Rent Is Due
What Can County Renters Look To As The Pandemic Squeezes Their Cash?
By Raoul Dennis
Renters are caught between a rock and a hard place. More like a vice grip on steroids.
Thousands of Prince Georgians – and their fellow Marylanders have little or no money coming in as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic that has them away from work. At the same time, the rent is due in full every 30 days. Some landlords are not sensitive to the financial challenges that the pandemic has created for renters – creating a seemingly impossible situation for the renter.
According to The Baltimore Sun, requests for rent assistance referrals in Maryland were up 151% this year from 2019 as COVID-19 became a pandemic. Maryland had 1,038 requests for rent assistance from March 12 to March 29 this year, compared with 413 requests during that period last year.
How to pay the rent when you have little or no income due to no fault of your own? How to enter into an arrangement with a landlord when you don’t know when this crisis will be over? How to catch up on rent later if the landlord insists that you pay the full amount and penalties – even when the crisis is over?
It can mean being forced into a hole that a renter never climbs out of – even assuming their job will come back online when the crisis subsides.
According to The Washington Post, Maryland and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, have banned evictions at least through the end of April, but renters will still have to pay their bills when the bans are lifted, and they may have to pay additional fees.
Certainly, landlords have options. Most federally insured banks that back their mortgages are allowing landlords to defer payments to the bank to the tail end of the mortgage term. Although many are willing to ease the pressure on their tenants because the pressure has been eased from their own wallets, not all are willing to pass on rent deferment or forgiveness to their tenants.
Here are a few options for renters in crisis:
1. Contact your landlord. Let them know your status as a result of the pandemic and offer to make an arrangement over the term of this pandemic and state-ordered stay at home requirements. Be prepared to demonstrate proof of pandemic impact on your income. Learn more about renter’s rights here.
2. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will offer multifamily property owners mortgage forbearance if they suspend evictions for renters unable to pay rent due to the coronavirus.
For Homeowners
Homeowners should contact their mortgage company or a housing counselor by calling 1-877-462-7555 with questions and concerns. Under the coronavirus response bill ($2 trillion), homeowners with federally backed mortgage loans can request payments be postponed for up to 180 days. Homeowners can then request a second 180 postponement.
