Despite moratorium, some eviction cases moving forward

Feb. 28—For landlords like Dan Warakomski, managing properties during a global pandemic that has cost some tenants their livelihoods has been a challenge.

Warakomski, 70, maintains roughly 50 units in Kingston and Nanticoke. Since the pandemic began, his normal duties of managing the properties have been supplemented by tasks like reminding tenants to check up on the status of their unemployment benefit applications.

"Every month it's not only stressful for them, because they don't want to be evicted, but I don't want to evict them," Warakomski said.

A review of court records revealed that despite a nearly year-long ban on rent-based evictions, more than 800 renters in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties either already lost their housing or remain in danger of being evicted.

Several state and federal eviction moratoriums helped reduce the number of eviction cases, but they did not protect everyone.

Area magistrates and housing officials said some people lost their chance to stave off eviction because they did not follow the procedure required to enact the safety net. In other cases they violated lease conditions, freeing landlords to take action against them.

A review of court cases shows that of the 377 landlord-tenant cases magistrates handled in Wilkes-Barre, Kingston and Nanticoke between Sept. 1 to Jan. 31, the judges ruled in favor of the landlords in 215 cases for a total of $443,766 in overdue rent.

The amounts ranged from as little as zero in unpaid rent for tenants living in public housing to as much as $12,000 overdue.

Of the remaining cases, 102 are still active and the rest were either decided in favor of the tenant, settled, dismissed or withdrawn.

The situation was similar in Lackawanna County, where the four district magistrate judges that cover Scranton and Dunmore awarded a little more than $1 million in back rent in 418 cases out of 513 cases for which they held hearings.

A rent relief program scheduled to open up in March in Luzerne County promises to provide much needed assistance. The county received nearly $9.5 million in federal funding to help tenants who lost their job or income because of the coronavirus pandemic pay back rent and utilities.

Housing officials said they remain concerned by the number of cases that have pending evictions orders that can be acted upon as soon as the latest eviction moratorium ends.

Renters have been protected by several evictions bans implemented within the past year. Gov. Tom Wolf first issued an eviction ban in March that lasted until Aug. 31. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention twice extended the moratorium, first to Dec. 31, then Jan. 31. Most recently, President Joe Biden extended it again until March 31.

The moratoriums were codified locally by Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough, who signed an order Sept. 4 staying all evictions for nonpayment of rent for those earning less than $99,000 and couples earning less than $198,000 — providing they signed a declaration asserting they have suffered a substantial loss of income or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses.

The moratoriums helped reduce the number of eviction cases in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties in 2020 compared to 2019. In Wilkes-Barre, Kingston and Nanticoke, for example, there were 377 landlord-tenant filings between Sept. 1 to Jan. 31, compared with 534 during the same period a year ago.

Hundreds of people still face the threat of imminent eviction once the moratorium ends, however, because judges continued to hear cases and enter judgments against tenants while the moratorium was in effect.

Authorities say cases were allowed to proceed for two primary reasons:

The CDC moratorium halted evictions for nonpayment of rent, but does not protect people whose leases have expired or if they violated their lease for other reasons, such as damaging the property or having unauthorized people live there.

The moratorium had several other conditions attached, including requiring the tenant sign an affidavit attesting they could not pay rent because due to financial hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic and that they would make a good faith effort to pay something. Even then, landlords could still file to recoup past due rent and/or money to cover damages to their property.

"The CDC order stops evictions. It does not necessarily stop a hearing," said Lori Molloy, executive director of North Penn Legal Services, a nonprofit group that provides legal aid to indigent people. "You still have people on the verge of eviction."

'Landlords are taking a beating'

Court records show that in Luzerne County, magisterial district judges Thomas F. Malloy Sr., Rick Cronauer, James J. Haggerty and Donald L. Whittaker granted landlords possession in 124 of the 377 cases they handled and ordered possession be granted if the judgment was not satisfied in another 90 cases.

