CT Real Estate Today July 2020 Edition

Lawsuit Filed Against Governor Ned Lamont Landlords Are Fighting Back Against Issued Executive Order “Cancel Rents, Cancel Mortgages, Ban Evictions, Everyone Lives for Free” Is this where we are headed?

July 2020

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FEATURED ARTICLES Page:

Landlord Spotlight: Landlords Fight Back! Lawsuit Against Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont Filed To Fight Issued Executive Order: A lawsuit has been filed against the Connecticut Governor who many landlords say is overstepping his authorities.

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What Is Your Password: Are you doing everything you can to keep your passwords and personal information secure?

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An Update From Mike Rell and the IGS Lobbying Team: With the Legislative Session abruptly halted, Mike Rell continues to keep CCOPO members and landlords informed on any news coming out of the Capitol.

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Proactive Lead Based Paint Practices: Maureen Monaco with Gilbertco Lead Inspections LLC gives us some useful advice on how to stay ahead of lead paint based issues that can arise. Be proactive, not reactive!

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News & Views From The Capitol - Sen. Sampson: "Please Don’t Use Special Session for Political Games.�: A state of emergency has been declared in Connecticut and with it the democratic process has ceased. Is our pandemic being used for political gain?

Predicted Tsunami of Evictions Will Not Happen Due To COVID-19: With the Connecticut Housing Court temporarily closed due to the pandemic, many landlords are forced to continue to house tenants that should have been evicted months ago.

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Publisher’s Message “ Helping Property Owners Since 1994” - Bob De Cosmo, President

The World Is Changing, Our Nation Divided - What Can We Do? Bob DeCosmo began purchasing and managing rental real estate in 1982 and is a strong advocate for private property ownership right's in Connecticut.

Published by CTPOA Our goals; Educate our members on “Best Practices” for maximum efficiency Increase profitability by lowering operating expenses via vendor discounts Provide access to “Core Services” needed to better manage and maintain properties

Our Team: Carmine DeCosmo Melissa DeCosmo Paul Jenney

What a great time it is in our lives right now to be alive!

We are witnessing a nation divided along political lines, the world battling a virus that has crippled the economy and killed thousands while we have protesters in our streets and our cities being burnt down.

America… you’ve got to love it because we can make choices and that’s what this great country is all about… your right to choose.

Democracy is not a spectator sport, you must get involved or risk losing your freedom and liberty that the brave men and women in this country have fought and died for.

Be the change you want to see in the world. It has to start somewhere.

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Landlords Fight Back!

Lawsuit Against Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont Filed To Fight Issued Executive Order By: David Haberfeld Covid has affected us all in various ways, and landlords and real estate professionals are no exception. Governor Lamont made the decision early, along with many other governors, to halt evictions so no one could be evicted. He didn’t want anyone to move or become homeless during this pandemic and it’s hard to argue that wasn’t the correct stance to take. Evictions are the sole recourse a landlord has to remove an abusive tenant. Halting evictions should have been enough to safeguard anyone and everyone from becoming homeless or having to move.

Lamont didn’t stop there though. Lamont decided to interfere with private contracts between landlords and tenants by suspending all late fees and allowing any tenants to use security deposits towards rent if requested. No proof required. I believe interfering with private contracts is in excess of Lamont’s powers because he can’t claim they made anyone safer during a health

emergency, because people already couldn’t be evicted remember? So what was the benefit? That a tenant would owe less when the eviction ban was lifted? I am unaware of any tenant where the late fees or the 1 month security deposit is going to make the difference between staying and going.

The reality of what happened was that the majority of landlords were working with Covid victims anyway. Landlords don’t make money on empty apartments, and we don’t want to lose a good tenant who is waiting for unemployment or had a temporary job loss.

