We have been receiving a lot of questions from our homeowners in regard to the guidelines for evictions that came down from HUD and the Maryland Governors office.
Question 1, Can a tenant continue to live in my home during the pandemic if they do not pay rent?
The answer is Yes. All evictions are halted and they can stay in your home until the governor clears the order.
Question 2, Does this mean there are no consequences for tenants not paying rent?
Absolutely not. Just because evictions are halted does not mean rent is not due. There are the actions you can take:
1. You can still file the eviction paperwork with the courts. The court processors are still working, trials are just delayed. So there will be a record in the court system that rent has not been paid that other landlords can find through case search or a records check. Once the system returns to normal the case will be scheduled and the full balance of unpaid rent will be due.
2. You can report delinquent tenants to the credit reporting agencies if they do not pay. This will affect credit scores accordingly negative or positive depending on payment history. Real Property Management Gold does report to the credit monitoring agencies.
3. Just because evictions are cancelled does not mean rent is not due. You can still charge the full balance and late fees if applicable. Once the crisis is over you can pursue collections for the balance due.
The policy of Real Property Management Gold is to continue to follow our collections policies, unless the tenant contacts our office and provides information showing that they are unable to pay directly due to the crisis. At this point we will evaluate on case by case basis and make recommendations to the property owner on a fair and ethical way forward. Our goal is to handle this situation with empathy and fairness for both our owners and tenants.
If your worried about your tenant not paying rent in this crisis Real Property Management Gold does offer SureVestor insurance which will reimburse you for non payment of rent if the tenant gets evicted or defaults.
We hope this helps and if you have any further questions please contact our office at 301-392-2172 or use the webform below.
Please stay safe and we look forward to getting back to normal as soon as possible.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
