Housing: Moratoriums on Rental Payments

Today’s topic is rental housing. Let’s begin by looking at our vocabulary. Vocabulary Housing: A building, or something else that covers and protects. An example of housing is an apartment building. Property: Something belonging to somebody. In this case, it refers to real estate, in particular rental housing (houses, apartments). Landlord: Someone who owns a house, apartment, condominium, land, or other type of real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant. (landlord/tenant) Moratorium: a legal authorization to debtors to postpone payment. Eviction: the action of expelling someone, especially a tenant, from a property. (to evict) Maintenance: refers to all tasks necessary for keeping a building functional and livable, such as cleaning, painting and repairs. Now, listen to the reading and hear how these words are used in context. DIALOGUE The Covid-19 crisis provoked a rise in unemployment, which has raised the number of tenants unable to pay rent for their housing. To prevent landlords from evicting tenants who fall behind on their rent, some government agencies have instituted rent moratoriums. These moratoriums pause the obligation of tenants to pay rent and effectively block evictions, which allows the tenants to remain in their home. What are the pros and cons of these measures? We could separate the effects into short-term, and long-term. On one hand, the measure offers temporary relief for tenants who can no longer pay rent because they are unemployed, or whose income has reduced. On the other hand, the owners (landlords) stop receiving regular income, which can affect their ability to pay their own debt, property taxes and building maintenance expenses.