The CARES Act covers more than one in four rentals.[1] Contrary to a widely held misconception, provisions of the CARES Act applicable to rentals continue to apply and are not set to ever expire.[2]
The CARES Act requires landlords to serve a 30-day notice before a tenant may be required to vacate. The language in the CARES Act does not require the landlord to provide an opportunity to cure.
State law requires landlords to serve a 14-day notice to pay rent or vacate. The precise language is mandated by state law and provides that the tenant must either pay the rent due or in the alternative vacate the rental property within 14 days.
The Court of Appeals recently held that landlords must alter the mandatory 14-day notice language to grant tenants 30 days to either pay or vacate, despite the absence of language in the CARES Act granting tenants any time to cure defaults. The Court reversed the lower court and ordered the eviction case be dismissed.[3]
The CARES Act covers, among other rental properties, any property with a federal-backed loan (FHA, Fannie Mae, etc.) or Section 8 tenants.
The CARES Act moratorium applied only to nonpayment evictions. Other evictions could still go forward during the moratorium. The CARES Act language imposes the 30-day notice requirement after the moratorium expired in 2021. Since the moratorium applied only to nonpayment eviction, the post-moratorium 30-day notice requirement should likewise only apply to nonpayment eviction. This remains an open legal question, however.
Landlord-tenant and eviction laws are more complex and nuanced than ever before. Landlords are strongly encouraged to retain an attorney at the earliest stages of an eviction. Failure to do so may result in an unsuccessful eviction and having to repeat the process at greater expense of time and money.
[1] According to estimates by the Urban League. See https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/cares-act-eviction-moratorium-covers-all-federally-financed-rentals-thats-one-four-us-rental-units#:~:text=The%20CARES%20Act’s%20eviction%20protection,operational%20impediments%20to%20this%20relief.
[2] The eviction moratorium expired in 2021, but the post-moratorium 30-day notice requirement does not have an expiration.
[3] This law firm did not participate the case that was appealed. The case is Sherwood Auburn LLC v. Pinson, ____ Wn.App. ____ (84119-0-I 12/5/2022).
