- The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) sent joint notification letters to the largest residential landlords in the United States, reminding them of the COVID-19-related federal protections for tenants.
- The letters remind the landlords, who collectively own more than 2 million apartments, that the eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) has been extended until June 30, 2021, and that the CFPB has issued an interim final rule establishing new notice requirements under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).
- The letters ask the landlords to review their practices to ensure that they comply with the CDC moratorium, the FTC Act, the FDCPA and the CFPB’s interim final rule.
- As previously reported, the CFPB interim final rule requires debt collectors to provide to tenants who may have rights under the eviction moratorium a written notice of those rights concurrent with an eviction notice or on the date that an eviction action is filed, and clarifies that notice given over the phone or by electronic means such as text or email is insufficient.
- The FTC and CFPB’s letters came just two days before a federal judge struck down the moratorium as an excessive exercise of power by the CDC, a decision that the judge temporarily put on hold pending additional filings.