A group of apartment owners has filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Andy Beshear and Northern Kentucky’s circuit court clerks to allow landlords to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, Beshear essentially has shut down landlords’ ability to evict tenants in Kentucky’s circuit court against tenants who have failed to pay rent by closing these courts to eviction cases even though the courts have been opened for other purposes. While some tenants have protection from evictions under the terms of the federal CARES Act, others do not and they are taking advantage of the pandemic by not paying rent that is due.
Chris Wiest
“Many landlords, including the plaintiffs in this case, have bent over backward to work with tenants impacted by COVID-19,” said Chris Wiest, the Northern Kentucky attorney who filed the lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in Covington.
“But some tenants have not been adversely impacted,” Wiest said. “They are abusing the situation, the system, and their landlords, leaving the property owners with costly bills, maintenance costs, and utilities payments while the tenants literally have thumbed their nose at the landlords. Almost 200 years of clearly established case law establish this action is not constitutional, even in times of emergencies, so the only remedy the plaintiffs have is to file this lawsuit in federal court.”
Plaintiffs in the case are the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Apartment Association (CGNKAA) and three apartment building owners in the region. They are asking the court to declare Beshear’s orders unconstitutional, allow enforcement of evictions in circuit court, and award them reasonable costs and fees. The suit only covers evictions in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.
The federal CARES Act, which was enacted into law earlier this year, provides for a 120-day eviction moratorium until July 25 for certain “covered dwellings,” which includes rental units covered under federal assistance programs or those subject to a federally backed mortgage loan.
However, on May 8, Beshear modified a March 25 executive order that effectively indefinitely suspended all eviction proceedings in the state. As a result, circuit court clerks in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties have refused to accept eviction complaints from landlords.
Gov. Andy Beshear
“Landlords represented by GCNKAA have entered into a number of such agreements for those tenants who are willing to work with their landlords,” Wiest said. “What is left — and at issue in this case — are evictions for those tenants who refuse to work with landlords.”
For example, Anduril Strategy, LLC, the owner and manager of The Blake at Park Hills, an apartment building in Park Hills, has several tenants with leases of six months or more who refuse to pay their rent.
“Anduril has called all of its tenants who have indicated difficulties in making their payments and the company has offered to place them on a payment plan, reduce their rent, or put them in touch with community resources that can help with rent payments,” Wiest said. “For some of these tenants, these efforts have been ignored.”
Under Beshear’s May 8 executive order, nonpaying tenants are not required to prove they have been impacted by COVID-19, arbitrarily shifting the financial burden onto property owners, many of whom were already suffering financial hardships due to the pandemic.
“The ‘No Eviction Orders’ fails to provide for any tribunal or mechanism by which property owners and landlords may obtain redress from a tenant’s refusal to pay, even if they are able to pay, even if they are working and receiving full wages,” Wiest said. “By enacting this order, the Governor did everything in his power to eliminate all judicial remedies available to these property owners.”
Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Apartment Association
