Ohio: Governor urges landlords, lenders to suspend payments for 90 days

On April 1 Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed an executive order seeking a pause in mortgage and rent payments for the state’s small businesses.

In the executive order landlords are requested to suspend, for a term of at least 90 days, rent payments for small business commercial tenants and provide for a moratorium on evictions of those tenants. In turn, the order also asks for forbearance of 90 days for commercial mortgages.

The measure would not negate the obligation of rent or restrict the landlord or lender from recovering rent at a future date. 

The governor sought to minimize litigation by framing this a request and several prominent Ohio banks have agreed to the principles outlined. 

According to Lt. Governor Jon Husted, the goal of the executive order is to prevent foreclosures. "You know that the federal government stopped the foreclosure on residential mortgages. You know that through actions of the legislature, the courts have the ability to suspend eviction," he said during a media briefing. "But there is a connectivity problem - if someone can't pay their rent and we're not evicting them, then the person who owns the complex isn't getting the money they need to pay their commercial loan. So we are creating a 90-day pause."

New York, Oregon, Iowa, and Rhode Island have previously announced statewide moratoriums of varying lengths on commercial evictions. On a local level some cities, notably Los Angeles and San Francisco, have issued similar orders.

For more information email gpp@icsc.com.