We are working with them. And we’re very upset that we’re not able to evict the tenants who were already in eviction prior to the virus. Those people who should have been evicted have been given our apartments to stay in for free, without compensation by the governor and it’s wrong for the governor to order the taking of our units to house the public, even during a health crisis, without compensation. Not only do we have to pay our bills, to feed our employees and families, but we have to fix things when they break in these units and often pay utilities. We are essential, and we’re being forced to work for free in some of these cases. I know of no other industry where politicians have successfully forced people to work for free because of the virus, only housing providers.

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Again, Lamont didn’t stop there though, he then gave every renter in CT a long grace period if they couldn’t or didn’t pay; even if your job was unaffected; even if you make more during the virus than before it, whether working or on unemployment making $600 more per week due to Covid.

What is the benefit of this? Remember, no evictions can be filed or cases heard, so what is an extra grace period for? And why for people not affected by the virus? This can’t be attributed to public health either, because again, we already can’t evict.

What Lamont has proven to us beyond a reasonable doubt, is that he doesn’t understand how housing works. He doesn’t understand that this is an economic ecosystem and you can’t cut the income of hundreds of landlords in this manner and not expect there to be consequences.

Lamont’s actions are forcing desperate reactions among large and small landlords without the wherewithal to absorb this combined damage caused by the virus and his irresponsible executive orders.

So what kind of consequences are housing providers facing in CT today? Evictions are already slow in CT without the pandemic.

We are already known as a tenant friendly and unbalanced state, but now, without the ability to evict, landlords with too many units not paying are getting desperate. Scattered stories of landlords trying to make tenants “uncomfortable” are popping up. Landlords not paying their mortgages or other bills.

Hard working people racking up credit card debt, having their credit affected from missed payments. Landlords unable to make needed repairs, and landlords

watching what they’ve built start to slip away in front of their eyes. I can’t guess as to how many landlords are entering dire straits but I can tell you that nearly all of us are taking losses of one kind or another and most of it is avoidable with good policy from our state leadership, which doesn’t currently exist for housing providers.

This was a final straw for many of us. We had a meeting and discussed suing the governor. Is it possible? Could we win or force a negotiation? Several landlords and CCOPO, CTPOA, and CTREIA discussed our options. CTREIA is an educational organization and is not political in nature and although supportive, was not able to take direct action. CCOPO is a nonprofit that employs a lobbyist and had reason to believe they could negotiate with the governor’s office so they opted to go that route, which was unsuccessful despite their best efforts CTPOA was also unable to take direct action against the governor at that time. Bob DeCosmo introduced 3 housing providers to each other that he thought would make a good team. David Candelora, Naomi Freeman, and myself, David Haberfeld. We filed a lawsuit challenging Lamont in Federal court. We hired the same legal team that dealt Lamont a blow from CCDL when he violated the 2nd amendment with a different irresponsible executive order. I actually just met David Candelora for the first time in person last night (7-1420) at the Canoe club in Middletown. We shook hands, something almost none of us do anymore, because we know the virus has very low numbers in CT, and also because he already got sick and recovered, while working and providing free housing.

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It is amazing to us that we are suing our governor. We absolutely should never have to do this, but it’s our only course of action.

We are doing it for all landlords, not just ourselves. We have to show that we can fight back so the government can stop treating us like an inferior industry, like we don’t provide an important service, like we don’t matter.

