Coronavirus News: New Jersey landlord waives rent for 3 months

MONTCLAIR, New Jersey -- A New Jersey landlord waived rent payments for 3 months to help his tenants as they face financial trouble during the coronavirus pandemic.

David Placek, who owns properties in Montclair, had originally waived April and May, but recently tacked on June as well.

"By and large we've gotten a good reception from our tenants, they're happy that we were able to do this early on and really able to show them some compassion and feelings for what they might be going through," said Placek. "We didn't ask them what financial position they're in."

Placek said he's grateful that he's even in a position to do this.

He owns 12 properties and the average rent of each unit is $1,200-1,500 per month.

Over the next 3 months he's forgoing more than $50,000.

Governor Phil Murphy gave Placek a shout out on Twitter and during a news conference.

"David exemplifies the spirit we need to see right now of people stepping up to make sure others can come out of this emergency stronger and so we all come out of this stronger. Hats off, David."

Placek said he felt he had to do something and that he has felt hamstrung sitting at home over the last 4 weeks.

"It's hard to help, you can't go physically do a lot of things, you probably don't have the financial resources to write a check so what can you do?"

It was something he could swing and he hopes it catches.

All he asks of his tenants is that they pay it forward, if possible, at small businesses in town or charities.