The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will offer multifamily property owners mortgage forbearance with the condition that they suspend all evictions for renters unable to pay rent due to the impact of coronavirus (“COVID-19”). The eviction suspensions are in place for the entire duration of time that a property owner remains in forbearance. The forbearance is available to all multifamily properties with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac-backed performing multifamily mortgage negatively affected by the coronavirus national emergency.  View the full announcement here.

Specifically, Fannie Mae is allowing lenders to grant forbearance to borrowers in properties financed by Fannie Mae for up to three months if the borrower is experiencing hardship due to the impact of the COVID-19 national emergency. As part of the forbearance plan, borrowers must agree to suspend evictions of tenants who are facing financial hardship due to the current crisis.  Click here to read Fannie Mae’s guidance to its lenders.
 
Similarly, under the Freddie Mac program, multifamily landlords whose properties are financed with a Freddie Mac fully performing loan can defer their loan payments for 90 days by showing hardship as a consequence of COVID-19 and by gaining lender approval. In turn, Freddie Mac is requiring landlords not to evict any tenant based solely on non-payment of rent during the forbearance period.