The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- United States (every State and territory with documented COVID-19 cases lacking an equal or stronger moratorium)
- Level
- Federal
- Authority
- PHS Act § 361 (42 U.S.C. § 264); 42 C.F.R. § 70.2
- Issued
- 2020-09-01 Sept. 1, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-09-04 (publication) through 2020-12-31 (read as 2020-09-04)
- End
- extended by Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Pub. L. 116-260, div. N, § 502 to Jan. 31, 2021; then FED-023 (to Mar. 31, 2021), FED-024 (to June 30, 2021), FED-025 (to July 31, 2021); replaced by FED-026 (Aug. 3, 2021) which the Supreme Court vacated Aug. 26, 2021 (Alabama Ass'n of Realtors v. HHS, 594 U.S. ___ (2021)) (Supreme Court order not saved in this folder. (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Sept. 4, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021
- Quarters
- 2020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Courts and public officesOther
- Addressees
- every landlord, owner of residential property and person with a legal right to pursue eviction
- courts and sheriffs executing evictions (through the federal offense created)
- Functions reached
- PM property management (eviction and possessory actions suspended for covered persons)
- SV servicing and collections (financial services)
- CL/CT court and clerk functions (eviction dockets)
- CB tenant base of real-estate and property-management firms
- Collection
- Federal health, safety and transport layer FED-A
Operative words
Under 42 CFR 70.2, a landlord, owner of a residential property, or other person with a legal right to pursue eviction or possessory action, shall not evict any covered person from any residential property in any jurisdiction to which this Order applies during the effective period of the Order.... This Order does not apply in any State, local, territorial, or tribal area with a moratorium on residential evictions that provides the same or greater level of public-health protection than the requirements listed in this Order.
Enforcement
Criminal: 'a person violating this Order may be subject to a fine of no more than $100,000 if the violation does not result in a death or one year in jail, or both... An organization violating this Order may be subject to a fine of no more than $200,000 per event if the violation does not result in a death or $500,000 per event if the violation results in a death' (18 U.S.C. §§ 3559, 3571; 42 U.S.C. § 271; 42 C.F.R. § 70.18)
Notes
A federal order of general application that forbade a class of commercial transactions (possessory actions against covered tenants) in every State without an equal moratorium, from Sept. 4, 2020 through July 31, 2021 and then, for counties of substantial or high transmission, Aug. 3 to Aug. 26, 2021. Real estate (PM, LE), financial services (SV), professional services (CT: landlord-tenant practice), courts. The order's own text notes 'eviction moratoria and other protections from eviction have expired or are set to expire in many jurisdictions.'
Retrieval noteThe Renter's Declaration mechanism: 'the order prevents these persons from being evicted or removed from where they are living through December 31, 2020.'.