Frustrated small landlords – particularly those from out of town – are starting to turn to illegal means to evict tenants who aren't paying, by changing locks or making conditions unlivable to force them out, local housing activists alleged Tuesday.
The landlords – often "mom and pop" property owners – have been dealing for months with an inability to evict difficult tenants or tenants who aren't paying their rent, often because they lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Normally, they would file for eviction in the court system, and wait for the papers to wind through the long procedure, resulting in an eviction warrant. But the city's Housing Court was closed for most of the last eight months, and is only now starting to work – slowly – through a huge backlog dating to March and even earlier.
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