The legislature made it clear that the stay of eviction proceedings protected against residential evictions caused by nonpayment of rent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing{**74 Misc 3d at 194} in the legislative findings or intent even remotely suggests that the moratorium on evictions was intended to stay the landlord's legal obligations to maintain safe and habitable conditions or to render the courts powerless while landlords subject tenants to unsafe and uninhabitable conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the petitioner suggests.
The "NOTICE TO TENANT" provision in the Act explains that where the tenant signs and files the hardship declaration form, the tenant is protected from eviction until January 15, 2022, unless the landlord successfully challenges the hardship declaration, or the nuisance exception of the Act applies. (Act § 2, part C, § 1, subpart A, § 1 [4].) The hardship declaration results in the eviction proceedings being postponed until January 15, 2022. However, in this case, the proceedings were adjourned on consent of the parties to dates before January 15, 2022, for petitioner landlord to repair and remedy the conditions in respondent's apartment.