The moratorium on evictions issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been extended through June 30, 2021. It began in September 2020 and was to end Dec. 31, 2020.
Several guidelines must be met, including an individual’s inability to pay full rent or make a full housing payment because of a substantial loss of income due to reduced hours or layoff, or due to facing a major out-of-pocket medical expense.
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The tenant must also fill out a form, give it to the landlord and keep a copy for themselves. The form is available here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019ncov/downloads/evictiondeclare_d508.pdf
The moratorium does not halt all evictions. Tenants can still be evicted for a variety of reasons, including criminal activity at the rental property or if the tenant is threatening the health or safety of other residents.
Local figures in Richmond County and Columbia County show evictions are continuing, but at a reduced number.
In Richmond County, the Marshal’s Office handled 3,416 evictions in 2020. That compares to 4,442 in 2019.
Col. Bill Probus says the reduction was connected to the moratorium.
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“The moratorium gave some folks who experienced severe hardships, financial and otherwise, some breathing room during this time. We had to be extra diligent in ascertaining if the tenant had moratorium protection,” Probus explained.
He said he is concerned what will happen when the moratorium is lifted.
Probus said, “When the moratorium ends, the courts will be flooded with paperwork. We’ll see more people facing eviction and a rise in homelessness.”
Plus, the moratorium says tenants who are eligible do not have to pay rent currently, but that unpaid rent has been accruing and will have to be paid in full.
That is another concern for Probus. “I am dreading when this ends,” he said. “People haven’t been banking this money.”
He also sees the problem from the other side — the landlords — especially those who may have just a handful of rental properties. If the landlord is depending on rent payments to cover mortgages or expenses on the rental properties, they have no protection under the CDC declaration.
In Columbia County, 1,222 dispossessory warrants were requested by landlords in 2019. That is the first step in the eviction process. If the resolution is in the landlord’s favor, a judgement is issued. The landlord can use that judgement to request a “writ of possession” from the court.
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“The writ notifies the tenant that if they do not voluntarily leave by a specific day, the Marshal’s Office will execute the writ and evict the tenant. Not every landlord that gets a writ then follows up with an actual eviction. The tenant may leave on their own or work something out with the landlord that allows them to stay,” explained Chief Magistrate Judge Jason Troiano.
Of the 1,222 writs requested in 2019, only 229 ended with actual evictions.
The following year saw a dramatic decrease in the number of dispossessory warrants requested. Just 642 were requested and only 154 resulted in evictions.
Troiano said the way they handle evictions really did not change.
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“From our perspective, there is either a writ that we can execute or there is a writ with a tenant that is covered by the moratorium. We can’t execute until the moratorium is lifted or their circumstance changes and they are no longer covered,” he added.
Troiano said they have had to deal with upset landlords who discovered they may not be able to evict a tenant with the moratorium in place.
The CDC issued the eviction moratorium order to lessen the spread of COVID-19 within crowded, shared living settings such as a homeless shelter or through unsheltered homelessness.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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