español; Declaración de Penuria).
  10. HARDSHIP DECLARATIONS IN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES
  11. CIVIL LEGAL SERVICES PROVIDERS

VII. Are NY Town And Village Courts Closed Due To Coronavirus?

VIII. US pandemic eviction moratoriums March 31, 2021.

  1. CARES Act Eviction Moratorium | Rochester Landlord Tenant Lawyers.
  2. Landlords Violating Eviction Moratoriums Risk $500,000 Fines and Jail.
  3. Declaration Under Penalty of Perjury for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Temporary Halt in Evictions to Prevent Further Spread of COVID-19 (cdc.gov)

IX. Avoid criminal prosecution and triple damages for self-help evictions

X. Collect unpaid rent

  1. COVID Rent Relief Program
  2. Draft repayment or lease modification agreements,
  3. Collect now from guarantors and letters of credit,
  4. Use security deposits for rent payments,

XI. CDC GUIDELINES FOR APARTMENTS

XII. Commercial tenants

    1. Frustration of purpose
    2. Impossibility or impracticability of performance
    3. Force-majeure.

XIII. AVOID EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL DISCRIMINATION LAWSUITS

XIV. EJECTMENT/LICENSEES

XV. FURT HER INFORMATION

  1. New York Landlord Legal Survival During the Covid-19 Crisis 
  2. AAOA New York Landlord COVID-19 Legal Survival – February 25, 2021 1:00 pm EST