the harder you make it for landlords to remove a bad tenant, the stricter we have to be with choosing who we let in, which is directly responsible for increased homelessness, which is the opposite of what our leaders claim to want, but their actions say otherwise, even if it’s through unintended consequences. Understanding that we are business people, small and large. Understanding that it’s not right to Please support us in our efforts. Please join make us work for free. But this isn’t the CTPOA who consistently fights for landlords leadership we have right now, and we can’t to be treated fairly. Please support this get them to listen to any of these concepts. lawsuit at http://landlordlegalfund.com. The legal costs are paid for by donations from We have to change that. landlords and others that support landlords and we appreciate the support we’ve Please pay attention to which political received which has been significant, but candidates understand housing, and want to know that you are not just paying to help us keep rents low and reduce homelessness pay for our lawsuit, you’re paying to defend and make sure to support them and vote for yourselves from a governor that says you them. Please spread the word. Please tell have to let people stay in your property for your tenants. Landlords and good tenants free which all of us should know is wrong. shouldn’t be at odds over any of these things. We all want lower rents. We all want If only we could help our leadership to give people chances. We all want to understand how housing works. Simple reduce homelessness. We all want fairness. concepts, like understanding that landlords pay 100% of their expenses with rental Maybe this lawsuit will be a first step towards income, so if you raise expenses on positive change and good policy. landlords through taxes, regulations, or We have a hearing for the emergency making evictions harder, you are raising injunction July 22nd. Please keep the faith rents on all tenants, and many of them are and watch for updates, and if you are getting the poor or the middle class that they claim beat up by the virus, by bad tenants, or by to want to help. A landlord filing an eviction is Lamont’s Executive Orders, I want you to not an action a landlord takes, it is a know, that you are not alone. reaction, landlords are the victims of eviction, not tenants. Understanding that landlords don’t make money on empty apartments, and so we want to fill them, and we don’t want to discriminate against anyone, except for tenants who wouldn’t pay or make bad neighbors. Understanding that

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Wha t i s Yo ur Pa s s wo r d?

By: Lukasz Pawlowski,

Head Programmer Tenant Tracks

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asswords are an indispensable part of using computers and mobile devices connected to the internet. We are using them on regular daily basis, almost everywhere: to our emails, bank accounts, cloud storage, account access; in work and at home. Some passwords are easier to guess than others. What should we do to keep our accounts and data secure?

Here are some ideas

Passwords Should be Long!

One of hacking methods is using so-called brute force attacks. They are based on guessing every password possible. Hackers can attempt to brute force either directly into a system, or – if they obtained data – on password hashes. So why is keeping passwords long important?

Imagine guessing every possible password, staring from 3 letters. It will go like this: aaa, aab, aac, aad and so on. For modern computers with fast GPU it will take one millisecond to try all combination of 3 letter words. On 5 chars with numbers it will take 1 second.

If we increase that number to 7 – It will take 29

minutes. With 8 chars it takes about 1 day, and with 9 chars it will take about 3 months. Of course, hackers can use botnets to greatly speed up this process, but you can see how necessary time to crack password is increased with each char. So let’s use long passwords!

Passwords Should Not be One Word Another method used by hackers is using a dictionary.

It means, that instead of going with each combination, like in previous example, hacker will only try words.

Dictionaries can be very general, like trying every word from Encyclopedia Britannica. The hacker can also break into your website using words actually used on the website itself.

But – be aware! Dictionary for hacker is only a base for password! This means, that hacker trying to get into a landlord website will not only try passwords like landlord, home, renting, but also their modifications, like taking your starting year – landlord1990 – or with combinations – like LandlordCT90. You can see, that last password – LandlordCT90 – is quite long, but it’s actually quite vulnerable to dictionary attack.

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Passwords are like tissues – should only be used once!

While considering password strength, two factors are considered most: one is password length, and second is amount of different characters used (like lower and upImagine a situation, while you have very strong passpercase, numbers, special signs etc). There is a thing word, but you are using it everywhere: for your bank accalled entropy, which is a measure of how unpredictable count, for your email, your smartphone, also for your PC password is. The higher entropy, the better. Without goaccount – but also for less meaningful things, like for ing into details of how to calculate entropy, let’s comautomotive forum or for browser game. While breaking pare a few passwords: first one will be Kate1990 – this into banking account is obviously much more complicatone has 8 letters, uppercase and numbers and is easy to ed, hackers also aim for less secured systems. Let’s say remember. Second is De$.F9c1 – this one is very hard to now, that browser game had a bug, that allowed the remember, but contains also special signs. And third one hacker to see the whole database – with your email and – Let-sPlayAt8AM – which is longer, contains uppercase, password inside. special char, number, and is fairly easy to remember.

You already know, that first password would be easy to guess because of it would be found in dictionary attack.

