'It depends' is the answer to many pandemic rent questions

During this COVID-19 outbreak, can landlords demand tenants keep paying regularly?

It depends. The court will want to know whether the landlord was granted a forbearance by its own lender, as such landlord pursued a non-paying tenant. Did the landlord reasonably accommodate the tenant, entertain any compromise or extension of the lease term, or offer some reduced payment schedule for a month or two or three, or rent abatement for such same time period?

Are business owners excused from paying rent during this shutdown?

That also depends. Did your business receive payroll relief stimulus? How was it used? When did you apply for it? When did you receive it? If your business received a Paycheck Protection Program loan through the Small Business Association, which generally is forgivable if you use the money toward salaries or rent, your rent may be paid by the federal government. The timing of someone's receipt of PPP is important to when any sort of default began. If the PPP runs slow and the business owner gets into default because of it, the aforementioned questions remain.

How about tenants? Are they excused from paying rent?

Again, it depends. Were you not current on your bills, even before the pandemic? Did your landlord really try to work with you? Did your landlord propose temporary forbearances, such as extending the ultimate lease term the same amount of time as the shut down lasted, or other good-faith measures, while you may have refused to return their emails and phone calls? Rent aside, did you offer to at least pay your real estate taxes, building insurance, and maintenance? "It depends" will be the answer to many matters involving rent. Until the coronavirus quarantine, there hasn't been a lot of precedent on these matters.

Paula Burkes, Business writer