Let's start off with the latest news on ERAP. New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Friday that the Emergency Rental Assistance Program would shut down Sunday, November 14 at 10 PM. Due to all the money already being distributed. A formal request by the New York Congressional Delegation was sent to the U.S Treasury for $996 million in order to fulfill the need of the 110,657 applications still pending. Although a lot of renters did not fill out an application, according to CHIP under the state's Tenant Safe Harbor Act, renters who failed to pay rent due to financial hardship during the pandemic cannot be evicted for those arrears, but landlords can seek a money judgment.
Switching gears, The City of Ithaca has hit pause on the “Good Cause” Eviction bill. According to CHIP, the Common Council is uncertain of the long term effect of the bill. They are awaiting guidance from the New York State Attorney General's office. Several other cities have passed the bill without double checking with the AG's office first. It will be interesting to see what the decision is.
The New York Post, posted an article about a Long Island resident who had been living over 23 years without paying his mortgage. Guramrit Hanspal bought his home back in October of 1998 for $290,000 with a down payment of $58,000. He made his first mortgage payment of $1,602.37 and then never made one again. The house was foreclosed in 2000. Over the years Mr. Hanspal filed four lawsuits and seven bankruptcy cases which automatically paused any and all attempts to evict him. During the pandemic he also claimed COVID-19 financial hardship. Law enforcement has tried to evict him multiple times but were always unsuccessful. That all changed Friday morning when the Nassau County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the property to change out the locks. The house was sold back in 2018 to Diamond Ridge Partners. They offered Mr.Hanspal $20,000 to leave, instead he filed for bankruptcy again. It is unclear where Hanspal and the other occupants have gone to but this goes to show that evictions do not happen as quick and smooth as everyone seems to think it does.