It’s entropy is actually 27 bits, which is very low and should never be used. Second password is slightly better – it’s entropy is 34 bits – although is very hard to remember and type. But third passwords’ entropy is 70 bits – it’s VERY strong and actually very easy to remember! For reference, for protecting bank account I would recommend using a password that has at least 60 bits of entropy – so this one qualifies.

What will happen next? The hacker will try, if this pass- Quick word also matches your email – of course it does! Then Summary he can go through your emails to find emails from your bank – like monthly statements – where your bank account number is present. And then, with both the bank- I hope this quick guide made it easier ing account and password, he can actually see all your for you to understand how you should construct your funds in your account! Scary – isn’t it? passwords and what you should remember about when To prevent that, my advice would be use different passconstructing good passwords, that you won’t forget. words everywhere. Of course, no one can remember If you are concerned now, that your password might’ve hundreds of passwords – in that case you should use password manager, like Keepass or 1password. If that is been compromised, you can try to check at https:// not a solution for you – then try making 3 different pass- haveibeenpwned.com/ . Of course, this guide doesn’t words, that you can remember – one for important, high- cover everything, it’s just a tip of an iceberg, but I think level things (like bank account), second for less important that from now on you will be able to make your data things (like email), and last one for things that have least even more secure. meaningful information (like browser games).

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On behalf of IGS, the lobbying firm of myself and former Connecticut Speaker of the House James Amann, we have been representing the interests CCOPO and that of small to medium sized landlords and property owners at the state capitol for the decade or so.

This past legislative session was convened in early February. There were a number of issues that were in the forefront we were monitoring on behalf of property owners. Namely strict liability for lead exposure, group daycare designations at multi family units and the biggest issue that was brought up in a number of legislative committees, that of the criminal look back of prospective tenants.

of property owners and landlords with the staff and officials. The biggest focus of conversation has been collection of rent.

With the rent payment moratorium in place until the end of August we have been advocating to have a funding mechanism in place through the state to set up payments directly to landlords for rent. Those details are currently being worked out.

Another impediment that landlords have unfortunately had to face is the closure of the courts and limitation for landlords to have the courts hear summary process arguments. COVID-19 is unfortunately a problem that is affecting the entire judicial system.

We are currently advocating to the judicial branch to open up virtual hearings to clear the docket so that the oldest cases can be heard first. It is their hope that virtual hearings will be conducted in the near future.

The IGS lobbying team will be updating CCOPO and its members with any developments as they occur. Please feel Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the free to reach out to me legislature abruptly halted legislative at mikerell@igovstrat.com with any business on March 12th. As the legislature questions or comments. was not in session and a declaration of a public health emergency was declared by Mike Rell the Governor, he had authority to govern Partner IGS through executive order. The focus at that point going forward for our lobbying efforts focused on keeping CCOPO members updated on Governor Lamont‘s executive orders and speaking to the Governor’s staff, agency officials and legislative leadership on implications of such executive orders.

Throughout this period, CCOPO has been at the table, virtually, advocating on behalf 12

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Proactive Lead Based Paint Practices

By Maureen Monaco – Gilbertco Lead Inspections LLC Nothing makes your heart stop like that registered letter from the local health department informing you that a child with lead poisoning has been identified living in your property. Is the child okay? Will he be okay in the long run? What did I do wrong?

Where exactly does the lead-based paint (LBP) exist on my property? On top of all this; you’ll soon find out the Local Housing Authority, following HUD protocol, is going to withhold payments until you make your property lead safe and abate the hazards AND you may be paying to relocate the family to a lead-safe locale until the work has been completed and cleared.

Lots of questions and a mad scramble for answers. The one thing that can’t be questioned though is the negative impact lead paint can have on a child’s life.

LBP can be a serious issue for landlords, housing authorities, and tenants alike.

Section 8 and other subsidized programs are a legal source of income and it is illegal to refuse tenancy to families with children.

A landlord cannot simply refuse a tenant because the apartment has lead paint present. Connecticut regulation requires kids to be tested for lead poisoning twice before they turn 3-years old. Now that HUD, under PIH Notice 2017-13 (HA), OHHLHC 2017-01, has lowered it’s baseline for identifying actionable blood lead levels in children to 5 micrograms /deciliter, it stands to reason that more children will be identified and more units will be flagged.

What happens if I find myself in this spot?

HUD regulations require a lead risk assessment to identify the LBP hazards.

This risk assessment must be performed by a CT DPH certified individual or, in some areas, local health may have the funding to complete the task. If defective LBP is confirmed during the risk assessment, then Connecticut’s Childhood Lead Poison Prevention regulation (19a 111 1-11) will kick in next to the already functioning HUD regulation. You will have to have the defective lead paint abated (and maybe the soil too). This often means having a lead abatement contractor remove and replace friction lead surfaces like windows and doors, permanently cover or remove LBP from non-friction surfaces, and a clean up to meet a rigorous lead-dust level clearance standard. Before the abatement work begins though, a lead abatement plan needs to be written, a historic notification needs to be made if the property is over 50 years old, and other child-occupied apartments in the building must be also be

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The experienced landlord will: 1. Hire a certified lead inspector to test for LBP when the apartment is vacant. You want a lead inspector who will do a surface by surface inspection and identify LBP with an XRF (nondestructive testing!).

An XRF evaluates the paint to identify if LBP is present in any of the layers. Once you know where the LBP is you can develop a game plan.

2. Use an EPA certified RRP contractor to safely renovate LBP hazards - No doubt about it- replace those old windows- This should be a top priority.

- Replace interior doors with prehung door components. Unless the doors are architecturally significant, replacement is so much more cost efficient than scraping the paint off, retesting the door for complete paint removal, and repainting.

- Exterior trim commonly contains high amounts of LBP. Remove and replace trim or wrap it with aluminum coil stock. Encapsulate exterior lead painted clapboard with vinyl siding or liquid encapsulants. State approved encapsulants are an excellent way of reducing hazards dramatically.

- Baseboards can be boxed out, covered over with new wood, or eliminated.

3. Removing potential hazards.

- Eliminate any painted trim when possible. I remember the building inspector laughing when he saw stained trim around a window. No one stains wood anymore- it’s out of date, he said. Ah, but its new and won’t peel or chip. Sacrifice aesthetics for safety if you have an older apartment with a high turnover rate. Those hallway corners or ceilings that get damaged every time a bed or table comes or goes- add a sheet of FRP wall paneling that can absorb the impact rather than patch a crumbling plaster wall over and over. Eliminate any trim when possible, put corner guards up – whether plastic or decorative wood. They prevent damage. Unpainted quarter round at the base of a painted baseboard may eliminate damage from moving furniture.

- Eliminate any bare soil areas around the perimeter of the home, water runoff areas or drip edges. Walk ways and mulched areas with restrictive bushes will keep children away from potentially hazardous soil. Cement, asphalt, 4-6 inches of mulch, gravel, good quality grass or acceptable ground covering.

- Install curtain rod holders and blinds so tenants aren’t removing and installing their own and creating damaged window trim.

- Sheetrock over deteriorated painted surfaces.

- Rubber mats secured to stair treads

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4. Make cleaning easier

paint their apartment will protect you from a potentially disastrous situation.

- Eliminating carpets, and rough surfaces can make Swiffer cleaning and wet mopping so much more efficient. Provide tenants with a Swiffer and a mop Property ownership comes with a variety bucket and actually write on the of responsibilities and can be financially mop bucket- “ Dump dirty water in disastrous if proactive steps are not toilet- Not the kitchen sink” - Hardwood floors can be made smooth with a new layer of polyurethane. Wide plank floors with gaps can have the gaps filled with string or filler and covered with many coats of poly.

- Porch floors can be repainted with a variety of newer, heavier paints to make a smoother surface that is easier to clean. Adding a rubber mat to wipe feet is ideal.

- Providing an area where tenants can enter the apartment, take off their shoes and hang a coat will prevent and exterior contaminants from coming into the apartment.

5. Retest to insure proper cleanup.

- A visual inspection of a previously tested apartment and dust wipes can assure proper cleanup and identify the apartment or property as lead safe.

6. Remaining Lead Based Painted surfaces can be listed on a Management Plan and checked seasonally, annually, or upon apartment turnover. These listed items should be given to the tenant with your Disclosure Form- Section 1018 of Title X. Additionally, talking to tenants about lead concerns, and adding verbiage to your lease clearly stating that a tenant cannot

taken. Background checks and credit scores can tell you about prospective tenants but what does a lead safe apartment tell about you?

Please feel free to contact CT DPH for any specific questions or concerns at: 860-509-7299 or https:// portal.ct.gov/DPH Lead Base Paint Inspection and Compliance •

Prepurchase Inspections

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Insurance Certificates

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Day Care Licensing

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Demolition

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Pre-Renovation

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Child Lead Poisoning GilbertCo 287 Main Street, Ansonio CT 06401 1-800-959-2985

Maureen Monaco - Consultant Contractor #270, Lead Inspector Risk Assessor #1172, Project Planner / Lead Designer #2152, Lead Abatement Supervisor #2383

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Possibly more egregious, the Secretary of the State has taken this public health crisis and used it as a means to push her mail-in voting plan by cleverly utilizing the universal support for allowing COVID-19 to be added to the list Since the Governor declared a state of public of eligible reasons to obtain an absentee health and civil preparedness emergencies in ballot.

March, I have been forced to watch a slow but Now the legislature is to be called into Special nearly complete breakdown and discarding of Session before the end of July. At first, we the democratic process in Connecticut. were told just one bill to allow for “covid

Sen. Sampson: "Please Don’t Use Special Session for Political Games.”

The regular legislative session was cut short, and while the lawmaking process was thankfully brought to a complete stop, there have been numerous attempts to make sweeping changes to state policy while avoiding the legislative process.

The Governor deserves some credit for his early handling of the Covid-19 pandemic but slowly but surely, he has continued to take increasing advantage of the crisis to move a more political agenda.

Aside from issuing over 60 executive orders, many of which reach far beyond protecting public health, he created a myriad of publicprivate partnerships which enjoy the power of an executive branch agency but have "immunity" from transparency requirements like FOIA. He also hired a COVID-19 consulting firm at huge taxpayer expense in a state that is only treading financial water with borrowed monies.

voting.” Then it was two, and now they are talking about as many as four bills to be discussed.

More and more I fear we are moving away from doing the people’s business and focusing on the emergency policy we genuinely need and instead into the realm of political gamesmanship before the November election.

The “covid voting” bill needs to be simple and clear and stick to nothing more than what we all agree to – which is that COVID-19 should be made an acceptable reason for voting by absentee.

Unfortunately, as we get closer, the writing is forming on the wall. The bill will include a number of additional longstanding Democratic agenda items and sanctify the Secretary of State’s massive breach of protocol and authority.

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She and Governor Lamont have taken it upon themselves, without legislative action, to violate the state constitution, and the will of the voters based on a ballot question voted on only a few short years ago, to send an absentee ballot application to each and every person on the voter rolls – at great expense to taxpayers, and with complete disregard for how many people are listed multiple times, already passed on, moved to another state, or are not properly listed at all.

the language including my perennial proposal to eliminate the ability of the union contracts to supersede state freedom of information laws (funny how those who fought me tooth and nail on this are now proposing it themselves). Unfortunately, that one good provision pales in comparison to the bad parts of this package.

You can see clearly how the politics works.

Take something that both Republicans and Democrats both agree on that has strong public support and then tack on your own agenda items that Republicans simply cannot abide by and voila!, now you have a wedge issue where you can claim Republicans voted against helping people vote. I can hear it all now.

personally and know that they are absolute professionals and would be the first ones to condemn any racist or abusive behavior.

Obviously, I oppose any racism and violence by anyone, including law enforcement and would gladly support a bill designed to Already, there are dozens of reports of people receiving multiple ballot applications, prevent and punish such behavior. Of those of previous residents and all manner of course, there is nothing like that in the bill at irregularities. Couldn’t we have just done an all. Instead, it is more regulations, more costs to our towns (aka defunding the police), ad campaign to make sure CT residents and also an insult to the vast majority who do understand how to vote by absentee and their job with honor and integrity. shared the process? Of course, we could have - but that would not allow the chaos that What happened in MN is not a reflection on we are currently witnessing. our local police. I know many officers

This is a bad bill and I am a hard no on it.

Of course, all this is happening largely as a distraction to the real issue at hand which is the incredible devastation looming regarding our state’s financial outlook. Let me be the first to remind you that if the makeup of the Even worse than this gamesmanship is the state’s legislature remains the same with other proposition we are sure to face which Democrats in charge, there will not even be a they are calling the “police accountability bill.” hint of spending reductions or cost cutting. It will be just more taxes for the already overYou can count on me to vote NO on this terrible proposal. This bill seeks to decimate taxed hardworking people I represent. You can count on me to stay vigilant and stand law enforcement as we know it, first by against it. eliminating qualified immunity, and then by limiting police officer’s role in protecting and State Senator Rob Sampson serving – instead attempting to reduce their ability to react as trained professionals, and www.senatorsampson.com even replacing them with social workers.

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Predicted Tsunami of Evictions Will Not Happened Due To COVID-19 - By: Bob DeCosmo “Cancel Rents, Cancel Mortgages, Ban Evictions, Everyone Lives for Free” are statements being made around the country as many states have enacted measures to prevent people from being displaced during the COVID outbreak.

2,200 a month in Massachusetts.

You would expect some justification for locking down the housing courts for so long and allowing many problem tenants to live rent free while terrorizing the other residents in their buildings. Such justification is not there according to the National Multifamily Housing Council that tracks rental payments for over 11 million units. According to the statistics they’ve collected most tenants are still paying their rent and the drop-off in rent payments that had been predicted never came to be.

putting these owners through hell! Consider Judith C, a single mom trying to raise two daughters who called me for help. She came from Jamaica, worked hard, saved money, and bought a 3-family property in Bristol. She rented to a young woman who was on an assistance program and said she was trying to turn her life around. Once the renter moved in, the tenant broke the program rules which ended the rental payment for the unit and the agency paying the rent won’t return any calls. There hasn’t been a rent payment since October of 2019.

Unfortunately, many renters have learned how to navigate through the legal system and can usually find some well-intentioned property owner that doesn’t thoroughly screen perspective renters – they Some states simply relied on the federal guidelines hand over the keys to the unit and the tenant gets a that protected properties and occupants with federal free ride until they are taken to court. What is worse assistance such as FHA or rental subsidies but in is many of these tenants are judgment proof and Connecticut and Massachusetts, two of the more their unpaid rent will never be recovered. tenant friendly states, they have enacted policies to With the courts closed the real problem is for the protect all tenants. As a result, both states are being owner-occupied properties where some tenants have sued. lived since last year without paying rent – they are

What is clear now is both CT and MA have created artificial backlog of cases that should have flowed through the system which will now horrendously backup the housing court dockets until early next year - delaying justice for property owners.

When states began closing in March the economy was booming but there was still a normal flow of evictions through the courts. The normal amount is about 1,500 evictions a month in Connecticut and

In December, the tenant’s boyfriend was released from prison and moved in along with the drug culture. Now she must deal with heroin syringes in the hallways as well a ton of foot traffic until the early morning hours. She now has to escort her two young daughters down their own hallways while carrying a loaded gun as she is now living in fear for her family’s safety – in the property she OWNS!

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Her court date was scheduled for April to remove the nightmare tenants, but her case date was postponed and now cancelled due to the housing court being closed. There should have been provisions to remove serious nuisance renters and dangerous tenants from these properties, but they can’t even take these cases now because the Connecticut courts are closed. The system has failed Judith and all other landlords in the same situation as her.

We are in tough times but much of this could have been easier if more common sense had been introduced into some of the decision-making process. If legislators had a better understanding of what is really going on at the street level and did not listening to advocates, lobbyists and lawyers that have no real experiences dealing with rental property much of this could have been avoided.

We are hoping our Connecticut Courts open in September, but in Massachusetts they are considering extending their eviction moratorium for one year and currently have a Legislative Proposal (HD 5166) moving forward in its Legislature. The courts in Massachusetts are currently scheduled to reopen on October 18th but something tells me that this can and will be kicked further down the road past the upcoming election.

Pictured Left: Landlords Rally in Boston on July 15 to oppose the 12 month RentCancellation Proposal.

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The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s Rent Payment Tracker found 87.6 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by July 13 in its survey of 11.4 million units of professionally managed apartment units across the country.

This is a 2.5-percentage point decrease from the share who paid rent through July 13, 2019 and compares to 89.0 percent that had paid by June 13, 2020. These data encompass a wide variety of market-rate rental properties across the United States, which can vary by size, type and average rental price.

"The government support, including unemployment benefits, that has proven so important to so many apartment residents expires at the end of the month," said Doug Bibby, NMHC President.

"Lawmakers need to continue to protect the individuals and families that call an apartment home. If action isn’t taken now we risk making the nation’s housing affordability challenges far worse, rolling back the initial economic recovery and putting tens of millions at risk of greater health and financial distress."

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Landlord Enters Politics

But let’s start with the critical issues like our own backyard and the fact the we, as residents of West Hartford and the State of Connecticut, pay some of the highest By: Rick Bush property taxes in New England. According to the Yankee Institute “As a percentage of An excerpt from a statement by Rick Bush housing value, Connecticut homeowners now pay 20 percent more than New Yorkers (pictured and almost 50 percent more than their right), a Massachusetts peers,” landlord, Realtor, Social welfare issues are critical to the property success of any society and to create manager and opportunity is the apex of achievement for now a any politician, but a representative from any candidate for district needs to look out for their State constituents first.

RepresentaIt’s time for someone to represent the true tive running interests of the voters in the 18th district against Jillian who will also fight to keep Connecticut a Gilcrest for viable and attractive state for businesses, the 18th property owners and residents and who will District not increase the tax burden, who will fight House seat to reduce the size and cost of government serving West and vote to reduce the cost of living in Hartford.

Connecticut.

Where is our It’s time to elect a representative who has current State Representative and why is she actual experience running businesses, not fighting for the residents in her district? hiring employees, solving problems and not Her policies have been primarily socially someone with ideals out of touch with her well-meaning but unfortunately misdirected. own constituents who turns a blind eye to In the current economic climate, our the problems in her own back yard. representative must aim to improve the state of the state and bring experience in solving problems to help us recover from Publisher’s Note: We encourage the current economic slump as well as more landlords and realtors to step represent the constituents of the 18th up and run for public office.

District. We need to fight for and vote for the issues that face us in our district as well as the state of Connecticut.

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What’s Happening Near You? The Statewide Events and Meetings calendar is a resource for local landlords and property owners to meet up, network and grow your real estate opportunities.

Get Involved, Stay Informed.

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Update On Future Events.

Due to COVID-19 CTPOA will not be hosting any in person events for the foreseeable future. We hope to start filling in our calendars again for September! If you or your organization is hosting an event or virtual meeting please let us know by emailing us at media@ctpoa.com and we will put you into the Event Calendar. Stay safe!

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A special thank you to our participating REALTOR Boards for circulating CT Real Estate Today to their members.

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CT Real Estate Today allows you to hit your target audience for all things real estate.

Contact us at

Becom

info@ctpoa.com

The Connectic of experienced p working together

ADVERTISE WITH US!

Fol

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me a CTPOA Member Visit: https://ctpoa.com/

cut Property Owners Alliance is composed property managers, REALTORS and landlords to improve the business conditions for rental property owners.

llow CTPOA: https://www.facebook.com/CTPOA/

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