NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo has scored a legal victory in defense of his decision to let New Yorkers stay in their apartments if they can’t pay rent.
On June 29, Judge Colleen McMahon ruled against apartment owners who sought to overturn one of Cuomo’s coronavirus orders. It allows tenants to pay rent with their security deposit as long as they replenish those funds at a later date.
More importantly, it prohibits landlords from evicting tenants who are facing financial hardship due to the pandemic.
“Governor Cuomo’s Order suspended one of several avenues by which landlords can seek relief for nonpayment, while leaving other (if less favored) remedial proceedings for breach of contract (which is exactly what a breach of a lease is) in place,” McMahon wrote.
“That most of New York’s courts suspended their operations during the pandemic, thereby incidentally burdening other rights not addressed by EO 202.28, does not mean that the Order forecloses Plaintiffs from petitioning the government.
“To rule otherwise would greatly exaggerate the actual effects of a temporary pause on a subset of evictions, which nevertheless preserved the landlords’ economic rights under the affected rental agreements, and which was tailored to avoid crowding in housing courts and homeless shelters during an ongoing public health emergency.”