PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Last week, Mayor Jim Kenney signed a package of bills aimed at helping tenants get through the COVID-19 pandemic without getting evicted. Yesterday, a landlord group sued in federal court to stop the laws from taking effect.
The landlord group HAPCO argues the new laws violate state and federal contract statutes and deprive landlords of their constitutional rights.
Their purported purpose, HAPCO states, is to address temporary emergency financial conditions brought about by COVID-19, but they remedy only tenants' struggles and do nothing to protect landlords from their obligations to pay mortgages, taxes and other expenses. It calls the economic impact of the laws "severe and ruinous."
Councilmember Helen, who sponsored two of the bills, calls the lawsuit, "frivolous." She says it's a waste of time and money that could be going to finding solutions to benefit tenants and landlords alike.
"This is HAPCO's way of stomping its feet," Gym said.
"The act is the result of a very long process that included HAPCO. I think HAPCO is going against the interest of its own industry and is pitting landlords against tenants in an unnecessary way."
She says the laws were written in accordance with appropriate measures, and she's confident the new laws will hold up in court.
