Renters and landlords react to new policy that halts evictions

MIAMI (NewsNation Now) — Despite the federal moratorium on evictions, some tenants are still worried about their futures.

“For me as a father, being a provider for my family, it has been the most stressful thing I have been through,” John De La Hoz of Miami Beach, Florida said.

La Hoz, a father of five, said he has not paid his rent since June after losing his job as a bellman at a Miami Beach Hotel.

“What is going to happen?” La Hoz said. “So you fall behind five months and then you just show face to the landlord? I feel horrible. If you have a heart you feel horrible for the landlord. He has to get paid too. How eventually are we going to pay that off? That what is I keep asking myself.”

The Trump administration implemented a national four-month moratorium on residential evictions this week.

The moratorium was announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and applies to people making less than $99,000 per year who can’t make rent payments.

It sounds clear cut, but experts say it is not.

“I think the question is how are states going to interpret it,” Patrice Paldino, Executive Director of Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida said. “Of course, landlords are going to move forward and say this has no basis to protect a private tenant/landlord relationship.”

Some landlords, like Sebastian Arubz of Miami, said the state and national eviction moratoriums are not always fair to them.

“Every month, we have to pay the water,”Arubz said. “And if you multiply the water by 10, or 15, or 20 units and the electricity and everything, it is a big bill. If they pay, or if they don’t pay, we have to cover everything.”

The federal eviction moratorium does not actually relieve renters from owing rent. And landlords can still charge tenants late fees on due rent. They just can’t be evicted, according to the moratorium.