The Legal Aid Society called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to extend the eviction moratorium for tenants outright after the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) issued a General Information Systems (GIS) message extending the freeze until December 31, 2020, and then abruptly removed the message from its website, providing no other explanation, reports The Real Deal. Then, the GIS message dated September 14, 2020, was replaced with another GIS message on September 17.

The new message, however, did not include the eviction moratorium extension language. That GIS message has also been removed from OTDA’s website.

The September 14, 2020 GIS message had noted that – “Based upon the issuance of this federal moratorium, the provisions of Judge Marks’ Administrative Order have been extended to prevent evictions through December 31, 2020.”

In response to the eviction moratorium issued earlier this month by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, The Legal Aid Society has called on Albany to extend the statewide eviction moratorium, as the CDC’s regulation will not cover tens of thousands of New Yorkers, especially unrepresented tenants who do not know their rights and others who unscrupulous landlords exploit via loopholes in the moratorium. The current New York State eviction moratorium for residents is set to expire on October 1, 2020.