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Law360 (April 9, 2020, 6:34 PM EDT ) A Pennsylvania state judge on Thursday ordered short-term "travel apartment" provider Stay Alfred to allow two tenants to continue staying in a Pittsburgh apartment after the company forced them onto the street earlier in the week as it closed down properties in response to the growing COVID-19 outbreak.
Judge Alan Hertzberg in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas granted an emergency order allowing Victorian Wadsworth and Abber Al-Dulaimi, who say they took up residence in Pittsburgh last month after accepting a monthslong job contract, back into their apartment after the two were forced out by police Tuesday.
The case comes as businesses and courts deal with questions over an emergency order inked by Gov. Tom Wolf last month shutting down "non-life sustaining" commerce in the state in a bid to help control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Wolf clarified April 1 that the emergency order did apply to short-term rentals, with exclusions, however, for properties where guests had checked in prior to April 1.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has put a temporary moratorium on evictions through April 30 as part of a statewide judicial emergency declaration the justices have put in place in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Wadsworth told Law360 in an interview Thursday that he and Al-Dulaimi had been forced to go to court after their eviction left them with no other options for housing in the city aside from a hotel.
"It put everything completely up in the air," he said. "In any other circumstances, we wouldn't be seeking to enforce our rights so vigorously, but given the situation we don't really have another option."
According to an emergency petition they filed with the court Wednesday, Wadsworth and Al-Dulaimi moved into the apartment March 20 and contacted Stay Alfred on April 2 — the day after the state's shut-down order was applied to short-term rentals — to arrange to pay rent to extend their stay through the end of the month at least.
However, the two said they were told that Stay Alfred intended to close down all properties it managed for eight weeks in response to the virus outbreak.
The company asked that Wadsworth and Al-Dulaimi vacate the property by April 4 and said that it would not accept rent for any time beyond that date, the petition said.
When the two refused, they said that a manager for the company showed up at their apartment on Monday and called the police asking to have them forced out.
The police, however, declined to take action, the pair said in their filing.
The Stay Alfred manager returned again Tuesday with different police officers who agreed to order Wadsworth and Al-Dulaimi out of the property.
With nowhere else to go, Wadsworth said, he and Al-Dulaimi checked into a hotel and prepared to file an emergency petition with the court asking to be allowed back into their apartment.
They argued that forcing them out of the building endangered not only their health, but the health of the public at large.
"The plaintiffs maintain the subject premises as their sole and exclusive residence and are entitled to the protections of lawful residents," the tenants said. "The current public health crisis underscores the necessity in ensuring these rights are upheld as not only are other options virtually unavailable at this time, but failing to shelter in place as required by the emergency declaration could be life threatening."
Stay Alfred spokeswoman Elise Szwajkowski said in a statement on Thursday evening that the company had simply been trying to comply with the governor's order in seeking to remove Wadsworth and Al-Dulaimi from the property.
"In this particular instance, we were abiding by the governor's mandated shutdown of all short-term rentals in Pennsylvania," she said. "Stay Alfred always seeks to uphold the government's orders and to operate within regulatory guidance in every market. As we all navigate these unprecedented times and seek to do our part to fight this pandemic, we regret the impact that temporary closures, whether government-mandated or voluntary, have on guests."
The plaintiffs are representing themselves.
Counsel information for Stay Alfred was not immediately available.
The case is Victorian Wadsworth et al. v. Stay Alfred Inc., case number GD-20-005021, before the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
--Editing by Abbie Sarfo.
Update: This story has been updated to include a statement from Stay Alfred.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
