[WSBARP] [WSBARP Digest] evictions, UD and available housing

[Kary Krismer]

> On 1/23/23 17:46, Andrew Hay wrote:
>>  Landlords are invariably more wealthy than tenants.

One of the things I learned from practicing bankruptcy is the party that 
is owed money is not necessarily more financially secure than the party 
that owes the money.  That was one of the problems I had with the Covid 
renter relief that was put into effect.  To be entitled to the relief 
the tenant did not have to make any showing that they were in any way 
impacted by Covid.  And the landlord was offered no opportunity to show 
they were suffering severe harm.  This was very unlike bankruptcy court 
where the court will consider the harm imposed on the creditor from 
continuation of the stay.  During Covid it's entirely possible a tenant 
not paying rent was employed by Amazon for $150,000 a year, working at 
home, and in no way financially adversely affected by Covid.  But their 
landlord would have been prohibited from any form of court relief.

But as to this point, landlords do end up in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  One 
of my clients early on moved here from out of state after the real 
estate market in his area collapsed.  He owned four or five rental 
houses, as I recall, and lost them all and filed Chapter 7.  And I've 
seen others moving for relief from stay where they were retired and 
needing the rental money for their living expenses.  The court would 
take that into account in rendering a decision.

Kary L. Krismer
206 723-2148
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