Property Owners in Settlement Talks for $1.5 Billion After Winning Lawsuit on CDC Eviction Moratorium

More than 1,500 property owners are engaged in settlement discussions with the Justice Department after winning an appeal in a federal lawsuit over the CDC's eviction moratorium during the pandemic. The plaintiffs argue the moratorium, which barred evictions for non-paying tenants from September 2020 through July 2021, violated the Fifth Amendment by denying them compensation.

5 billion, a fraction of the estimated $57 billion in losses to owners from the moratorium and related eviction backlogs, according to the lawsuit.

The case originated after the plaintiffs lost in the Court of Federal Claims in 2022, but they prevailed on appeal. 5 million. The Supreme Court had previously ruled that the CDC lacked authority to impose the moratorium without congressional authorization.

Matthew Haines, a 57-year-old landlord from Texas who owns three rental communities with 240 units in Arlington and Irving, said the federal moratorium cost him and his investors over $1 million. 'It’s important for us to stand up when a group like the CDC unilaterally, functionally, decides that they have a right to oversee our business,' Haines said.

He added, 'What I hope that we will accomplish and, to some extent, we already have, is vindication for ourselves.

Eviction moratoriums were also imposed in 43 states and scores of cities, lasting longer than the federal ban. A survey by the National Rental Home Council, published weeks after the federal moratorium ended, found that half of small landlords had tenants who missed rent, and a third sold or planned to sell properties.

The lawsuit notes more than 10 million delinquent renters in the first four months of the federal ban.

Liz Leone, who owns 52 apartments in Las Vegas and has been in the real estate business for 35 years, lost over $250,000 due to the moratorium. She borrowed $60,000 from the federal Small Business Administration during that period. Management Services Corporation, which owns 4,000 apartment units in Virginia, lost more than $230,000 in unpaid rent during the pandemic, according to Rick Jones, the company's vice chairman.

5 billion. @FortuneMagazine reported these details from the ongoing litigation and its impacts on landlords.