Minnesota landlord charged over eviction attempt during pandemic

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Landlord charged over eviction attempt during pandemic

The state has moved to stop tenants losing their homes during the coronavirus crisis but fears persist about what happens after

Jared Goyette in Minneapolis
Thu 9 Apr 2020 11.30 BST
Last modified on Thu 9 Apr 2020 12.07 BST

Authorities in Minnesota have pressed charges against a landlord who evicted a tenant during the coronavirus crisis and thus violated a state order forbidding kicking people out of their homes as the pandemic spreads across the US.

The move is one of the strongest actions yet taken to guard vulnerable people against the threat of eviction as unemployment in the US soars to levels not seen since the Great Recession in the wake of the economic crisis caused by the virus as widespread shutdowns cover the US.

-snip-

But last week, in a case that was one of the first of its kind across the country, Ellison’s office pressed charges against a small landlord, Howard Mostad of rural Pine county, for violating the executive order against evictions.

According to the complaint filed in court, Mostad had advised his tenants, a family of three with a four-year-old daughter, that their lease was ending on 1 April, but as the date approached, they had trouble finding a new place because of the coronavirus pandemic and the state’s “stay-at-home” order.

Mostad then allegedly showed up at their door on 2 April, and asked to be let in so he could show the property to a potential buyer. The family refused, saying they feared letting new people into their home, as their daughter has a pre-existing medical condition making her more vulnerable to the virus. Mostad responded by forcing his way in and then removing circuit breakers in the boiler room, leaving the family without electricity, heat or hot water, the complaint says.

-snip-

In an interview, he lashed out against undocumented immigrants, refugees and Black Lives Matter activists, and what he sees as government overreach in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/09/evictions-coronavirus-minnesota-charges-landlord

[Thomas Hurt]

1. oh noes capitalist interruptus, the horror! (faints)

[duforsure]

2. 60 days in jail

And getting fined 20 times the rent fee would adjust his way of thinking, and by example others would not do this to after seeing the consequences .

[Chainfire]

3. Its just good business

to get deadbeats out of your property.....Want to bet on the man's politics?

There was a very prominent Christian slumlord in my community. A Well respected deacon in the Methodist Church. He owned scores of trashy mobile home that he rented to poor people. He told me that rather than go through a lengthy legal process to get rid of tenants that were behind on the rent, he would go remove some of the windows (for repairs ) on the house. He laughed about how quickly people would leave without windows.

He died recently and the theory in the community is that he is now sleeping in the arms of Jesus......

[OneBro]

4. A sign of things to come.

Slumlords like Kushner and Trump can weather months without rental income, but small owners of mortgaged rental properties will snap mentally and financially within a short period of time as their properties go into default and their notes are accelerated.