Allegations of sexual favors in exchange for rent breaks amid the pandemic
Bornstein Law has always operated on the presumption that there are good landlords and bad landlords and by the same token, good tenants and bad tenants. Some actions, though, are especially egregious and shock the conscience.
A crisis brings out the best in people and the worst in people, and while we have seen just about every form of depravity in our 26+ years of practicing landlord-tenant law, we were especially appalled to hear tales of landlords making unwelcome sexual entreaties to residents financially impacted by the pandemic. But just how pervasive is this?
In our office, we have not heard firsthand accounts of landlords offering rent breaks in exchange for sexual favors, but this first came across our radar when we discovered a blog on this subject authored by a firm representing tenants. Their post essentially said that given the inherent imbalance of power between landlords and tenants, shelter-in-place orders have exposed already vulnerable tenants to predatory landlords who are making illegal sexual demands of tenants unable to pay full rent.
We also came across this article about a U.S. Attorney launching an investigation into sexual harassment in housing during the coronavirus pandemic.
We won’t even dignify the conversation by citing the law - sexual pressure, intimidation, and harassment violate every rule in the book. A few bad apples spoil the bunch, but clearly, any acts of lewdness represent a tiny fraction of landlords or their agents.
The mere hint that some bad actors are doing this, however, gives us an opportunity to share our previous articles on fair housing laws and sexual harassment. In practice, most acts of discrimination and harassment take more subtle forms.
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