Within the last week, six federal government agencies took action to extend mortgage foreclosure and eviction moratoriums. Here is what you need to know.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Eviction Moratorium: An emergency order by the CDC bans evictions from residential rental properties effective Sept. 4. The order covers all states, territories, and possessions of the U.S. (except American Samoa), and expires Dec. 31.
Under the order, no owner of a leased residential property may evict a tenant based on nonpayment of rent and other costs if nonpayment is attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Arizona, California, Delaware, Illinois, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington, and Washington, D.C. have eviction moratoriums in effect. For the states without an existing eviction moratorium, the CDC order will apply.
Since most community associations aren’t landlords and do not use eviction processes (except as allowed by Illinois statute), the eviction moratorium does not apply directly to associations. It is important to know of these eviction moratoriums to help community associations understand potential cash flow impact on investor-owned properties within the community.
Federal Housing Finance Agency – Foreclosure Moratorium: To help borrowers at risk of losing their home due to the pandemic, the FHFA announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will extend the moratoriums on single-family foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) evictions until at least Dec. 31. The foreclosure moratorium applies to enterprise-backed, single-family mortgages only. The REO eviction moratorium applies to properties that have been acquired by an enterprise through foreclosure or deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure transactions.
FHFA will continue to monitor the effects of the coronavirus on the mortgage industry and update its policies as needed.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Agriculture – Foreclosure Moratorium: All four of these agencies guarantee or insure mortgages and have extended their mortgage foreclosure moratorium and related evictions through Dec. 31.
Florida, Nevada, New York, and Washington D.C. have foreclosure moratoriums on all foreclosures, including those by community associations.
The CAI Board of Trustees has approved an extension of the Community Association Moratorium on Foreclosure Actions to Dec. 31, 2020.
For a list of all eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, visit www.caionline.org/Pages/covid19gov.aspx.
