Rent is due today for most residential and commercial rental units across Massachusetts, over 50 days into stay-at-home advisories and closures of non-essential businesses for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic
The result has some landlords worried about their financial health, industry leaders say.
A recent survey of MassLandlords members showed about 20 percent believed they would not be able to pay all of their bills for the month, Executive Director Doug Quattrochi said, and another 5 percent were listing their properties for sale or planning to relocate their investments out-of-state. While only around 10 percent of the units covered by the organization’s RentHelper proptech platform had unpaid rent in April, Quattrochi says the organization fears that could increase substantially each month as the state’s economy continues to crater. The number of first-time unemployment claims filed in Massachusetts since the coronavirus crisis began is now equal to one-quarter of the state’s workforce.
“Cashflow is going to be brutal,” said Greater Boston Real Estate Board Executive Director Greg Vasil, citing intensive cleaning bills created by the coronavirus pandemic and some municipalities’ May 1 property tax deadlines.
Both Quattrochi and Vasil said their members report a wide spectrum of reactions among their members, with some completely sanguine and others extremely tense.
“Everyone is holding their breath,” Vasil said.
Lurking in the background are fears the sweeping bill Gov. Charlie Baker signed two weeks ago banning evictions during the coronavirus pandemic could encourage even tenants who still have jobs to not make their May rent payments, Quattrochi and Vasil said. There have even been calls by some progressive activists to hold a nation-wide rent strike, although local activist groups have focused much of their messaging this week on educating tenants on their rights under the eviction freeze.
The eviction bill also contains limited mortgage forbearance protections for landlords who live in their properties, provided they bought the property with a residential loan and the property is between one and four units. In addition, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have offered forbearance for multifamily mortgages that they back. However, both Vasil and Quattrochi said neither provision offers aid to the vast majority of landlords who will be faced with rapidly mounting mortgage bills and severely limited income.
“Everyone is holding their breath,” Vasil said. “I just fear [landlords] are going to be collateral damage in this.”
Republican Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr has filed a bill to allow for mortgage forbearance during the pandemic for residential and commercial property that generates rental income if the owners have seen that income drop by more than 50 percent. The bill, SD.2909, sits in the Financial Services Committee awaiting action.
