SAN DIEGO — With an eviction moratorium still in effect until next week, landlords said they have been feeling the brunt of tenants not paying rent. One landlord contacted News 8.
"This is a serious problem. You cannot decide that it’s a one-size-fits-all and give tenants a carte blanche to not pay their rent,” said Claudette Copper, owner of San Diego City Property management.
Copper said the city and county's eviction moratorium is drastically impacting landlords.
"They have to pay their mortgage, HOA dues, property taxes, and they’re getting no rent, so you can’t go and lose $3,000 a month or $2,500 a month because your tenant is no longer paying and refuses to move out,” she said.
But renters have fought, many saying they need more protections.
There's been the "Cancel the Rent" movement, where there have car caravan protests and sidewalk signs, where many renters have voiced the difficulty of losing a job and not be able to pay rent.
Governor Gavin Newsom helped with issuing an executive order extending authorization to local governments to halt evictions through July 28 if they chose so.
In San Diego, tenants have up to six months to pay back the rent from the date the ordinance went into effect. The ban on evictions expires June 30.
"It’s assumed that the landlord is wealthy, and that is not the case. In many situations, the tenants have more money than the landlord does,” Cooper said.
Cooper said she is dealing with con-artist tenants that are not impacted by COVID-19
“There are cases that have been filed since December that are now on hold with these tenants who are in many cases [are] repeat offenders, who have gone rent free for six months,” Cooper said.
Then, Cooper said it’s become a free-for-all for bad renters breaking the law with noise violations and parties.
"The owners get fined for those types of situations and these tenants in some cases don’t care,” she said.
Still, Cooper said she understands the pain of not being able to pay rent on time.
"Nobody’s trying to kick out a good tenant, who is making an effort to make their payment," said Cooper.