Vough, the president judge, said the CDC moratorium only covers nonpayment of rent for COVID-related reasons, and said that in Luzerne County, the evictions involved tenants who violated the terms of their leases, such as damaging the property or having extra people or pets in the apartment.

"The granted evictions for people are in violation of lease terms, but not solely based on nonpayment of rent," Vough said.

In order for tenants to qualify for protection under the CDC order, they must raise the financial issue and sign a declaration saying they can't make rent for reasons related to the pandemic.

Lackawanna County judges varied on whether they would advise tenants about the moratorium if they did not know. But Vough said magistrates in Luzerne County should be informing tenants about it and providing the declaration for them to sign.

"That's part of our criteria. When a landlord-tenant (case) is filed, if the tenant appears you give him the form and say, 'Here's what you have to do,'" Vough said. "At that point, it's up to the magistrate to make a decision regarding going forward with the case."

In Nanticoke, Whittaker said that he's stopped accepting new landlord-tenant filings as a result of the moratorium.

"It's fruitless, because I can't even serve the landlord-tenant with the notice to quit," Whittaker said. "It's not going to get them out any quicker, and they're not going to receive any money."

He said he knows of dozens of landlords who are waiting to initiate eviction actions when the moratorium is eventually lifted.

"Quite frankly, the landlords are taking a beating," Whittaker said. "They still have the same bills. They still have the same responsibilities. They have to make the repairs as necessary to protect their financial interests. And the tenants know that they can basically live there for free. And that's what they are doing. A lot of landlords I've had come to the window have not had a check since last March."

Magisterial District Judge Paul Ware, whose office covers north Scranton and Dunmore, stressed that not all the people under eviction orders have lost their housing. Those being evicted for nonpayment only could still stay the process at any time if they submitted the CDC affidavit, even if it was after the judgment was already entered, he said. Ware said he had multiple cases in which constables went to homes to evict people, only to have to turn away because they showed they had presented the affidavit.

Molloy said such cases illustrate the importance for tenants to seek out legal advice prior to a hearing. North Penn Legal Services provides attorneys free of charge to people who meet income guidelines, but many people do not know about the service.

The biggest mistake tenants make is not showing for the hearing, which results in a default judgment against them, Molloy said. Molloy said the tenants often see the situation as hopeless and just give up.

"People realize they have a terrible problem," she said. "They know they are behind in rent . . . They see it as, 'I can't afford my rent. What can I do?' They get scared and don't know what to do."

It's not known how many of the cases were default judgments because that information is not noted on the court docket sheets.

Help is on the way

Molloy said she's hopeful the newly enacted rent relief program funded by the federal government will prevent a tidal wave of evictions from occurring.

Luzerne County officials are working to set up the application process and say they hope to have it up and running by mid-March.

To qualify, renters have to show they suffered a pandemic-related income loss and cannot earn more than 80% of the median income for their region.

The rental assistance program is the second one to be offered. Last year, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act offered federal funding that also went to assist landlords and tenants.

Warakomski said that funding helped some of his tenants bridge the gap.

"We do have people that are behind, but there's no CARES Act anymore," he said. "If we could get some help from the government, everything's going to work out right in the end."

Warakomski said he's got about six tenants behind on rent, and that all of them are behind because they were either laid off or lost their businesses due to the pandemic.

"Right now I have no deadbeats," he said. "I am working with all my tenants."

Some are paying their monthly rent in installments, and Warakomski said he's OK with that if it helps them afford food and medical care.

For many of the affected tenants, the problem is trying to get through to the state to begin collecting unemployment benefits, he said.

"I have no plan on ever evicting them," Warakomski said. "Hopefully everything will work out with their unemployment."

The news of the next round of federal money allotted toward rental assistance, which is being delivered via the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, has landlords like Warakomski hopeful that they will be able to get some relief.

"We're hoping the landlords will be able to get their tenants on that list and that the money will be there to pay their back rent," he said. "We all have to think positive and we all have to help each other get through this. And we will."

Contact the writers: jhalpin@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2058

tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT