Can’t pay rent or mortgage? Send a City Life letter to your landlord or mortgage company
READ THIS FIRST:
The Massachusetts eviction and foreclosure moratorium bill was signed into law on April 20, 2020 and is set to expire on October 17, 2020. It prohibits evictions at all stages, from notice quit to court action to seeking executions to evict. It prevent foreclosures and offers a forbearance plan for resident owners of 1-4 unit buildings.
This law is a big win! You can’t be evicted even if you can’t pay. But, we encourage you to send a letter to your landlord of mortgage company explaining in very simple terms that you can’t pay due to COVID-19.
DOWNLOAD letter templates here.
On this page of the City Life website you can find templates or samples of letters to send to your landlord or bank if you can't pay the rent or mortgage during this crisis. They are in English (clvu.org/covid19) and Spanish (clvu.org/covid19_español)
- There is one letter designed for tenants whose landlord is absentee and/or a real estate corporation.
- There is a separate letter designed for tenants whose landlord lives in the same building, an owner occupant. We try to build unity between tenants and resident small owners.
- There is one letter designed for homeowners to send to their mortgage or servicing company or bank.
These letter templates are now on City Life Vida Urbana stationery. That is done to show that you are connected to a larger movement. If you use the letters as they are or with small changes, we encourage you to leave them on CLVU stationery.
The letter templates are also cc'd to City Life. That can be done by sending them to [email protected]. We encourage you to do that so that we can build the movement. When the immediate state of emergency is over, landlords and banks will start eviction and foreclosure proceedings. We want to make sure there is legislation in place to forgive or pay off this debt. We will need your support! So send a copy of your letter to us so we can contact you later by email.
Our movement is one that combines tenants and small owners. Therefore, we are supporting relief for small owners who need to pay their mortgage and relief for tenants who can't pay their rent.
Information on EOHED forms (state forms to send to your landlord):
The State Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) has produced a detailed, 6-page form that you can use, if you wish, to show that you can’t pay rent due to COVID-19.
Most important! The moratorium bill bans almost all evictions and foreclosures during the State of Emergency. This form is NOT necessary at all to get that eviction protection. Repeat: EOHED's form is not necessary to get the moratorium eviction protection.
The only issues are (1) late fees (if you have a lease) and (2) credit reports. If you want moratorium protection against being assessed late fees or the landlord affecting your credit report, then you need to say that your inability to pay rent was due to Covid19.
The form is one way to do that. The form is very invasive though, asking detailed questions about income. If you do not wish to use it, send our letter with a much simpler statement that you couldn’t pay rent due to Covid19. Even if you do use the form, send our letter also for reasons noted above.
Thank you! Stay safe during this crisis.