Residential and Commercial Eviction Moratorium

At its meeting on March 24, 2020, the Duarte City Council passed an Urgency Ordinance, placing a moratorium on evictions of residential and commercials tenants for non-payment of rent due to reasons associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19). The moratorium goes into effect immediately and will end after an initial thirty-day term, April 23, 2020, unless extended by action of the City Council.

The ordinance only applies to evictions for nonpayment of rent due to a substantial decrease in household or business income that includes, but is not limited to workplace closure, loss of compensable hours of work or wages, layoffs, or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, or by any local, state, or federal government response to COVID-19.

The new ordinance aligns with Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-28-20, authorizing local jurisdictions to exercise such protections for residents and businesses who experience substantial decrease in income or increase in expenses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tenants are still obligated to pay their rent and will have up to three months after the City of Duarte proclaims the termination of the Local Emergency to repay any unpaid rent, unless a landlord agrees to a longer repayment term.  The City’s Local Emergency proclamation went into effect on March 17, 2020 and was ratified by the Duarte City Council on March 24^th.

Tenants who wish to avail themselves of the protections afforded by the moratorium must:

• First, notify their landlords that they cannot pay rent due to a COVID-19-related financial impact;
• Within on week of providing this notice, provide documentation to their landlord(s) corroborating that they have suffered a COVID-19-related financial impact.
• A statement signed under penalty of perjury outlining the specific details of the COVID-19-related financial impact the tenant has suffered shall constitute sufficient corroborating documentation.

If a property owner attempts to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent in violation of this ordinance, the ordinance may be invoked by the tenant as an affirmative defense against the eviction in court.

Urgency Ordinance No. 896 - Residential and Commercial Eviction Moratorium