MONTCLAIR, N.J. (1010 WINS) – A New Jersey landlord is being praised for waiving rent payments from his tenants for three months amid rising unemployment from the coronavirus outbreak.
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With so many people under financial strains, landlord David Placek, who owns 12 properties in Montclair, said he'll forgo more than $50,000 through June to help his tenants out, according to WABC.
"By and large we've gotten a good reception from our tenants, they're happy that we were able to do this early on and really able to show them some compassion and feelings for what they might be going through," Placek told the station.
About 215,000 workers in New Jersey filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the statewide total over the past three weeks to 577,000.
Placek's good deed caught the attention of Gov. Phil Murphy, who praised him in a tweet Saturday.
"David Placek is a landlord with a dozen tenants," Murphy wrote. "He stepped forward to give every one of them a rent holiday through June. He exemplifies the spirit we need to see right now of people stepping up to make sure others can come out of this emergency stronger."
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