Paul Bass File Photo
Legal aid attorney Yonatan Zamir: Landlord’s actions “unconscionable.”
A judge sent a local mega-landlord to mediation with a tenant who owes back rent, after the tenant’s lawyer called “unconscionable” the landlord’s refusal to let the tenant benefit from emergency public aid.
The landlord, in turn, argued that it shouldn’t have to wait years to get paid, or wait for government programs to pay only part of the bill.
State housing court Judge Claudia Baio made that decision after a debate over the use of emergency programs in eviction cases.
That debate took place during a virtual court hearing this past Thursday in an ongoing eviction case involving landlord Mandy Management, under the auspices of Real Estate Netz Group XI LLC and represented by Vikki Legnani, and a Starr Street tenant who has failed to make the rent since 2019.
The tenant is represented by Yonatan Zamir of New Haven Legal Assistance Association.
Zamir told the court that the client has offered to make partial payments by tapping a state emergency fund created during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the landlord refused, insisting only on full payment.
Zamir said he has encountered this in other cases as well: Landlords, when they receive no payment (rather than partial payments), can claim an accounting loss and receive tax benefits.
“It’s unconscionable to take the position that ‘no, I want a mother and her children out on the street as soon as possible because I don’t want cash and a short-term stay until July 31,’” Zamir said in court. “It was wrong [in 2019] and is still wrong today to make somebody move out when they do not have someplace to go during a pandemic.”
Legnani, in response, claimed that the tenant has paid “not one dollar” since 2019. She also noted that the case was started before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Pay is based on promises of programs, and my client is wary of programs and strings attached to programs,” Legnani said.
“It’s not as if we just filed this case and want to immediately remove somebody with no chance of them finding somewhere else to go. This is a 2019 case with multiple final stays.”
Zamir told the Independent that the biggest program available to his client, Unite CT, came online on March 15 and administers around $400 million in rent relief. But the program does not pay all of six months back rent. Instead it pays out a maximum of 85 percent of the arrearage which, Zamir said, is causing many landlords to refuse to participate.
“We’re literally dangling cash in front of this landlord, and they’d rather kick her out than accept money,” Zamir said of their unwillingness to participate in Unite CT. “It’s unconscionable what they’re trying to do, even with all the help.”
In court, he added that he was especially frustrated that Mandy Management, one of the city’s largest landlord companies, hesitates to make use of the rental assistance program.
Ultimately, Judge Claudia Baio called the case “not a situation where this is black and white.”
She emphasized that it is the landlord’s right to choose not to participate in rental assistance programs and, in the past, some of the programs have been frozen or limited. Judge Baio also agreed with Zamir that there have been “positive developments” in this case.
She concluded by sending the two parties back to housing mediation, noting that some of the new housing programs might be “more palatable to the landlord” and that there is more potential for settlement.
Zamir praised the decision.
“It’s a testament to the judge’s willingness to understand that sometimes you have to show mercy to people,” he said.
LMK when there is mercy for the landlord and taxpayers; ever....