photo by: Mike Yoder/Journal-World File Photo

Houses in a neighborhood just west of downtown Lawrence are shown in this file photo from November 2011.

Though state orders prohibit landlords from evicting people who can’t pay their rent because of the coronavirus, advocates say there is confusion among both tenants and landlords regarding how the order works.

Gov. Laura Kelly issued an initial order on March 17 temporarily prohibiting foreclosures and evictions during the pandemic. She issued another order on March 23, replacing the previous order, that explicitly stated that the moratorium on evictions applied to residential landlords. Park 25 Apartments, 2401 W. 25th St., initially communicated to its residents that the order did not apply to Park 25 and tenants still needed to pay their rent.

Park 25 likely is not alone. Teresa Woody, litigation director for the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, said some landlords initially didn’t think the order applied to them, and confusion about how leases work under the order persists.

“There’s lots of confusion on all sides, which isn’t surprising because this is a vast change from the way things usually go,” Woody said.

But there also may be confusion in both directions. The state has not issued any order that requires landlords — who often have their own mortgages and tax bills to meet — to simply forgive rent payments.

“I think what people need to understand is it’s a stopgap measure to keep people from being thrown out in the street in the middle of the pandemic; it is not a forgiveness of rent or mortgage payments,” Woody said. “It encourages landlords and lenders to negotiate after this is over, but they don’t have to.”

However, under the order, tenants who can’t pay their rent because of the coronavirus have a certain degree of leeway. The order, which is currently in effect until May 1, bars landlords from evicting a tenant when nonpayment is substantially caused by financial hardships related to the virus, either directly or indirectly. After the state of emergency expires and financial hardships from the virus abate, the order recommends that landlords negotiate payment plans and late fees with tenants who missed payments, but does not require such negotiations.

Park 25 resident Elizabeth Gassmann is concerned her landlord’s communications to tenants do not make those safeguards clear.

Following the second order, Park 25, which comprises 254 apartments, issued another letter to its residents on March 30. The letter did not update its previous statements that the moratorium didn’t apply to landlords. Instead, the letter announced that Park 25 had changed its policies so that tenants experiencing financial difficulties could pay their rent using a credit card, “with a minimal processing fee.” The letter stated that tenants who could not pay their full rent should contact the leasing office and indicate how much they can afford to pay immediately and whether their hardship was due to COVID-19, but didn’t mention the moratorium on evictions. After the Journal-World attempted to contact Park 25, the management issued another letter on Friday that said the state had “postponed any evictions for nonpayment of rent.”

Like millions of people across the country, Gassmann, who is a massage therapist, cannot work because of the stay-at-home order in place to stop the spread of the virus.

Gassmann said after waiting three or four weeks, she had recently received her first unemployment benefits and would be able to make her rent. However, she was still concerned that her neighbors, who she said included international students and other non-U.S. citizens, could be unclear about their rights.

“This is not a time for bad communication,” Gassmann said. “This needs really strong, direct, precise communication skills and leadership.”

Woody said there are a few key aspects of the order tenants and landlords need to understand. She said one of the most important is that indirect consequences of the virus can cover many circumstances. Woody said that could include those who lost a job or income as a result of the stay-at-home order, but also those whose expenses went up because of the virus. That could include child care costs that went up because children can no longer go to school. Woody also said that if a landlord does start the eviction process before May 1, the landlord has the burden of proof to show that the eviction is not related to a coronavirus hardship.

However, Woody emphasized that the order does not apply to missed payments that were not directly or indirectly due to the virus and does not forgive rent or stop it from accruing. She also said while the order encourages negotiations about missed payments and late fees between landlords and tenants, those negotiations are not mandated.

The Journal-World reached Park 25 representatives by phone, but a local manager said she could not comment and that any questions would need to be answered by the complex’s corporate ownership group, Peterson Properties Inc., and that the Journal-World’s request would be relayed. The Journal-World did not immediately hear back from Peterson Properties on Friday.

Park 25’s most recent letter does not necessarily clarify tenants’ obligations. Though the letter states that payment plans could be arranged for those who have not paid April’s rent and evictions would be postponed, the letter also states that, “In order for us to continue a reasonable level of management and maintenance operations during this challenging time, as well as meet our own financial obligations to lenders, pay taxes, insurance, and paying our employees, we must continue to receive rent payments from all our leaseholders.” The letter reiterates tenants’ ability to pay using a credit card and states that while it might not be an option for some, Park 25 was maintaining a list of employers that are currently hiring.

The Journal-World reached out to several other property management companies in Lawrence, including First Management, Cherry Hill Properties and Midwest Property Management, regarding how they were handling leases and payments during the pandemic but did not immediately receive responses. The Journal-World was able to speak with someone at Lawrence Property Management.

Manager Roxanne Hicks said that Lawrence Property Management is one of the smaller property management companies in town and only manages about 50 units in Lawrence. Hicks said that so far, there are only two tenants who are late on their rent for April, but that they did not indicate whether it was related to the coronavirus. She anticipated that making next month’s rent could be more difficult, and said that if tenants who have lost income due to the virus need to delay payments while they wait for their unemployment benefits or the stimulus check, she would work with tenants. She said she did not anticipate charging late fees.

“(Rent) doesn’t go away, but we will work with them,” Hicks said. “Everybody at this point in time just has to be pretty flexible.”

Woody advised that tenants whose finances have been impacted by the coronavirus reach out to their landlords about arranging payments and forgiving late fees, and to be sure to document any agreements. For example, she said tenants could ask their landlord to waive late fees if they commit to using their federal stimulus check, once it arrives, to pay past-due rent.

“One thing tenants should keep in mind is they need to be proactive,” Woody said.