The federal coronavirus aid bill includes provisions that provide mortgage relief and suspend evictions and foreclosures.

First, borrowers with federally-backed mortgages on residential properties with one- to four-family occupancy who are “experiencing a financial hardship due, directly or indirectly, to the COVID-19 emergency may request forbearance.” The forbearance period would last for 180 days and could be extended for another 180 days. No fees, penalties, or interest could accrue (beyond those that would have been due if the borrower paid on time). Additionally, servicers of these mortgages may not initiate foreclosures or execute evictions or foreclosure sales for at least 60 days from March 18, 2020.

Second, borrowers with federally-backed multifamily mortgages on residential properties with occupancy for five or more families may also request a forbearance if they are experiencing a financial hardship due to the emergency. For these borrowers, the forbearance period would be 30 days and could be extended for two additional 30-day periods. To be eligible, these borrowers must be current on their payments as of Feb. 1, 2020 and they must document their financial hardship. Borrowers that receive a forbearance may not evict tenants solely for nonpayment of rent and they may not charge late fees to tenants during the forbearance period. Such borrowers also may not require tenants to vacate a unit unless they have given 30 days’ notice (which may not be issued until after the forbearance period).

Third, during the 120-day period beginning on March 27, 2020, no residential landlords with federally-backed mortgages or with properties that fall under certain federal housing programs may initiate eviction of tenants for nonpayment of rent or other fees or charge fees related to nonpayment of rent. Also, tenants may not be evicted without 30 days’ notice, and the notice may not be issued until after the 120-day period.

Fourth, the bill appropriates $1.25 billion for rental assistance for tenants who receive public housing funding (and for other uses by public housing agencies “to maintain normal operations”) and $685 million for a public housing operating fund, “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including to provide additional funds for public housing agencies to maintain normal operations and take other necessary actions during the period that the program is impacted by coronavirus.” Another $1.0 billion is appropriated for owners or sponsors of properties that receive Section 8 project-based assistance.

Meanwhile, several actions related to rent and evictions have been taken in Washington state:

• Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan ordered a moratorium on residential evictions March 14. As expanded by the Seattle City Council on March 16, the order prohibits residential evictions for 60 days (unless they are for health and safety reasons). A second emergency order was signed by Mayor Durkan March 17 that prohibits evictions of small business and nonprofit tenants for nonpayment of rent or because their lease is up for 60 days.
• Gov. Inslee issued a proclamation on March 18 that prohibits residential evictions in Washington until April 17, 2020. In general, residential landlords may not evict tenants, and law enforcement may not act on eviction orders, for nonpayment of rent. However, law enforcement may act on eviction orders under other circumstances, “including but not limited to waste, nuisance or commission of a crime on the premises.”
• The Seattle City Council adopted a resolution yesterday asking Gov. Inslee and the federal government to impose a moratorium on residential and commercial rent and mortgage payments (and associated costs like renters’ insurance and property taxes). Kevin Schofield of SCC Insight looks at whether this would be legal.
• An ordinance has been introduced in the Seattle City Council that would prohibit rent increases for small businesses or nonprofits during the civil emergency currently in effect in Seattle. It would also allow small businesses and nonprofits that fail to pay rent during the emergency (and during the six-month period afterward) to pay the overdue rent in installments. No late fees or interest could accrue during the emergency or within a year after the end of the emergency. We wrote about why rent control is a bad idea (and prohibited under state law) here.

(More on the federal coronavirus aid bill here, here, here, here, here, and here.)