Apartment Trends Magazine June 2020 June 2020 | Page 17

ASK THE LAWYER
DREW HAMRICK | AAMD
What are our expectations
in enforcing residents to
use face masks?
Janelle French, Mission Rock Residential, getting some masks for her team
AAMD Team member Rowan helps
move boxes to cars
AAMD Team member Madison makes sure
all the boxes are secure
23,000+
MASKS WERE DISTRIBUTED
TO AAMD MEMBERS
AAMD Team member Joey hands off
mask boxes for members
Are there standards,
regulations, or
executive orders
involving public spaces
inside apartments/
complexes and landlord/
property manager
responsibilities? (i.e.
signage / notices to
educate residents on
proper social distancing
measures in shared
residential confi ned
egress spaces (such as
entry vestibules, exit
stairwells, corridors, elevators, etc.), face-covering requirements in
certain areas such as public elevators and corridors, guidance on the
use of elevators, stairs, corridors, etc.)
No member’s existing lease explicitly requires residents to
wear a mask. Consequently, in order to plausibly claim that
a resident has an obligation to wear a mask, the owner would
have to rely on the unlawful behavior clause of the lease
and then a state or local law mandating mask wearing in a
particular situation.
While there are a number of mandated mask wearing
requirements that apply to people in their capacity as
employees, the mandates for the general public (which would
include residents) are much less specifi c.
On a statewide level, the only mask related guidance is
a recommendation to wear a mask when away from the
residence. Consequently, without a local ordinance, there is no
way to construct a legal obligation for residents to be masked.
Several cities (including Denver and Boulder) do require
the general public to be masked in certain situations. Denver
requires residents to be masked when inside or in line for retail
or commercial facilities. The only space that would clearly
be subject to this requirement would be the leasing offi ce.
Boulder requires people to be masked when 6’ distancing can’t
be maintained, which would create more common masking
requirements in common area scenarios.
When a resident violates the behavioral terms of a lease
(including the unlawful refusal to wear a mask in the limited
circumstances when that may apply), a landlord’s legal tool
for dealing with the behavioral violation is to serve a 10-day
Demand for Compliance or Possession, followed by a 10-day
Notice to Quit for Repeat Violation if the problem continues,
followed by an eviction lawsuit and the forcible displacement
of the Resident by the sheriff. All of these activities are
currently banned by Executive Order 51 and the CARES Act
(where applicable).
Consequently, other than a polite request for residents to
wear masks as a courtesy to other residents, there are not
many options for dealing with a Resident who refuses to wear
a mask.
www.aamdhq.org
JUNE 2020 TRENDS | 15